Magic, Pistons play front end of home-and-home set

Basketball Betting Lines

02/21/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic open a home-and- home set tonight when the two teams square off at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Detroit comes into the game on a winning note after holding on for an 84-83 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday. Chauncey Billups scored 19 points in the win. Milwaukee's Mo Williams missed a driving layup in the final seconds of regulation, and the Pistons slapped away the rebound to preserve the win.

Rasheed Wallace scored 16 points and pulled down 11 boards for the Pistons, who have won eight of nine. Antonio McDyess added 15 points and seven boards off the bench, and Richard Hamilton finished with 12 points and seven boards for Detroit.

The Pistons are 17-10 as the host this year and lead the Central Division by 2 1/2 games over Cleveland.

Orlando was also in action on Tuesday, but fell to the New York Knicks, 100-94, at Madison Square Garden.

Dwight Howard was a force, recording 27 points and 14 boards, for the Magic, who made it interesting in the final minutes only to lose for the 13th time in 18 outings.

Orlando drew within 94-91 after Jameer Nelson hit a three-pointer with under 1 1/2 minutes to play, but New York held off the Magic by scoring six of the final nine points of the contest.

Nelson ended with 16 points as Orlando lost for the fifth straight time on the road. The club's last win away from Amway Arena was on January 22 against Cleveland.

The setback dropped the Magic back to .500 at 27-27. The club is tied with the Miami Heat for second in the Southeast Division and seventh overall in the East, and is 4 1/2 games back of Washington for the top spot in the standings.

The Magic and Pistons will conclude the home-and-home set on Friday at TD Waterhouse Centre. Detroit has won five of the last six and eight of the last 10 in the series overall, and four in a row against the Magic at home.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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