Durant, Thunder drop Kings

Basketball Betting Lines

03/07/2010 - Sacramento, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Durant scored 27 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder stayed hot with a 108-102 win over the Sacramento Kings.

Russell Westbrook added 21 points and eight boards for the Thunder, who have won five of six. James Harden contributed with 14 points off the bench, Jeff Green 12 and Serge Ibaka 11 in the win.

Tyreke Evans paced the Kings with 24 points and seven assists, but Sacramento suffered its eighth loss in 11 games. Carl Landry provided 20 points and eight rebounds, while Francisco Garcia had 14 points in the setback.

The Thunder led by two with 9 1/2 minutes to play and scored six straight points to grab a 94-86 advantage on an Ibaka jumper with 7:28 to go.

Beno Udrih was able to get Sacramento back to within two at 98-96 on a three with four minutes left, but Oklahoma City scored on each of its next three touches, with Westbrook drilling a 14-footer for a seven-point lead with 2:16 remaining.

The margin was at least four for the remainder of the game.

The Thunder grabbed a 26-25 lead after the first quarter and increased the advantage to 57-52 at halftime.

Durant was fouled from long distance and sank all three free throws midway through the third for a 76-65 Oklahoma City advantage, but the Kings closed out the period on a 10-2 burst to climb to within two.

Evans had five of the points, including a three-pointer at the buzzer to make it 81-79.

Game Notes

The Thunder won the season series, 3-1...OKC is 19-13 on the road, while the Kings are 15-15 at home...Jason Thompson had 11 points and eight boards for the Kings...Thabo Sefolosha had 10 points for the Thunder.

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Academy Award Betting Odds for Best Picture Offer Great Value

If there is any category that is not an obvious win for any one nominee in this year's Academy Awards, it would be for Best Picture.  Sure the Departed is a 5/7 favorite, but that's hardly anything when we look at Helen Mirren and her "out-of-reach" 1 to 40 odds (which means you would win a whopping $1 for every $40 bet).

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Who is to say independently produced Little Miss Sunshine won't be this year's Crash.  Last year, Crash won for Best Motion Picture, shocking those who bet on gay cowboy flick, Brokeback Mountain, as the favorite to win. 

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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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