Sports Betting Blog

It’s been a while since we’ve covered the ATP Tour in this blog. Then again, this is also the first Grand Slam of the year and things are getting really hot in the Australian Open. But this story is not about Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer or any of the usual suspects success in a given match. This little blog entry is about dealing with pressure and how when players lose their cool, things can get pretty interesting.

Perhaps it is the heat of the Australian summer, but it seems that the Argentinean David Nalbandian just couldn’t hold his anger any longer and suffered a little outburst in his five-set, second round game against John Isner of the United States.  When Isner was serving in the fifth set, the umpire Kader Nouni, had declined his request to challenge a line call. Nouni had said that Nalbandian took too long before he actually made the challenge and thus declined his request to consider the play one more time.

At that point, John Isner was facing break point at 8-8 when he just smashed a served into the middle. The ball was first called out by the line judge but Nouni overruled the initial call, saying it was actually an Ace for Isner. So the bottom line was that Nalbandian didn’t realize that Nouni had overturned the call until they were face-to-face and little over 15 seconds had pass by since the play had been made.

He eventually went on a little rage trip and even threw some water at a staff member in the Australian Open. Earlier today, Nalbandian was charged with an $8,000 fine for what the organization called unsportsmanlike behaviour. The fine was eventually confirmed by the International Tennis Federation on Friday, and so far it is the highest fine in the 2012 Australian Open.

But perhaps it is Marcos Baghdatis, the one who showed all his rage in a racket destruction marathon on Wednesday. He was under a lot of pressure. Down to sets and a break, Baghadtis sat down on his chair during the changeover and just let his temper go wild. He was eventually charged $1,250 for smashing four (yes, four consecutive rackets) during the break. He took his first racket and smashed it seven times, until it was unrecognizable. Baghdatis calmly gave the messed up racket to a ballboy and look as his bag. He carefully pulled a new racket out and cracked that one as well. The next two, he didn’t even bother taking out of the plastic wrapping. They just went out straight into the court floor. It was a massacre.

It’s hard to say how his racquet sponsors are going to fill about this little incident. But it’s quite certain that the people who make the Tecnifibre TFlash 315 SpeedFlex are not too happy with him right now.

Follow all the Australian Open, with daily matchups and the most competitive betting lines in the sports wagering market at Betias.com. Stay tuned for more coverage of the best matches from the first Grand Slam of the season. 

At 5-8 for the season, the Boston Celtics are far away from playing at their finest. They have had somewhat of a rough start this season, and they really needed to find a way to run out of a 5-game losing streak that had been making havoc with the team’s spirit. The Celtics needed a win desperately, as Boston hadn’t win a single game since beating New Jersey 89-70 on Jan. 4. At the end it was going to be up to the talented point guard Rajon Rondo to lead the Celtics out of the 5-game slump, closing the night with 21 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists before leaving the game late in the third quarter as the Celtics defeated the Toronto Raptors 96-73.

Rondo suffered a scary fall in the third quarter after he collided against Flinas Kleiza, who was then charged with a flagrant foul. Kleiza was initially called for a flagrant 2 foul, but officials reduced it to a flagrant 1 after reviewing the play. He spent several minute in the floor holding his wrists. From the bench, head coach Doc Rivers saw how the team doctors attended Rondo’s injury. Rondo eventually stood up and, although holding his right wrist constantly, completed one of his two free throws, and then walked off the locker room. On the positive side of things, the X-rays showed there was no fracture in his wrist and for a Rondo insisted on coming back again on the game, but the Celtics were just not willing to risk it.

The Toronto Raptors once again had to play without center Andrea Bargnani. This was actually the fourth straight game that Bargnani losses because of a calf strain and it’s quite evident that the Raptors are not doing too well without him. The Raptors have now lost 6 consecutive games this season and at 4-11 so far this year, they are far away from making a solid case for a winning season.

The Celtics had some help from Kevin Garnett with 15 points and Paul Pierce had seven assists. It was a clever plan from Doc Rivers as both players, Pierce and Rondo, seem to change rolls. Big points came from the bench too, with reserves Mickael Pietrus and Brandon Bass chipping in plenty. Pietrus made four 3-pointers and finished with 12 points and Bass had 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

It is still uncertain whether Rajon Rondo is going to be able to play on Friday as the Boston Celtics host the Phoenix Suns. Still, this has been a nice change of rhythm for the Celtics. We don’t know if Pierce and Rondo are going to keep on switching rolls during the season. One thing was evident. Once he gets his momentum going, and he becomes confident and aggressive, it really becomes a very though job to slow Rondo down. It comes down to either let him score or foul him.

Doc Rivers recognizes this. “His assists are going to happen because he’s (Rondo) a great passer,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said in the postgame conference”Tonight was just one of those nights. He was basically just scoring and wasn’t getting assists. But it was good for the team.”

The Miami Heat had to find a way to recover from a three game slide this season and to get there, they had to rely on every single bit of talent that LeBron James and Chris Bosh could throw in the court. The first half belonged almost exclusively to the San Antonio Spurs, and for the better of the halftime break it looked as if the Heat would inevitably lose it’s fourth game in a row. But perhaps in the same fashion as the Ave Phoenix rose from it’s own ashes, the Miami Heat put on one heck of a show in the third quarter to score 39 points, and finish off the San Antonio Spurs 120-98 in South Beach.

This was a big win for the Heat. For the fourth game in a row, Dwayne Wade had been on street cloths watching the game from the bench. He has been struggling with a sprained right ankle and the very tight schedule has only made things worst. So it would be up to the other two members of the Miami Heat Big Three to seal off the deal. And they finished strong. LeBron James had 33 points and 10 assists while Chris Bosh had 30 points for the night, including a perfectly executed court-to-court dunk to sign it out. If the first half was all about the San Antonio Spurs embarrassing the Heat, the second half was all about payback. The Heat shot for 68 percent in the second half and outscore the Spurs 71-35 in the second half.

The Spurs went into the intermission with 63-49 margin, after connecting 12 of it’s first 15 shots of the game. The Heat took an early start in the third quarter, and their momentum was only fueled up with LeBron James’ two consecutive three-pointers that gave the Heat a 72-78 margin. From there on, it was simply impossible for the Spurs to hold the Heat off. Just to put things into the right perspective, and perhaps to prove that when he’s got it right, he’s probably the best active player out there, James outscored and the entire Spurs team in the third quarter. LeBron James 17- San Antonio Spurs 12. James also had one more assists than the Spurs in the third.

Now, the statistic that comes out to be a little bit strange is that it really seems that the Miami Heat are better of without Wade. Just check out this next statistic: Without Dwayne Wade the Miami Heat are now 4-0 this season and 8-1 since early last season, when they don’t have the 2006 NBA finals MVP in uniform.

It is still uncertain what the future holds for the Miami Heat. At 9-4 for the season, the Miami Heat are not having their best start ever, but still, behind all the usual media grabbing highlights from James and the inconsistently talented Chris Bosh, the Heat might just be better of without Wade. Then again, we’ve still have to see how this team pulls it together once they have to face challenges from squads like the Knicks or the Bulls or their rivals the Boston Celtics.

Let the countdown begin… Everything that goes up must eventually come back down. The Giants pulled off an impressive win against the Green Bay Packers and showed that despite Aaron Rodger’s brilliant game all season long, the Playoffs just wont let you slip pass a bad day. The Packers had their super-star playing brilliantly during the whole regular season. The New York Giants on the other hand had a few slumps and only managed to finish with 9-7 record for the season, but overall, they defeated the Packers at the mythical Lambeau Field and let the defending champions behind.

Eli Manning finished the night with 21 of 33 passing for 330 yards with 3 touchdown passes and one interception. It was enough to overpower the Green Bay Packers and a flaw-prone defense to lead the Giants into a 37-20 unexpected blowout of the Packers. And it’s just hard to find excuses for these guys. It really doesn’t matter how you looked at this, the Packers had nobody but themselves to blame for the loss. The Packers dropped passes, fumbled the ball plenty, and just didn’t have any responses for the Giants offense, which under Manning’s leadership kept his receivers working overtime to secure the Divisional Title.

The Giants have now defeated the Packers at home for the second time in four years. Last time, the Giants defeated the Packers on their way to their most recent NFL Super Bowl Title. Now, it seems that if they can put up a good performance against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, they might very well get themselves back into the big dance.

The New York Giants have been building up their momentum since beating the New York Jets on December 24. They kept on strong to leave the Dallas Cowboys behind as both teams were playing for a spot in the Playoffs, winning a vital game at Arlington. Then they blew up the Atlanta Falcons in the Wild Card round, to then pull off the biggest upset of their season against the Packers.

As of press time the New York Giants are a 2½ point underdog on the spread against he San Francisco 49ers. Perhaps because the Giants are 3-4 against the 49ers in the playoffs. And then again, who can forget the now infamous collapse in a wild card game at San Francisco on Jan. 5, 2003. Just to set the record straight the New York Giants were leading 38-14 in the third quarter but fell apart and lost 39-38. And if there is a team that proved they can keep on fighting until the very end, that is the San Francisco 49ers and their quarterback Alex Smith, who finished off the New Orleans Saints when there were only 9 seconds left on the clock.

The Giants, on the other hand, are oozing confidence, and have the talent and the manpower to pull off an exciting upset. Their previous match only helped to build up their momentum. The Giants surprised the Packers with a touchdown off a long heave from Manning to Hakeem Nicks as the first half came to en end. They finished them off with a late touchdown off a turnover. Perhaps they could pull off yet another upset and make it straight into the Super Bowl.