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"I'm glad for him because we need him and he's got to keep improving," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said of Walker. "He needs to keep working out his body. He could be the outside guy once we get Carmelo back and give us some more scoring."

 

"They were keying in on him, but other guys were open," D'Antoni said. "That's why they were shooting a lot of shots. He was great because he was just playing the game. He didn't force anything."

 

Anthony will remain on the sidelines tonight and will be reevaluated from there.

 

Chase Budinger, playing for the first time in four games, scored 21 points and pulled down eight rebounds as the Rockets used a strong second-half performance to take down the Wizards. Luis Scola added 19 points and eight rebounds for Houston, which has won eight of its last nine games.

 

Houston has won four straight vs. New York overall, sweeping the home-and-home series over the past two seasons.

 

Jrue Holiday celebrated his own bobblehead night by adding 15 points and Jodie Meeks contributed 14 for the Atlantic division-leading Sixers, who avoided losing back-to-back games for the first time this season. Thaddeus Young also reached double figures with 10 points off the bench.

 

"A very good win for us tonight from the standpoint of I really like the way we came out defensively and were very aggressive," said Sixers coach Doug Collins. "We really moved the ball well in that first half."

 

Centers Spencer Hawes (strained left Achilles) and Nikola Vucevic (hyperextended left knee/strained left quadriceps) remained out of the lineup for Philly. Hawes indicated he could play tonight but the team is likely targeting his return for Monday against Dwight Howard and the Magic. The rookie Vucevic, meanwhile, remains day-to-day.

 

The Pistons, who are opening up a four-game road trip tonight that will also feature visits to Milwaukee, New York and New Jersey, dropped their third straight on Friday, a 107-101 overtime loss to Atlanta in Auburn Hills.

 

"We take every loss personally, not just a close loss. I think every loss is a personal loss," Knight said. "You just don't favor one over the other, but this one will hurt a little bit more."

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.