Pistons rally vs. Rockets, snap six-game skid with OT win

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03/07/2010 - Auburn Hills, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tayshaun Price provided a season-high 29 points and 10 rebounds and spearheaded a late comeback in regulation, and the Detroit Pistons edged the Houston Rockets in overtime, 110-107, at the Palace at Auburn Hills.

Price made 13-of-22 from the field and scored six points during a late 10-2 run in the fourth quarter that tied the game for Detroit, which badly needed the win after losing its previous six. Richard Hamilton provided the other four during the late surge and totaled 22 with eight assists, while Jonas Jerebko had 16 points and eight boards in the win.

Will Bynum, replacing Rodney Stuckey in the lineup at point guard, finished with 12 points and 11 assists. Stuckey collapsed in the team's previous game at Cleveland and was held overnight at the Cleveland Clinic; he is expected to recover from what was an undisclosed ailment that kept him out of Sunday's contest.

Kevin Martin led the Rockets with 27 points but missed a potential game-tying three-pointer at the end of overtime, as Houston lost for the ninth time in 13 games. Aaron Brooks added 25 points and seven assists, while Luis Scola had 20 points and 15 boards in the hard-luck defeat.

Trailing by eight with 3 1/2 minutes to go in the fourth, the Pistons pulled even with Houston behind Hamilton and Prince.

Prince finished two dunks off assists from Hamilton on consecutive possessions to pull within four, and, after a Brooks layup pushed Houston's lead back to six, Hamilton's two free throws and layup made it a 102-100 game with 1:08 remaining.

After Martin missed a shot on the ensuing Rockets touch, Prince took a deep rebound for a breakaway dunk to tie the game with 45.8 ticks on the clock.

Shane Battier and Hamilton each missed deep jumpers in the final moments to usher the game into overtime.

Jordan Hill's three point play 80 seconds into the extra session provided the visitors with a 105-104 edge, but Hamilton responded with a jumper, and a Jason Maxiell layup with 2:15 to go gave Detroit a 109-105 advantage.

Martin drew a foul with just under a minute left and sank both free throw attempts to halve the deficit, and Price missed two free throws with a chance to push the lead back to four with 11.7 seconds to play.

Brooks tried a go-ahead three-pointer with 5.9 seconds to go but missed, and Jerebko went only 1-for-2 from the line to keep Houston's hopes alive. Martin received the inbounds pass but only grazed the rim with his shot to end the game in Detroit's favor.

The Pistons grabbed a 29-20 lead after one quarter, but the Rockets climbed back and cut their deficit to 57-55 at halftime.

A 6-0 run early in the third provided Houston with a 69-63 edge after a Brooks three, and the visitors were ahead by a score of 86-82 heading to the fourth.

The Rockets maintained the lead throughout the fourth until Detroit's late surge.

Game Notes

Maxiell complemented his six points with a career-high 16 rebounds...Ben Wallace (knee) did not play for Detroit...The Pistons will finish their three- game homestand against Utah and Washington...Houston fell to 14-17 on the road, while Detroit improved to 15-17 at home...The season series was split, 1-1, as Houston's three-game win streak in the series came to an end...Hill finished with 12 points and eight boards for Houston, which got 10 points and seven rebounds from Battier...Charlie Villanueva had 15 points for Detroit.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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