Pierce's big fourth quarter powers Celtics past Mavs

Basketball Betting Lines

02/13/2009 - Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Pierce outscored the Mavericks in the final period, pouring in 18 of his 31 points down the stretch as Boston rallied to claim a 99-92 victory over Dallas in each team's final game before the All- Star break.

Boston outscored Dallas, 30-17, in the final 12 minutes, led by plenty of daggers from Pierce. His two biggest came in the closing minute-plus, with a fall-away giving the Celtics a 93-91 edge with 1:12 on the clock and another tough mid-range bucket pushing the lead to four with 38.5 ticks to play.

Dirk Nowitzki, who tallied a game-best 37 points to go along with eight rebounds, made 1-of-2 foul shots on the other end. But Ray Allen -- who played despite hyperextending his thumb Wednesday against New Orleans -- made two from the charity stripe and Jason Kidd's badly missed trey moments later seal the win for Boston.

Rajon Rondo allowed Boston to hang on in the early going, registering his second career triple-double. He finished with 19 points to go along with 14 assists and a team-best 15 rebounds, and achieved the feat with 53.2 seconds still left in the third quarter.

Kevin Garnett added 16 points and five rebounds and Allen had 20 points. Boston heads to the All-Star break with the most victories in the league as part of a 44-11 record. The Celtics have won two straight and three of four.

The Celtics have won four straight over the Mavericks.

Josh Howard added 17 points for Dallas but fouled out with 3:47 to play. Antoine Wright had 10 points and Kidd dished out 10 assists, but scored only three points on 1-of-8 shooting.

The Mavericks (31-21) are still in the mix out West heading to All-Star weekend. Dallas had started a four-game homestand 2-0 before Thursday's setback.

Pierce's three-point play with 5:37 to play gave Boston its first lead of the game at 85-84. The lead grew to three before Nowitzki's triple tied the game, 89-89, with 1:58 on the clock.

Boston's go-to guy Pierce and Nowitzki exchanged two free throws before Pierce hit the two clutch, and difficult, jumpers in the closing moments.

Dallas had complete control of the first half, holding a 21-17 lead after one period and a 51-40 lead after 24 minutes of game action.

Game Notes

Boston shot 48.6 percent from the floor, while Dallas made 39.5 percent of its shots...The Celtics did commit 21 turnovers compared to eight for Dallas...Attendance 20,285.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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