Blazers battle Knicks at Rose Garden

Basketball Betting Lines

02/08/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers will kick off a quick two-game homestand Sunday night versus the New York Knicks at the Rose Garden.

Portland has won three straight at home and will also host the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Blazers, who are 18-5 at the Rose Garden this season, have lost two straight games overall following a five-game winning streak.

In Portland's 102-93 loss at Oklahoma City, Brandon Roy had 32 points, nine rebounds and six assists, while Travis Outlaw added 20 points and six boards for the Trail Blazers, who went 1-2 on a three-game road trip.

Friday marked the first meeting between the Thunder's Kevin Durant and Portland's Greg Oden, the top two picks of the 2007 NBA Draft. Oden, the first overall pick, logged four points and two rebounds in defeat. The seven-footer missed all of last season with a knee injury.

It has been coming up three's lately for the Knicks, who will kick off a three-game road trip Sunday night in Portland and have lost three in a row since a three-game winning streak.

The Knicks suffered a 110-100 loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday, as Al Harrington led the way with 27 points. David Lee added 18 points and just as many rebounds, while Chris Duhon and Nate Robinson added 15 and 13 points, respectively, for New York.

New York will also visit the Warriors and Clippers on the road swing, and is 7-16 away from the Big Apple this season.

Portland beat the Knicks, 104-97, on December 2 this season at MSG and has won four straight in the series. New York has lost seven of eight and nine of its last 13 games at the Rose Garden.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.