Jazz close out stretch in Oklahoma City

Basketball Betting Lines

02/14/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah just might be a sitting duck when it finishes a grueling three games in three nights road stretch tonight in Oklahoma City.

The Jazz lost to the Thunder, 101-87, in Salt Lake City last Friday and has played two games since, a 98-88 win in Memphis on Sunday and an embarrassing 86-80 setback to the lowly Hornets in New Orleans on Monday.

Al Jefferson had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds vs. New Orleans while Derrick Favors also scored 14 for the Jazz, who have lost six of their last eight games overall and fell to a Hornets team that had dropped eight straight and 23 of 25.

Utah coach Tyrone Corbin benched Jefferson and fellow starters Devin Harris, Raja Bell and Paul Millsap for the entire fourth quarter.

"It's absolutely [disappointing]," Corbin said. "It's everything I thought it wouldn't be, it happened tonight. We thought we could just show up and win the ballgame."

"I thought we came out and played pretty well early. Surprisingly, it fell apart on us," Bell added.

The Thunder, meanwhile, have been resting since topping the Jazz last week behind All-Star Russell Westbrook's game-high 28 points.

Fellow All-Star Kevin Durant added 19 points and Serge Ibaka contributed a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds as the Western Conference-leading Thunder won three of their last four games to wrap up a five-game road trip with a 3-2 record.

"We have always been a good bounce-back team after a loss," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks, who earned the right to coach the Western Conference at the All-Star Game later this month with the win. "Tonight was a good indication of how we play. We didn't have a lot of things going for us early. We were turning the ball over, but we fought, we stuck together and we competed."

OKC has won six straight on its home floor and is a stellar 9-1 at Chesapeake Energy Arena this season while Utah fell to 3-8 on the road with last's night setback in NOLA. The Thunder haven't started 10-1 at home since they were the Seattle SuperSonics back in 2004-05.

"It's just good to be home in our own house, our own city," Brooks told the Thunder's website. "We're going to be home for a while. That doesn't guarantee victories. We still have to work on a lot of the things that we need to improve and play with good energy, but it's nice to be in front of our home crowd for a while."

Oklahoma City, which plays six of its next seven at home, has won four consecutive games over the Jazz overall.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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