Thunder top Celtics for 11th straight home win

Basketball Betting Lines

02/22/2012 - Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russell Westbrook scored 31 points, dished out six assists and pulled down five rebounds, as the Oklahoma City Thunder held off the Boston Celtics, 119-104.

Kevin Durant added 28 points, nine boards, six assists and four steals for the Thunder, who have recorded 11 straight wins at home for the first time since a 12-game streak from February 22-April 2, 1998, when the team was known as the Seattle SuperSonics.

James Harden and Daequan Cook tallied 17 points apiece for Oklahoma City, which has won four in a row overall.

The Thunder became the first team to score 100 points against Boston in 30 games.

Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce ended with 23 points apiece for the Celtics, who head into the All-Star break on a five-game losing streak. Garnett also had 13 rebounds in his return to the lineup after missing two games due to personal reasons.

Ray Allen donated 21 points and seven assists for Boston, which also went 30 straight games without allowing a 30-point scorer.

Trailing by nine, 23-14, with 4:54 left in the first quarter, the Thunder ended the frame with an impressive 21-2 run. Cook tallied six points during the burst, which Harden capped with a three-pointer for a 35-25 lead.

Oklahoma City then scored the first seven points of the second period. Cook's three-pointer, Royal Ivey's layup and Harden's layup made it 42-25.

The Thunder, whose margin reached 23 in the stanza, had four players in double figures at the break en route to a 72-49 lead.

The Celtics started to make things interesting in the third quarter by outscoring the home team, 31-22, to make it a 94-80 contest heading to the fourth.

Trailing 106-91 with 6:11 to play, Boston went on an 11-2 run to make it a six-point contest. Allen tallied seven points during the burst, which Pierce capped with a free throw to make it 108-102 with 3:31 left.

But the Thunder ended the game on an 11-2 spurt to claim victory.

Game Notes

The Thunder took both games from Boston this season and beat the Celtics in Oklahoma City for the first time (1-3)...Boston turned the ball over 18 times, leading to 24 Oklahoma City points...The Thunder were without forward Nick Collison (bruised left quadriceps)...Boston guard Rajon Rondo served the second of a two-game suspension. He was added to the 2012 East All-Star team for this weekend's game in Orlando...The Celtics were without Jermaine O'Neal (sprained wrist), Chris Wilcox (strained abductor) and Brandon Bass (sore knee)...Durant has been added to the 3-point contest for this weekend's All- Star Game festivities in Orlando. Durant will take the spot of Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson, who will miss All-Star weekend because of tendinitis in his left knee.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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