Bobcats topple Pacers; Granger hurts foot

Basketball Betting Lines

02/18/2009 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gerald Wallace scored 25 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and doled out seven assists to lead the Charlotte Bobcats in a 103-94 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

Emeka Okafor chipped in 12 points and 12 boards for the Bobcats, who have won three of their last four games. Raymond Felton and Vladimir Radmanovic scored 16 and 15, respectively, in the win.

Troy Murphy had 18 points and 16 rebounds for the Pacers, who have alternated wins and losses the last seven games. Jarrett Jack totaled 18 points, eight boards and five helpers.

Marquis Daniels had 14 points and Danny Granger scored 12, but sprained his right foot early in the second quarter for Indiana, which has dropped 10 straight on the road.

Raymond Felton hit a buzzer-beater from beyond half court to give the Bobcats a 32-25 lead after the first quarter, but the Pacers cut it to 53-50 at the intermission.

Daniels' reverse layup trimmed the margin to 59-58 with 8:20 left in the third quarter.

Moments later, Boris Diaw dropped in a layup, Felton nailed a jumper and Wallace offered three points to make it an eight-point game.

Brandon Rush interjected with a three for Indiana, but Charlotte rolled off nine straight points. Felton had five and Okafor closed it out with a pair from the charity stripe for a 77-63 home-team lead with 1:53 left in the third.

The home team was sitting on a 79-69 lead heading into the final 12 minutes.

Rasho Nesterovic's jumper cut it to 81-75 early in the fourth, but the Bobcats inflated their lead and it hovered around 10 the rest of the way.

Game Notes

The Pacers shot 41.8 percent from the field and the Bobcats hit 41 percent of their shots...The teams went a combined 13-of-43 from behind the arc...Indiana is just 6-23 as the visitor this season. Its last win as the guest was a 113-110 triumph over Phoenix on January 7...The Bobcats began a brief two-game homestand and will also take on the Magic. They are 16-14 as the host in 2008-09...Charlotte took a 2-1 lead in the season series, but the Pacers have won nine of the 17 all-time meetings...The Bobcats have won five of seven as the host in this series.

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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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