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Bulls kick off homestand vs. Hawks

Basketball Betting Lines

03/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks will continue their climb to the top of the Eastern Conference tonight, when they pay a visit to the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.

The Hawks are seeded third in the conference standings, just two games behind No. 2 Orlando, and have won three of their last four games. Atlanta is coming off Sunday's 106-102 overtime victory versus the Milwaukee Bucks, as Joe Johnson scored nine of his 24 points in overtime to lead the way.

Josh Smith finished with 22 points, 15 rebounds and six assists, while Al Horford added 17 points and 10 boards for the Hawks, who were coming off a 111-103 overtime loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday.

"We really needed this one to get our confidence back going," Smith said. "We need to keep playing together as a team."

Chicago will kick off a four-game homestand Monday versus the Hawks, Grizzlies, Mavericks and Jazz, and have won four in a row in the Windy City. The Bulls, who are 19-9 as the host, suffered a 100-90 setback at Indiana the last time out on Saturday.

Derrick Rose had 27 points to pace Chicago, but sat out the final few minutes after apparently tweaking his left knee. Luol Deng had 13 points and 18 rebounds in the loss, just the second in the Bulls' last eight contests.

"This is one of those bumps in the road," said the Bulls' Taj Gibson. "In this league you have different games every night and we just have to get back on track."

Unfortunately for Chicago, Rose and Deng (knee) are both listed as questionable for this evening's game. The Bulls could use a big win tonight and sit sixth in the Eastern Conference standings, only a half-game behind Toronto.

Atlanta has won two of the first three meetings with Chicago this season and six of seven matchups overall. The Hawks, however, have dropped eight of their last 10 trips to Chi-Town.

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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.