Shaq enjoying a peaceful summer after Heat's title run

Basketball Betting Lines

08/26/2006 -

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. (AP) -Shaquille O'Neal has enjoyed a peaceful, relatively quiet summer.

``The way I like it,'' the Miami Heat center said Saturday.

Other than making a trip to China for an endorsement deal with a sneaker company and appearing at a golf tournament hosted by Heat teammate Alonzo Mourning, O'Neal has spent the last two months largely shunning the spotlight. Most of his time off has been with his six kids, whose names are freshly tattooed on his mammoth wrists.

He's relaxed, recovered from the grind of the past season, and still basking in the glow of winning his fourth NBA title - which the Heat claimed by beating the Dallas Mavericks in six games.

``I think we have a real good chance, a real good one, to do it again,'' O'Neal said. ``Winning it once, now we have the experience, the know-how. A little bit of luck, we might get it done again.''

In a wide-ranging interview, O'Neal expressed excitement over the idea that Miami could bring back its entire roster from last season for the title defense, pride in how Heat teammate and finals MVP Dwyane Wade has played so far at the world championships with the U.S. national team - and most emphatically, relief that coach Pat Riley finally announced that he'll return to the sideline next season.

``I wasn't worried,'' O'Neal said. ``Pat Riley deserves everything he gets. If he wanted to retire, I wouldn't have held it against him. Pat's a great guy. He's done a lot for me. We've done a lot for each other. I'm glad to be on a team that helped him get another one, and maybe we can get even another one.''

That quest will begin in earnest for O'Neal soon, when he starts playing regularly again with his Heat teammates, prepping for the start of October's training camp.

But Saturday, he was the main attraction at the grand opening of a gym of another sort - the latest 24 Hour Fitness club to bear his name.

O'Neal said he'd like to open as many as 40 gyms before his contract with the Heat expires in three years. 24 Hour Fitness, which was founded in 1983, has more than 3 million members and more than 350 clubs in 16 states.

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.