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"Our mental approach to the game was much, much better to start the game, especially on the defensive end," said Afflalo, who also blocked two shots.

 

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You have to figure the loss of All-Star big man Al Horford will eventually catch up to the Atlanta Hawks. So far, however, Atlanta has kept its head above water and will try to finish a four-game homestand in perfect fashion when they host Jamal Crawford and the Portland Trail Blazers tonight at Philips Arena.

 

Crawford's troubles have coincided with Portland's although the club did snap a three-game skid and improved to 1-2 on a six-game road trip Monday in the Big Easy when LaMarcus Aldridge scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds, helping the Blazers handle the New Orleans Hornets, 84-77.

 

"Sure it was ugly but we needed a win and we'll take it. We know we can play better and we know we'll have to play better, but we're happy with the win," Blazers head coach Nate McMillan said.

 

In Atlanta's most recent outing on Monday, Josh Smith poured in 28 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Hawks continued to surge with a 93-84 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

 

"I think I'm in a different state of mind," Smith said. "I'm playing as hard as I've ever played."

 

Atlanta has won five straight games over the Blazers and Portland's last win in the Peach State came back in January of 2008.

 

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince has scored 20 points in back-to-back contests but it hasn't been enough to lift his team to victory. Perhaps a third time will be a charm when Detroit takes on the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight at Target Center. Prince is averaging 10.5 points this season and has scored in double figures over the last four games. He delivered his second straight 20-point effort in Tuesday's 97-80 loss at Houston, while Ben Gordon and Rodney Stuckey added 18 and 16 points, respectively, in defeat.

 

Prince posted two steals for 400 in his career and needs one block for 400. Greg Monroe had only four points and grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds. The Pistons, who are last in the Central Division, have lost eight of their last nine games and fell to 1-6 as the visitor this season. They are averaging a league-low 85.0 points per game and have one of the worst records in the NBA at 3-11.

 

Love tied Hall of Famer and former Houston Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon for the NBA's longest double-double streak to start a season (1992-93) with 33 points and 11 boards in Monday's 99-86 win versus Sacramento. Luke Ridnour added a season-high 25 points and Wayne Ellington scored 15 points off the bench for the Timberwolves, who snapped a three-game home losing streak and improved to 3-5 in the Twin Cities.

 

"Once we get everybody healthy ... we're very good," said Love, who is just one 30-point effort short of tying Kevin Garnett's franchise record of four in a row set from March 22-28, 2000. "We can surprise a lot of people. We just want to continue to get better."

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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