76ers, Heat square off in South Beach

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02/21/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eastern Conference rivals meet in South Beach Saturday afternoon when the Philadelphia 76ers kick off a four-game road trip against the Miami Heat.

The Sixers dropped their second straight game since the All-Star break on Wednesday when Carmelo Anthony had 26 points and 14 rebounds as the Denver Nuggets continued a successful run on the road with a 101-89 victory over Philadelphia at the Wachovia Center.

Andre Miller paced Philadelphia with 17 points but left in the third quarter with a right calf strain and did not return.

Lou Williams contributed 15 points off the bench, while Thaddeus Young and Samuel Dalembert each had 12 points in the loss, the Sixers' second in a row following a four-game win streak.

Andre Iguodala was just 1-of-6 from the field for 10 points in 27-plus minutes and fouled out for the first time this season.

Miller is listed as questionable after an MRI exam Thursday confirmed he suffered a right calf strain. The 32-year-old Utah product, who is averaging a team-best 6.4 assists and 15.8 points this season, has played in 501 consecutive games, the NBA's longest active streak.

Philadelphia will also visit New Jersey, Washington and New York on its trek.

The Heat, meanwhile, opened a short two-game homestand in losing fashion on Wednesday after Sebastian Telfair made six of Minnesota's 14 three-pointers and finished with a career-high 30 points, as the Timberwolves topped Miami, 111-104.

Dwyane Wade had 37 points and 12 assists, while Udonis Haslem added 17 points for the Heat, who fell to 17-10 as the host this season. Miami center Jermaine O'Neal made his debut with the team after being acquired from Toronto over the All-Star break, along with forward Jamario Moon.

O'Neal ended with 13 points, but his introduction wasn't enough for the Heat to post their second consecutive win, as they beat Chicago on February 12. Miami hasn't won back-to-back games since a three-game streak from January 24-28. O'Neal (eye) and Wade (flu) are probable versus the 76ers, while James Jones (wrist/hand) is listed as questionable.

The Heat and Sixers have split a pair of games this season with Philadelphia winning the most recent encounter, 94-84, on February 7 in the City of Brotherly Love. Overall, Philly has taken six of its past seven meetings with Miami but was routed in South Beach, 106-83, early this season.

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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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