Carmine Bianco
Montreal Canadiens at Detroit Red Wings
Play: Montreal Canadiens -1.5 +227
Canadiens were on a very good roll away from home with 5 wins in 6 games while picking up a point in the other before getting blown out in Minnesota 7-1 with Carey Price giving up all 7 and that likely won't sit well with him and in the dressing room. Price should get the start on Monday giving him and the team an opportunity to put that game behind them and get back into the win column. They'll take on a Detroit side coming off a big win against Pittsburgh but you'd have to go back 16 games to find back to back wins by this Wings team. I'll lay the puck line here with the Canadiens and take the +227 in the process.
Mike Rose
Texas Arlington at South Alabama
Play: Texas Arlington -5
UTA big man Kevin Hervey will be the best player to take to the hardwood in this matchup. Checking in with a 15.0 points per game average while ripping down a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game, he’s going to be able to do as he pleases down low with South Alabama not having anyone that can match his physicality. He went for 24 points and 11 rebounds the lone time he got to run up against this defense last season, and is going to shine once again.
These teams have played to some competitive high scoring affairs since becoming Sun Belt rivals back in 2014. Five of their six overall clashes since then have combined for high scorers and the teams split all six meetings straight up. More importantly, South Alabama has been the side to back with it covering each of the last three meetings and four of the last five.
This is a much different year however. UT-Arlington is the better of the two teams by a country mile, and will be marching the best player onto the court. The Jaguars inability to score the basketball is going to find them struggling to keep pace. With that, look for UTA to put an end to its coverless streak in the recent rivalry in what will likely be a lower scoring game due to South Alabama’s scoring and rebounding woes.
David Banks
Thunder @ Clippers
Pick: Thunder +8
The Los Angeles Clippers have caught fire once again as Chris Paul has amped up his play in the absence of star forward Blake Griffin. Paul will need another big night at home on Monday as the Clippers entertain Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Westbrook is the NBA’s leading scorer and is having one of the more memorable seasons in NBA history. Currently, Westbrook averages triple-double per game. Should he end the regular season doing so, he would become only the second player in league history to average double figures in points, rebounds, and assists. Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson was the other.
The Clippers have won four in a row after having lost their previous six games. Paul leads the Clips with 17.7 points and 9.8 assists a game. J.J. Redick (15.6 ppg) has stepped up as has guard Austin Rivers (10.8 ppg), who scored a team-high 24 in a recent win over Sacramento. DeAndre Jordan (11.9 ppg, 13.5 rpg) continues to play well as the Clippers prove they can win without Griffin. The perennial All-Star will be out four to six weeks recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. Griffin was averaging 21.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game prior to the injury.
Los Angeles will likely not be able to slow down Westbrook who averages 31.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 10.3 assists per game. What the Clippers can do though is slow down the likes of guard Victor Oladipo (16.2 ppg) and centers Enes Kanter (13.7 ppg) and Steven Adams (12.2 ppg). While Westbrook is a special kind of player, he cannot do it all by himself.
ASA
New Orleans at Indiana
Play: New Orleans +6
Indiana had been on a 5-game winning streak prior to a trip to London where they lost to the Denver Nuggets 140-112. That travel situation could have an impact on today’s day game against the Pelicans. New Orleans is playing better of late having won 6 of their last 10 games overall. There one big weakness in a few games lately has been rebounding but they won’t be exposed here by a Pacers team that is one of the worst rebounding teams in the league (3rd to last). Defensively the Pelicans hold a decisive advantage with the 7th best defensive efficiency rating in the NBA allowing just 1.06 points per possession. The Pacers rank 18th in that same category and in their last five games they have allowed opponents to hit an average of 48.3% from the field while giving up 115PPG. The Pelicans have one of the better FG% defenses and have held their last 5 foes to an average of 42.3% shooting. These same two teams met in mid-December and the Pelicans won at home by 7. New Orleans has been a solid dog all season and when getting 5.5 or less points they are 9-5 ATS. Grab the points!
Brad Wilton
MLK Day comp play is the 76ers plus the points at the Bucks.
First meeting of the year between the teams, and while Milwaukee has won 9 in a row in the series, it is Philadelphia that has covered in 2 of the last 3.
The Sixers are also making some in-roads this season in general, as Philly hits the Bradley Center having won straight up in 5 of their last 7 games, and they have covered the spread in 7 of their last 9 games overall!
As for the Bucks, they have been playing competitive basketball, as they have won 5 of their last 8, but against the spread Jason Kidd's team has failed 3 of their last 4 when listed as the favorite.
Look for the Bucks to grind out the win in a close one, as the 76ers cash in against the spread.
3* PHILADELPHIA
Chris Jordan
My late freebie is on the North Carolina Tar Heels, at home and laying a couple of touchdowns to the Syracuse Orange.
The most significant win by the Orange to date, is a 70-55 home win over the Miami Hurricanes. Other than that, there's really nothing impressive to discuss with this team. Syracuse's scoring offense ranks 111th in the nation, with 76.3 points per game, while its field-goal percentage ranks 118th with a 45.8 percent clip.
Tonight they head to Chapel Hill to take on the nation's fourth-best scoring offense that averages 89.6 points per game. The Tar Heels also rank fourth with a 19.3 scoring margin, while their rebounding margin is No. 1 in the country, outcleaning the glass by a 14.1 margin.
Since losing in Atlanta to Georgia Tech on New Year's Eve, the Heels have won four in a row and haven't scored less than 89 points in any of those victories.
Dating back, the Heels have covered 16 of 21 at home, where they're 9-0 this season. They're also on a 4-0 run against Syracuse - including an 83-66 win in last season's national semifinal.
Lay the points here, as North Carolina rolls.
1* NORTH CAROLINA
Dave Price
Hornets vs. Celtics
Play: Hornets +5
It's safe to say the Charlotte Hornets will be hungry for a victory tonight in Boston. They have lost 4 straight and 6 of their last 7 games overall. They hit rock-bottom with a loss at Philadelphia on Friday. But they've now had 3 days to recoup and try and end this 5-game road trip with a victory. I think the Celtics are in a bit of a letdown spot here after Isaiah Thomas hit a buzzer-beater against Atlanta for a 103-101 victory last time out. Boston is 52-81 ATS in its last 133 home games off an upset win as an underdog. The Hornets are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following a ATS loss. The Celtics are 3-13 ATS in their last 16 games playing on 2 days rest. The road team is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings. The underdog is 27-11-1 ATS in the last 39 meetings, and the Hornets are 13-6-1 ATS in their last 20 meetings in Boston.
Tony George
Green Bay vs. Valparaiso
Play: Green Bay +9
Too Many Points here as Green Bay can flat out score points, and when you have a team who has scored 80 ppg their last 5 and you give them 9 points, even on the road, that to me is Value in an underdog, and it is not like Valpo plays shut down defense either and as a matter of fact Green Bay has ripped off 7 straight wins and are rolling and their defense in their last 5 games has been 8 ppg better than their overall season average.
Jack Jones
Providence vs. Georgetown
Play: Georgetown -6½
After starting 0-4 in Big East play, Georgetown has responded with back-to-back home victories over St. John's (by 28) and Connecticut (by 3). The Hoyas will now be out for revenge from a 70-76 loss at Providence on January 4th less than two weeks ago.
I fully expect a big effort from the Hoyas here because not only are they out for revenge from that 6-point loss earlier this season, but they have actually lost five straight meetings with Providence by 5 points or less. But this is the worst team that Providence has had for a while, and they are ripe for the picking here.
The Friars are 0-5 in true road games this season. They are getting outscored by 12.2 points per game on average in those true road games. That includes a 12-point loss at Boston College, a 26-point loss at Xavier, a 17-point loss at Butler and an upset loss at DePaul, going 0-4 ATS in their last four road games. This team clearly has not played well away from home.
SPORTS WAGERS
PITTSBURGH -1½ +222 over Washington
It’s not easy to pull the trigger on the Penguins here spotting 1½-goals to the hottest team in the league but our position on this bet remains the same. If Pittsburgh is up by one goal late, the Caps will pull the goalie, thus providing the Penguins with a big window to score an empty netter. Of course the key here is that the Pens have to leading but we like their chances to come up with a beauty. You see, Pittsburgh has been buried by a combined score of 12-3 in two meetings against the Caps this year. While the Pens have not looked sharp recently nor have they looked sharp in several games the entire year, this is the perfect time for the Penguins to push back and remind everyone just who they are messing with. Perhaps the Pens are suffering from a Cup hangover but when this team is focused and playing their best, they’re hands down one of the top-3 teams in the league. At home, Pittsburgh is even more difficult to defeat. The Pens are coming off a 6-3 loss in Detroit that followed a 4-1 loss in Ottawa and a 5-2 loss in Washington last Wednesday. Pittsburgh has dropped three in a row and has been outscored 15-5 over that stretch. The Pens stock is low but they are priced like they're in great form and that stood out to us.
Meanwhile, it seems like the Caps have won about 100 games in a row and they are blowing out everyone in the process. The Caps are coming off weekend games (Fri and Sun) against Chicago and Philly and only outscored that pair, 11-0. The Caps have recorded an incredible four shutouts over their last six games. They are also 16-2-2 over their last 20 games. To suggest that the Capitals are peaking would be an understatement as they are downright dominating where it counts most -- on the scoreboard. Here’s where it gets interesting though. Washington hosted Pittsburgh last week and was a -118 favorite. Five days later and Pittsburgh is a much higher favorite against the same team. The point is, how can the odds makers make Pittsburgh a bigger favorite when it is the Caps that are on fire and not the Penguins. The Capitals are beyond appealing here. They are a freight train right now that is near impossible to bet against when being asked to spot a price in the -130 to -140 range or any range for that matter. This line tells us that Pittsburgh is in line to play a monster game and it also tells us that the odd makers are taking a position. That’s all the info we need to step in.
SPORTS WAGERS
SOUTH ALABAMA +5½ over UT Arlington
UT Arlington pulled off one of the bigger upsets of the season thus far when they went into then #12 St. Mary’s as a 15-point dog and defeated the Gaels by 14. That put UT Arlington on the map and it subsequently went on to win its next four games to run its winning streak to 11. Overall, the Mavericks have put together a pretty good résumé but we’re not buying it. The Mavs have lost two straight to a couple of below average teams in Texas State and Troy, the latter by 22. They were favored in both games and lost both games outright. The Mavs got hot for a stretch but they are a team that cannot be trusted and absolutely cannot be trusted spotting road points. Incidentally, this will be the Mavs third road game in a row, which is not an easy task, especially considering they played on Saturday and this is an early tip-off.
South Alabama is simply the better balanced team that has five players averaging double digits per game and its sixth leading scorer is damn close as well, averaging 8.5 points per. The Jags are also 7-3 at home but its overall record of 9-8 has them undervalued here. The Jags last two road games were both losses but one was by just one point and the other one was a 5-point OT loss. We could easily be discussing a Jags team on a four-game winning streak here with an 11-6 record as opposed to a 9-8 record. What we know for sure is that South Alabama can win this game outright and that it can go toe-to-toe in its own building with this intruder on its worst day. Now throw in a handful of points into that equation and the value shifts big time to the dog. That’s how we’ll proceed.
Power Sports
Charlotte vs. Boston
Pick: Charlotte
The Hornets will be wrapping up a five-game road trip on MLK Day and hope to do so by finally winning a game. While 0-4 SU on the current trip, they are at least 2-2 ATS. But Friday saw them suffer an embarrassing defeat in Philadelphia, 102-93 as five-point favorites. The team has just one win in its last seven games overall and is a precarious eighth in the Eastern Conference. But, I have them ranked fifth in the conference due to their point differential and net efficiency rating. I believe them to be an undervalued side in this spot.
Boston treated me well Friday night as they went to Atlanta and prevailed 103-101 as 3.5-pt dogs. They were my *10* Game of the Week. Unlike Charlotte, the Celtics currently find themselves in fine form w/ six wins in the last seven games. But they could be short-handed here. The statuses of Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Zeller and Avery Bradley are all in doubt for tonight. Considering that potential lost production, I wouldn't feel comfortable at all laying this many points.
The Hornets are 0-2 SU/ATS this year vs. the Celtics. Both games were decided by eight points or less. I just think that the sense of desperation for the road team will be the difference in this one.
Dave Essler
Monmouth / Canisius Over 165
Analysis: Yes, it looks easy but I'm not seeing a scenario where they don't get there - and there are better numbers now. Clearly we've got nothing to worry about as far as the pace and scoring opportunities. Cansisius cannot play defense, and Monmouth's defensive weakness is the perimeter, where the Griff's wanna play. Both teams are excellent FT shooting teams, don't turn it over, and neither team is a great defensive rebounding team - so perhaps lots of second chance points/fouls//put-backs. There's not much more to this - it's got all the ingredients we need. We just need them to make shots. Or, assume they won't because the early returns say so, and take the under.
Brad Powers
Troy -5
The Trojans have covered 8 straight games so we are laying a bit of a premium here as the public is starting to catch on to this very hot Troy team. On the other side, Texas St is traveling on back-to-back road games with only one day rest in between and are just 1-5 SU/ATS on the road this year. I have the game power-rated at Troy -8.5.
Anthony Michael
Golden State -7.5
Think the Warriors will be motivated here??? Not only the game 7 loss on their home court in the Finals last year but the loss in Cleveland on Christmas Day blowing a big 4th quarter lead will have Golden State laser focused on not only a win here but a big statement making win on national TV. They catch the Cavaliers in a perfect situation here playing the last game of a 6 game road trip with the Cavs owning a 3-2 SU record on. Not that the Cavs won't try but with a .500 or better road trip already in their back pocket and no real challenger to their dominance of the Eastern Conference I don't see Cleveland being nearly as motivated as Golden State here. Lay it with Golden State here.