Scott Spreitzer
Utah Jazz at Dallas Mavericks
Play: Dallas Mavericks +2.5
Utah is feeling pretty good about themselves. Last night's blowout win at New Orleans was their fourth straight win and the Jazz are 33-19 on the season. But now they're a tad overvalued, in our opinion. Utah is 1-5-1 ATS in the second of back-to-back nights and they're on a 0-5 ATS slide against teams playing less than .400 basketball on the season. Dallas still doesn't have Deron Williams, but they're growing used to that fact. In the meantime, Harrison Barnes is having a season. Barnes combined with Dirk Nowitzki and Wesley Matthews, to score 74 points in their most recent game, a 114-113 loss to Portland. Dallas covered, which means they're now on a 7-0 ATS run at home. They're also on a 4-0 ATS run against teams playing better than .600 basketball.
Bryan Leonard
Cleveland at Oklahoma City
Play: Oklahoma City -10.5
Trow away game for the Cavaliers tonight as word is that LeBron is sitting out and Love and Irving may join him. With Shumpert already out because of injury the Cavs will be really short handed tonight. Cleveland has played four games this season when the line said it was the lesser team. In those games the Cavs lost at Memphis by 8, beat Golden State by 1, lost at Detroit by 16 and lost at Golden State by 35. Keep in mind the two games playing shorthanded Cleveland lost by a combined 24 points. After winning three road games against conference opponents we wouldn't be surprised if none of the big three play tonight.
Executive Sports
North Carolina +2.5
This series, which is one of the best rivalry in all of sports, generally comes down to the wire. Both teams are coming off wins. Duke is 3-1 the past 4 games and NC is 9-1 in their past 10 games. Tar Heels are better inside, and they are rebounding extremely well. They have over 40 rebounds in 11 of their past 13 games. They are averaging over 40 rebounds per game on the entire season.
Buster Sports
St. Louis vs. Toronto
Play: St. Louis +123
St. Louis comes to the ACC tonight in search of their 3rd win in a row on the road as they continue their 5 game road trip. After firing coach Ken Hitchcock last week the Blues have won 3 out of 4 games. The first team they played after the firing was these same Toronto Maple Leafs. The Blues laid a beatdown on the Leafs in that game 5-1, and we expect the Blues to win again tonight. The Blues have not allowed a goal in their last 2 games and they are really starting to play some solid hockey. The Leafs come into this game following a 3-1 win against Dallas but that was only their second win in their last 6 games.
Ian Cameron
St. Louis vs. Toronto
Play: St. Louis +120
I delivered a free play winner last week with this same matchup as the St. Louis Blues trounced the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1. It was the Blues' first game after the firing of head coach Ken Hitchcock with Mike Yeo taking over behind the bench. The same two teams meet tonight in Toronto and even though it is a revenge situation for the Leafs, the Blues are playing too well and getting too good of a price tag here to pass up. St. Louis is 3-1 since the coaching change and they have registered extremely impressive back-to-back shutouts on the road against Philadelphia and Ottawa by a combined score of 8-0. The goaltending from Jake Allen which had been shaky for much of the season has been better of late and the team is buying into being much more assertive, especially paying more attention to detail defensively in their own zone. Toronto has had problems defensively and keeping the puck out of their own net for several games now and that could be a problem tonight. St. Louis is 5-2 in the last seven meetings against Toronto and at the current +120 price, there is still value on this morphing Blues team playing with renewed energy and confidence.
VegasButcher
Charlotte Hornets +3.5
The Hornets have been playing poorly lately, but they're finally getting healthier. They played the Rockets close in their last meeting, and I expect a similar effort tonight.
Brad Powers
Utah -15.5
First, I have this game power-rated Utah -19.86. It's the old "Buy Low/Sell High" theory in place here. We're catching value because Utah is 1-3 SU/ATS in their last 4 games while Washington St is 4-1 ATS their last 5 games. Utah has had significant matchup edges over Washington St in recent years as they are 6-0 SU/ATS vs them at home. They hammered the Cougars not only 88-47 in the earlier meeting this year (+19 on the boards) but also hammered them by the same exact score last year 88-47. The Utes need to regain some momentum if they want to punch their tickets on Selection Sunday and they get another emphatic blowout win here over Washington St.