NORTHCOAST
3* Delaware
Jim Feist
Charlotte
Milwaukee
Portland
Erin Rynning
Playmaker: Minnesota Over
Phoenix Under
California Sports
Phoenix Suns
Dr Bob
Opinions
SAN ANTONIO (-8) over Atlanta
San Antonio has the best record in the NBA and the Spurs apply to a very good 27-0-1 ATS subset of a 63-15-1 ATS home momentum situation tonight. While I’d love to play that angle, I’m afraid the line is a bit high, as my ratings favor the Spurs by just 6 ½ points over Atlanta with Joe Johnson not playing (he’s actually a negative for the Hawks). I’ll still lean with the Spurs based on the great situation and I’d take San Antonio in a 2-Star Best Bet if the line goes down to -7 points.
INDIANA (-6½) over Charlotte
The Pacers are 15-3-1 ATS after the last 19 losses, including 8-2 ATS this season and that’s enough to get me leaning their way tonight.
Matt Fargo
Golden State
ATS Lock Club
5 Units Utah Jazz -2.5
4 Units LA Lakers -2
4 Units Atlanta Hawks +8
KELSO
50 Units New York Knicks -2.5
15 Units San Jose State Spartans -3
3 Units Iowa Hawkeyes -1.5
Seabass
100* Raptors
100* Wyoming
100* Fairfield
100* Red Wings
100* NJ Devils Under
200* Steam Wizards
MTi Sports
4* Spurs
4* Thunder Over
Ben Burns
Bucks
Warriors
O.C. Dooley
2 Units Heat / Warriors Over 204.5
One of the keys to this selection has to do with the schedule as Miami’s road trip will continue tomorrow night in Sacramento against one of the league’s “worst” offensive statistical attacks. It was almost exactly one week ago when LeBron James returned for the first time to Cleveland and the Miami offense (118 points) promptly put on a shooting clinic. The oddsmakers had to keep tonight’s total somewhat in check due to the “doubtful” status of Golden State point guard and floor leader Stephen Curry (20 points per game) who suffered a sprained ankle a few nights ago and could miss some time. Curry’s possible absence could hurt the Warriors offense, but the fact of the matter is that their defense has been awful in the past five outings permitting on average a whopping 111 points per contest. Golden State has just signed veteran guard Acie Law as a possible backcourt replacement, but the big news is that the Warriors #1 draft pick (6’ 10” Ekpe Udoh) is set to make his professional DEBUT following wrist surgery that was performed way back in the month of July. One Golden State player who has had tonight’s game “circled” on his calendar is Dorell Wright who spent his initial 6 seasons as a professional playing in Miami, and even named his son after Dwayne Wade. It is safe to say that Wright is going to have a rather large scoring effort this evening against his now former team. Miami’s most recent outing was Wednesday when they posted 111 points in a victory at Utah where LeBron James (33 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds) put up solid numbers across the board. In his career against Golden State’s soft defense, King James is averaging a healthy 28 points per contest. We have a potentially interesting matchup down low in the paint this evening as Golden State finally unveils their #1 draft pick who will go against Miami big man Zydrunas Ilgauskas who just happens to be coming off his initial “double double” (16 points, 10 rebounds) in a Heat uniform. This series seeks to produce a third-consecutive OVER the total late this evening in what will be a heavily watched ESPN telecast
Royal Sports
Washington
New Orleans
Sienna
Jeff Benton
15 Dime Oklahoma City
5 Dime Oklahoma City ML
Start with the fact Oklahoma City has had the upper-hand in this rivalry lately, winning and cashing in three straight meetings – including a 95-89 victory as a 3½-point home favorite 12 days ago – after the Hornets had won the previous 10 clashes. The Thunder limited New Orleans to just 90.3 ppg on 44 percent shooting in those three contests.
On Wednesday, Oklahoma City went to Minnesota and spotted the TWolves a 40-22 halftime lead, then went on an 89-63 run to end the game, rolling to a 111-103 victory as a five-point road favorite. That pushes Thunder’s road record to 8-4 this season.
Granted, the Hornets have been strong in the Big Easy so far, winning nine of 11 at home after Wednesday’s 93-74 rout of the Pistons as a 10-point chalk. However, look who that victory came against: Detroit, which is 7-16 on the season. I bring that up because since racing out to an 8-0 start to the season, New Orleans has just one victory against a team that currently has a winning record, and that was a 99-97 home win (as a 4 ½-point favorite) back on Nov. 17 that improved the Hornets to 10-1.
They followed that up with consecutive wins over the crappy Cavaliers and Kings (by a combined 11 points, by the way) to move to 12-1, and since then New Orleans is just 3-6 with victories over Portland, Charlotte and Detroit. Additionally, despite easily covering the number in Wednesday’s win over the Pistons, the Hornets are mired in a 3-9 ATS rut (2-4 ATS at home) after starting out 8-0-1 against the number.
More poor spread-covering trends for New Orleans: 2-6 as a favorite, 1-6-1 against winning teams, 0-5-1 after a SU victory, 2-6-1 when coming off a double-digit win, 7-19 on Fridays, 1-7-1 versus the Western Conference and 10-21 against the Northwest Division. On the flip side, the Thunder, who ended an 0-4 ATS slide at Minnesota, have cashed in four of their last five as an underdog (all on the highway) and 12 of 17 on Friday.
Lastly, Oklahoma City’s three-game spread-covering streak against the Hornets is part of their 5-2 ATS roll in this rivalry. Tonight, Kevin Durant and Co. make it four straight against New Orleans, not only covering the spread but posting the outright upset!
Wizard of Odds Guaranteed Selections
BOOKIE-BUSTING LATE INFO NBA TOTALS BOMB
Miami and Golden St OVER 204