Dr Bob
3* NY Knicks
NBA Opinion
NEW JERSEY (-9) over Cleveland
The Cavaliers went from bad to worse when Anderson Varejao was lost to injury and Cleveland is 0-12 straight up with Varejao with every one of those losses being by 8 points or more. The Cavs are 6-21 ATS in their last 27 games and only 4-20 ATS when not getting more than 15 points. My ratings favor New Jersey by 11 ½ points in this game and I’ll lean with the Nets based on the line value.
Anthony Redd
William & Mary
Teddy June
Pitt -10.5
The Duke's Sports
Milwaukee Under (178') for 2 Units
This series has gone "under" in 4 of the last 5 meetings and we still see value with the "under" here. Two defensive minded coaches in Skiles and Thibodeau have been consistent in playing solid defense. As for Skiles, he lost a key offensive weapon in Brandon Jennings and points have been at a premium for Milwaukee virtually all year. Thibodeau has made an impact in instilling his defensive philosophy brought over from Boston, as the Bulls are one of the top defenses in the NBA allowing just 89.6 ppg. Moreover, they're allowing just 83.8 ppg at home this season. And the numbers add up to what should be a lower scoring game tonight: Chicago is 5-15 O/U at home against a team with a losing road record; they're 7-20 O/U off a SU win, and 8-20 O/U on 1 day of rest. The Bucks are 1-4 O/U off a 10+ point loss and 5-13 O/U vs the NBA Central. "Under" it is.
Helmut
Pittsburgh Under 136
Kansas State Under 138.5
JB Sports
2* Phoenix Suns
California Sports
San Antonio/Golden St. Under
Wayne Root
Millionaire - Notre Dame
Billionaire - Kansas State
Jimmy Boyd
3* Golden State Warriors +6
3* Kansas State -5
3* Northeastern -5½
Larry Ness
8* Phoenix / Philadelphia Over 207
I'll make this short and sweet. The Suns average 106.0 PPG (3rd) and shoot 47.2 percent (2nd) on the season. They went into Detroit on Saturday, having won five straight games while averaging 115.4 PPG. So what happened? They lost 75-74 on 40.5 percent shooting, including 25.9 percent on threes. Defensively, they allow 107.8 PPG (29th) on 47.8 percent shooting (27th). The woeful Pistons made just 35.8 percent, including 3-of-10 on threes. The 76ers have turned things around after a very slow start and when these teams met in Phoenix (Dec 29), the 76ers won 123-110 while shooting 54.9 percent (Suns shot 49.4 percent). This is the final game of an eight-day, five-game road trip. Defense takes a 'holiday' and we see another high-scoring game just like in late December at Phoenix.
Mike Neri
New York Knicks
Kansas St.
Ben Burns
7* Calgary Flames -125
These teams have faced each other once so far this season. The Flames won that game, which was way back in October, by a 1-0 score. That puts the Predators in the "revenge" role, a role which has typically been quite good to them. However, they're more likely to get some "payback" when these teams play again at Nashville, in a few days. That's because the "situation" (schedule and venue) favors the Flames here.
While the Preds have been on a red hot roll, they're also off an OT game at Edmonton last night and are now playing their fifth straight on the road, the second last leg of their 6-game trip. They had trouble with Edmonton last night and now they're taking on a team which is superior to the Oilers and which is currently playing much better hockey than the Oilers were.
Naturally, they'd like to keep on rolling. However, the fact that the Preds have now won three straight could make them a little "complacent" here. The last time that the Preds played the second of b2b games, they lost by a score of 6-3. They're just 1-3 their last four in that situation.
The Flames have dominated the Preds in recent seasons. Including the 1-0 victory earlier, they're 10-4 the last 14 meetings in the series. That includes a profitable 7-2 (+4.3) mark the past few seasons.
The Flames, who had yesterday off, are starting to play much better hockey. They won at Vancouver (no easy task) last time out and beat Dallas by a score of 7-4 in their most recent game here. I had them in that one and I'm backing them again here.
Billy Coleman
4* Houston
Maddux Sports
10 Units Oklahoma City/New Orleans Under 191.5
10 Units NC Wilimington +14.5
10 Units Delaware +7.5
10 Units St Louis +110
Sam Paolini
20* GOY Washington / NY Rangers Under 5.5