Dwayne Bryant
Los Angeles Lakers at Atlanta Hawks
Play: Atlanta Hawks +5
This looks like a big potential flat spot for the Lakers. LA is coming off a HUGE double-revenge win over the Spurs in San Antonio. The Lakers absolutely dominated that game on national TV.
They have another big revenge game up next in Miami. The Heat embarrassed the Lakers by 16 points at the Staples Center on Christmas Day. I'm sure the Lakers are looking forward to getting some payback in that one.
So, coming off a HUGE win and with another HUGE revenge game against Miami on deck, just how "up" will the Lakers be tonight when they face a Hawks team that they hammered by 24 points just two weeks ago? This is a definite letdown/look ahead spot for LA tonight.
While LA could very well be distracted/flat, Atlanta will definitely be "up" for this game. The Hawks have lost consecutive home games to the Thunder and Knicks, but they did upset the Bulls at home prior to that.
I expect the Hawks to rise to the occasion tonight against the defending champs. Atlanta has actually defeated the Lakers three straight times at Philips Arena. I expect them to at least hang tough tonight in what is a very tough spot for the Lakers. Grab the points with ATLANTA.
Power Play Wins
Golden State -4
Sean Higgs
4* UConn Under
4* La Salle
RAS
N Arizona +5.5
Wunderdog
3 Units Atlanta +4.5
2 Units Lakers / Atlanta Under 185
The Los Angeles Lakers bring a seven-game winning streak with them tonight to Atlanta. This is a much different Lakers team than we have seen in the past. They are content in the half court, and have played defense almost every night. No team has reached 100 points against them in their last four, and the total has topped out at 182. The Hawks are no stranger to half court games as they have been under the 100-point mark in 12 of their lat 13 games. The Hawks have only been a home dog twice over the last two years, and both times came away with the straight-up win as they are tough at home. The Lakers are now 37-18-1 to the UNDER in their last 56 vs. the East. The Hawks aren't only tough to beat as a home dog, but 11 of their last 12 as a home dog have gone UNDER the total. Play both Atlanta and the UNDER.
4 Units Golden State -175
If you looked at nothing but the win and loss column for the Cavaliers it shows a 12-50 record, so betting against them on the moneyline certainly doesn't look like a bad idea. Looking even closer and seeing that in their last 18 games, they have been a dreadful 1-17 straight-up vs. a team with a losing record on the season. That certainly makes the odds posted here on Golden State at less than 2-1 look like it is chock full of value, so I'll ride with Golden State on the moneyline.
3 Units St. Bonaventure -195
LaSalle finished the regular season on a down note, losing six of their last nine games. They are breaking through on the road by just a single point for their lone road win in the nine games. The Bonnies have been strong at home especially of late as they have now won each of their last five on home hardwood. One of those wins was a 21-point pasting of LaSalle. There has been only one team with a losing record beating the Bonnies here at home all season, and hat was just about three months ago. Play St. Bonaventure on the moneyline in this one.
2 Units Princeton / Penn Under 127.5
This game has been a rivalry forever as the Princeton Tigers and the Penn Quakers are usually doing battle for Ivy League honors. That is not the case this time around, but this is the Quakers’ NCAA Tourney game right here. Princeton still is deliberate, but does open things up from time to time. But in the end this is a team that has played seven of their last 11 vs. Ivy competition this year to the UNDER. They are also now 16-5 to the UNDER as a favorite of -6.5 or less. Penn has gone 5-2 to the UNDER over the last half of the Ivy season, and the last six in this series has posted a 5-1 mark to the UNDER as well. I like the UNDER in this one.
2 Units Weber State / Montana Under 127
The Weber State Wildcats have held five of their last 10 opponents to the 50s or less, and have been in this position before. They understand that the defense is going to play a big role in what happens tonight vs. Montana. The Grizzlies are no stranger to the defensive end either, as they have held 15 opponents in the 50s or less on the season themselves. Weber State is now 6-1 to the UNDER in their last seven games vs. an opponent with a winning record on the season and the Grizzlies are 15-5 to the UNDER when facing a team with a winning percentage of over .600. This series has also seen six of the last seven play to the UNDER as well. This one plays UNDER the total.
Chris Jordan
200* La Salle
200* N Arizona
200* Blazers
Jimmy Boyd
5* Atlanta +5.5
4* Akron -12.5
Jeff Benton
15 Dime South Florida
15 Dime Wisconsin-Milwaukee
South Florida
You want to know how close Villanova came to entering the Big East tournament on an eight-game losing skid? This close: Their last two wins came in back-to-back road games against Seton Hall and DePaul by a total of five points (and the game against DePaul – which, at the time, hadn’t won a conference game – went to overtime)!
Since those two shaky wins, Villanova has lost to Syracuse (69-64 at home), St. John’s (81-68 at home), Notre Dame (92-73 on the road) and Pitt (60-50 on the road), failing to cover in all four games. The Wildcats also failed to cover as a road favorite in the victories at Seton Hall and DePaul. And prior to that, they came up short against Rutgers (77-76 loss as a 5½-point road chalk) and Pitt (57-54 loss as a 2½-point home favorate).
Add it all up, and Villanova is 2-6 SU and 0-8 ATS in its last six games … and the ‘Cats were favored in six of those contests! Oh, but that’s not all. Villanova has cashed just once in its last 12 games going all the way back to Jan. 26, going 1-9 ATS when laying points. And after starting the season 16-1 SU, the Wildcats won just five of 14 games.
To recap: Villanova ended the regular season on a 5-9 SU slide, losing six of its last eight, and the Wildcats come into this game on 1-11 ATS drought, including nine non-covers as a favorite … and yet, they’re laying nearly double digits. I don’t care that Villanova is facing an opponent that went just 9-22, losing 19 of its last 23 (including 15 of 18 conference games). For the Wildcats to be this big of a favorite is ludicrous. After all, at least South Florida (9-5 ATS last 14 games) has been somewhat profiteable lately!
Bottom line, guys: I’m not even sure Villanova – once ranked as high as seventh back on Jan. 17 – wants to be playing basketball right now. Certainly, it’s justifiable to question their mindset coming into this tournament. At the same time, despite a miserable season, South Florida never stopped playing hard, and you know facing a marquee opponent like Villanova in Madison Square Garden with a new lease on life will have the Bulls more than fired up. So take the generous points, and don’t fall out of your recliner if we see an outright upset here.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The fact that Butler, the perennial Horizon League powerhouse that came within about 2 inches of winning the national championship last year and comes into tonight having won eight in a row, is barely favored in this conference title game says a lot about how far Wisconsin-Milwaukee has come. The Panthers closed the season with nine straight Horizon League wins, cashing in eight of them, and if you throw in Saturday’s 70-63 victory over Valparaiso as a 1½-point underdog in the Horizon semifinals, Wisconsin-Milwaukee has won 10 consecutive conference contests, going 9-1 vs. the number.
Not only have the Panthers matched Butler’s 14-5 Horizon League record, but because they earned the No. 1 seed because they beat the Bulldogs this year … twice! Those victories: 76-52 home win as a 10-point underdog on Jan. 3 and 86-80 overtime road win as a 14-point underdog on Jan. 23 (which kicked off the Panthers’ current 10-game winning conference winning streak).
In fact, these teams have split their last six meetings, with Wisconsin-Milwaukee covering in each of those games (all as an underdog).
Three more reasons to side with the Panthers here:
1) Butler got this matchup with Saturday’s 76-68 win over Cleveland State, covering as a 4½-point underdog, but the problem is the Bulldogs are just 6-10-1 ATS in their last 17, and they’ve gone 18 straight games without covering in back-to-back contests – and that encompasses the entire Horizon League season;
2) Butler is just 3-8-1 ATS in its last 12 games as a favorite, including 1-4 ATS in its last five when laying less than seven points away from home; and
3) While the Bulldogs (as usual) continue to play outstanding defense, they have twice failed to stop Wisconsin-Milwaukee, giving up 76 and 86 points to the Panthers, who have averaged 79 ppg in their last seven conference games.
Brandon Lang
15 Dime Wisconsin Milwaukee +3
Wunderdog
Nashville / San Jose Over 5
PPP
6% NORTH TEXAS
6% NORTHERN COLORADO
4% GEORGE WASHINGTON
4% MONTANA
3% RUTGERS
3% ROCKETS
Teddy Covers
76ers +1
Rutgers +4.5
N Texas -3
Sam Paolini
20* Blackhawks Under
EZWinners
Milwaukee-Wisc
2 Minute Warning
Heat
Al DeMarco
Princeton
Lakers/Hawks Under
Andy Fanelli
Houston-Phoenix Over
Philadelphia 76ers
L.A. Lakers
Anthony Redd
Toledo
Mass
Wis-Mil
Brett Atkins
Pacers
Chuck O'Brien
Wis-Mil
Akron
Craig Davis
Princeton
Mancini
Wis-Mil
Jay McNeil
Butler
Lakers
Joel Tyson
Lakers
Matt Rivers
S Florida
Trace Adams
Princeton
Butler