Tony George
Phoenix vs Houston
Houston beat the Lakers their last game, but they out rebounded them 60-38 and LA shot around 33% from the floor. Phoenix lost to the Lakers. Common opponent comparision?? Not really. Doubt the Suns shoot 30% and get outrebounded here. The frontcourt of the Suns, who are hitting on all cylinders will be too much in transition for Houston. The Suns are on fire at 9-2 and both teams rested. I like the overall talent and DEPTH in this matchup that favors the Suns who OWN this series. The road team is 22-1 ATS and the Suns are 16-5 ATS the last 21 in this series.
Play 1 Unit on Phoenix
Marc Lawrence
Clippers vs New Orleans
The Hornets look for their initial win under new head coach Jeff Bower tonight knowing they are 10-0 SU and ATS the last 10 games against the Clippers. With the Clippers 4-0 ATS in this series when playing off a loss of more than 20 points and Los Angeles in off a road win, we'll stay at home with the Hornets. We recommend a 3-unit play on New Orleans.
Lenny Del Genio
Oklahoma City vs Miami
Off a near disaster against New Jersey, look for the Heat to take care of home court here against an Oklahoma City squad that has not won three straight road games since 2007. The Heat have done just fine on their home court so far this season, allowing just 91.3 PPG, and they have won 15 of 18 SU as chalk since last year's All-Star Break. Thanks to some injuries, we can take advantage of a small number here as we still Dwyane Wade and with Miami, that's all that matters. Take Miami.
KBHoops
NBA
5* Denver Nuggets -8.5 **POD**
CBB
4* Missouri -23.5
4* Kansas -11.5
4* Duquesne -1
4* Western Kentucky +5.5
3* Michigan State -10.5
NHL PRO PICKS
Carolina +156
Power Play Wins
Denver Nuggets -7.5
College Bettor
1 Unit - Michigan St. -10.5
2 Unit - Kansas -11.5
BLACK WIDOW
4* Pacers/Nets Over 190
4* Phoenix +3
igz1 sports
3* New Jersey +4.5
Jeff Benton
10 DIME: KANSAS
5 DIME: OKLAHOMA
Kansas
It’s extremely rare for a college basketball team to go wire-to-wire as the No. 1 ranked team in the country, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Kansas pulls off that feat this year, because the Jayhawks are loaded. Not only do they return their top NINE scorers from a season ago, including preseason All-Americans Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, but they also have arguably the most talented freshman class in the country. The best of the young crop is Xavier Henry, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard who – ironically – originally committed to Memphis but reneged and signed with Kansas after former Tigers coach John Calipari bolted for Kentucky.
In his first game in a Jayhawks uniform on Friday, all Henry did was pour in a game-high 27 points in 24 minutes, helping Kansas to a 101-65 rout of Hofstra as 27½-point favorite. I know it was just Hofstra and you don’t want to get too caught up in one game against an overmatched opponent, but the Jayhawks definitely exhibited their impressive depth in that opener. While Henry and Collins (23 points) did the bulk of the work, eight other Jayhawks got in the scoring column, with five tallying eight or more. Kansas also had a 48-32 rebounding edge and a 50.8 percent-36.6 percent field-goal edge.
As for Memphis, can you say “rebuilding mode”? Once Calipari departed, not only did the Tigers lose a slew of blue-chip recruits, but their best player from last year (point guard Tyreke Evans) bolted for the NBA. The fact that Memphis’ top two players are transfers (one a castoff from Duke; the other from the junior-college ranks) should tell you how long of a year it’s going to be for a program that won 138 of its last 152 games under Calipari since the start of the 2005 season.
Heck as it is, of the last 14 losses Calipari suffered at Memphis, 13 were against high-quality competition, including Duke, Texas, UCLA, Arizona, Ohio State, Georgetown, Syracuse, Missouri, Tennessee (twice) and – of course – Kansas in the 2008 national title game. In fact, since a 70-67 loss to Duke as a five-point underdog in 2005, the Tigers have failed to cover the spread in any of their last 13 defeats.
Bottom line: Kansas – which enters this game on a 27-9-1 ATS roll, including 7-1 ATS in its last eight against teams from Conference USA – is miles ahead of Memphis right now. Put it this way: The Jayhawks are laying double digits tonight on a neutral floor against an opponent that is 138-14 SU over the past four seasons and hasn’t been a double-digit underdog since Feb. 9, 2005. If that doesn’t explain the gulf that exists between these programs, nothing will. Throw in the fact that Kansas coach says he wants to start “defining roles” and get “a little more organized” with this game tells me he’s going to leave his big guns in for extended minutes tonight, and if that happens, the Jayhawks will roll by at least 25 points.
Oklahoma
Yes, Blake Griffin is gone. But he hardly left an empty cupboard behind him at Oklahoma. Like Kansas, the Sooners are blessed with a gifted roster of young talent that includes three McDonald’s All-Americans – a first for the school. Those three are sophomore Willie Warren and freshmen Keith “Tiny” Gallon and Tommy Mason-Griffin. Warren averaged 14.6 points for last year’s Oklahoma squad that reached the Elite Eight (where it bowed out to eventual national champion North Carolina), and he started this season with a 15-opint, 11-assist performance in Saturday’s season-opening 95-71 rout of Mount Saint Mary’s and scored 21 points.
Gallon, who replaces Blake Griffin down low, also had a nice collegiate debut Saturday, with 18 points and 15 rebounds … in just 22 minutes! And then there’s another freshman, Steven Pledger, who came off the bench and scored 21 in the win over Mount St. Mary’s.
Granted, Mount St. Mary’s isn’t exactly Texas or Kansas. But neither is tonight’s opponent. Louisiana-Monroe has won exactly 10 games each of the last two seasons. The Warhawks are 1-1 already this season, but the one victory came against Alcorn State (82-66) while the one loss came at LSU (82-62). All you need to know about LSU with respect to Oklahoma is this: The Sooners are the 17th ranked team in the country and received 490 votes this week; LSU not only is unranked, but of the 28 teams outside the Top 25 that received votes in this week’s poll, not one was named LSU! Point being: If LSU, which isn’t even among the nation’s top 50 teams, can beat UL-Monroe by 20 points, don’t you think Oklahoma – which is going for the school’s 1,500th win tonight, can top that?
Seven of Oklahoma’s last eight victories going to last season were double-digit routs, and the Sooners traditionally trounce these low-level programs. That includes blowout wins last year over American (83-54), Mississippi Valley State (94-53), Tulsa (69-44), Maine (78-52), VCU (81-70), Rice (70-58), Coppin State (93-62) and Morgan State (82-54). Lay the points, as UL-Monroe is just no match for what the young, quick Sooners are bringing to the court in this one.
Stephen Nover
10 Dime HORNETS
5 Dime UNDER Suns/Rockets
10 Dime HORNETS - The Hornets are experiencing life without Chris Paul while learning a new system with a new coach on the fly.
The results haven't been pretty.
Byron Scott was canned after New Orleans opened 3-6. The Hornets are 0-2 under general manager and new head coach Jeff Bower.
Expect, though, a major effort in this matchup from the Hornets. After this game, New Orleans plays the Suns, Hawks and Heat. That's most likely going to be three more losses considering those three teams are a combined 25-6.
The Clippers are a perfect road patsy. Los Angeles is 8-20 against the spread the past 28 times it has been a road 'dog.
The Hornets always play the Clippers with a great deal of confidence. They've covered against them in 10 of the last 11 meetings, including burying the Clippers, 112-84, eight days ago in Los Angeles.
The Clippers are 2-7 against the spread in their last nine games. They have injuries, too, with Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin out. Gordon especially is a huge loss for the Clippers.
5 Dime UNDER Suns/Rockets - Anytime I see a total this big without the names Knicks or Warriors attached to it, I'm automatically thinking under.
Yes, Phoenix is one of the participants. The Suns rank second in scoring averaging 110.4 points per game.
But if you discount the Suns' games against the Hornets and 76ers, they are averaging 103.1 points in their last six games. The Rockets are averaging 102.5 points in their last six games.
The Rockets are a more running team minus Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. But they also play some defense ranking 19th allowing 100.3 points per contest and 17th in defensive field goal percentage.
Despite having Steve Nash, the Suns are not a good free throw shooting club. Phoenix ranks 25th in free throw percentage averaging .708.
Executive
250 Drake
Ben West Sports
NBA
5* New Orleans Hornets (+2)
5* Los Angeles Lakers (-10)
NHL
5* Montreal Canadiens (-190)
5* Calgary Flames (-190)
NCAA BB
3* Southern California (-9.5)
3* Arizona State (-12)
3* Loyola Chicago (+2.5)
3* UAB (-5.5)
3* Weber St. (+5)
5DimeSports
4 DIME PLAY
Iowa State @ Drake
4 Dime Play Take Iowa State +1 The situational play here is the fact that Drake has won the past three meetings and Iowa State won the four before that. Iowa State is tired of loosing to Drake any team would be, but Iowa State has the talent to get the job done this year. Iowa State is returning 77.9% of last year's scoring and 4 of their 5 starters. On the other side of things, Drake finished last season on a 4-12 slump as defenses started ganging up on guard Josh Young. Things won't get any easier for Young considering the loss of center Jonathan Cox and guard Josh Parker. Drake lacks the inside presence and have frosh skills leading the way. Iowa State has started out nicely with a 2-0 record and averaging 21 points more than their opponent. Drake is 0-1 with their loss coming against Indiana-Purdue.
Trends I Like
DRAKE are 2-7 ATS in their last 9 home games.
Cyclones are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 non-conference games.
Craig Trapp
Sac/ Chi Over 198
SAC has won four in a row all averaging 110 pts in those games. They are not a good defensive team either allowing over 105 per game. This one is a lock for the over as the Bulls can run and gun against an average defense at best. Smells like an easy over!