Jeff Scott Sports
3 UNIT PLAYS
OKLAHOMA CITY -13 over Minnesota: Bad spot here for the T-Wolves as the Thunder are off 3 straight losses Minnesota is 4-10-1 ATS their last 15 trips here. The last time these teams met here the T-Wolves lost by 22 points and were without Kevin Love just like they will be tonight. Oklahoma City is 23-4 at home and each of their last 7 home wins have been by 14 points or more. The Thunder average 108.8 ppg at home, while Minnesota averages 94.2 ppg on the road. The T-Wolves just won't come up with enough offense to keep this one close vs an angry Thunder squad tonight. In their last game, which was vs Houston, the Thunder had a late meltdown and Houston stole the game. That won't happen here as OKC will look to have this one won by Halftime. Minnesota has no shot here.
New York -1.5 over TORONTO: The Knicks are off a horrible 34 point loss to the Pacers and before that game they lost at home to these same Raptors, so you can expect a very focused and spirited effort by the Knicks in this one. The Knicks are 25-6 this year when they hold opponents to less than 100 points and I feel they can do this in this one. Toronto has not scored more than 100 points in each of the last 5 meetings between these teams and they have averaged just 96.4 ppg in their last 5 games. New York allowed 125 points in their last game, so defense will be their focus here and we not that prior to the last game they had allowed just 92.8 ppg in their previous 8 games. NY's defense will come up big in this one as they get back on track after a few of bad losses. Revenge will be sweet here.
Orlando/ Memphis Under 186.5: 5 times this year the Memphis Grizzlies have been installed as DD favorites and those games have averaged just 183 ppg. Defense has been a staple of the Grizzlies all year as they have allowed 90.1 ppg overall and 87.5 ppg at home. Now when installed as a DD favorite they have allowed just 86.5 ppg, so don't expect allot of points from a weak Orlando offense in this one. The Magic average just 92.7 pg on the road and just 92.3 ppg when installed as a DD dog this year. Going to be very hard for the Magic to put up more than 85 in this one, especially in what should be a very slow paced game. The Memphis offense is not all that good this year, but with their defense they don't have to be. The Tigers do average 97.5 ppg when a DD favorite, but they also average just 93.2 ppg at home and 93.8 ppg overall. Memphis is not an uptempo team and even if somehow they hit the high 90's in this one I just don't see Orlando getting past 85 points. 97-83 sounds about right.
Harry Bondi
ST LOUIS (+3) over Butler
Want to get in front of a freight train going 80 miles an hour? Then bet Butler tonight. St Louis is 8-0 ATS the last eight games, is in first place and is the best team in the Atlantic 10 and somehow still unranked while conference brethren Butler and Virginia Commonwealth are ranked 17th and 24th respectively. Always respect Butler especially at home and they are playing with revenge from a 75-58 hammering they took the first time these two met this season at St Louis January 31st but Saint Louis has been playing stifling defense during this current streak and it has given everyone, including Butler, fits. St. Louis allows only 58 points per game and forces an average of 11 turnovers per game. The Billikens held Virginia Commonwealth’s conference-leading offense 16 points below its season average Tuesday and will do the same to the Bulldogs tonight. Take the white hot Billikins to keep the train rolling tonight and get there 9 straight win and cover.
Joe Gavazzi
St. Louis +2
This is a preview of the kind of basketball you will be seeing in the next six weeks from successful NCAA teams. Stout defense, protection of the bball, good shots and consistent work on the glass. Many will lineup here for Butler revenge following a 75-58 loss at St. Louis. The strong home boards of Hinkle FH have produced 13-1 SU mark for the Bulldogs, with 12 of the wins by 7 or more points. Trailing the Billikens by 2 games in the loss column of the A10 standings would be a further motivator. Few outcoach sixth year Butler head man Stevens, who has repeatedly proven his mettle against quality foes. Yet no one is having as magical a season as is St. Louis. In late December they stood 3-3 SU, 1-4 ATS, struggling without PG Mitchell. But directly correlating with the death of coach Rick Majerus, a December at home, and the return of Mitchell they have gone 17-2 SU, including entering tonight on a 8-0 SUATS run. That includes 4-1 SUATS away in league play. Their home victory on Tuesday against VCU was notable as they played by far the better defense and handled the havoc defense of Shaka Smart. Speaking of handling defense, that is something Butler was unable to do in the first meeting in which they committed 23 TOs. St. Louis your percentage side.
Oklahoma City -13½
The Wolves have dealt with their coach on personal leave and numerous injuries throughout the lineup. They enter tonight on negative runs of 4-16 SU, 7-18 ATS. Consider them to be the perfect victim for an OKC team who fell to their third loss Wednesday night when Houston blitzed them in the fourth quarter. But there has been no more resilient team in the NBA. In all games coached, OKC HC Brooks is now 100-55 ATS following a loss, including 10-4 ATS in that role this season. That includes 43-20 ATS if Brooks was a fav in the preceding game. With the ESPN cameras magnifying everything that is done, look for OKC to show no mercy in this bounce back blowout. As strong as theses four NBA winners are tonight, there are four CBKB games that are equally as strong, two each in the Ivy League and the Bracket Busters. Don't miss these winners!
Andy Iskoe
Detroit +9.5
This is a numbers play on the Pistons who have played well over the past month or so. Indiana is off of a 34 beatdown of New York on Wednesday night and often teams are unable to follow up one impressive rout with another above average performance. The Pacers have won both prior meetings with Detroit this season, both by double digits. All of this factored into the line which my analysis suggests should be no higher than minus 8. While it's clear that Indiana is the much better team, the gap between the Pacers and Pistons has been narrowing since the start of the new year, a gap that normally takes time for the linesmakers to take note of and adjust for. My projections call for Indiana to win by from 4 to 7 points.