Jeff Alexander
LA Lakers -7.5
With an opportunity to move above .500 for the first time since November, I expect the Lakers to roll tonight. The fact they are now just 1 1/2 games behind Utah for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference provides added motivation. The Lakers have won 9 straight at home versus Toronto by an average of 11.4 points. Take LA.
Dennis Macklin
Rutgers +4
In this battle of New Jersey train wrecks, we'll take the guys from New Brunswick over the guys from South Orange. Not much to chose from here with Rutgers just 1-11 in their L12 and Seton Hall 2-14 in their L16 but the Scarlet Knights lone win was against this Seton Hall bunch back on February 12th in 57-55 snoozer that the Pirates never led. While Rutgers is a reasonable 4-3 Big East road dog, The Hall is just 2-6 straight up at the Prudential Center. With Big East home favorites of five or less just 9-19 this year, we'll hold our noses and take a flyer on the Scarlet Knights.
Jeff Scott Sports
3 UNIT PLAYS
Phoenix/ Sacramento Under 207: A few years ago this would have been an easy Over play, but the Suns are not the scoring machine they once were, plus they have been playing very good defense of late as well. The Suns offense has scored just 87.8 ppg in their last 6 games and the only game that they have topped 100 points in their last 7 games was in OT. For the most part their defense has held its own of late as they have allowed just 93.2 ppg in their last 5 games, and that's with two OT games thrown in there. Granted that Kings games have been very high scoring of late, but their recent stretch of games have included either high scoring teams like Miami, San Antonio, Dallas and Denver or bad defensive teams like Orlando, Charlotte and Dallas. Phoenix is not in either of those categories right now and I feel they can slow game down enough on offense and continue to play good defense, which should put us at no more than 202 points.
CHICAGO -4 over Utah: The Jazz have really struggle on the road this year as they are just 10-21 SU away from home and they have allowed 102 ppg in those games. Their defense really struggles on the road. Well Chicago's defense doesn't struggle at home where they allow just 88.8 ppg. Utah is off BB losses and they are just 1-4 in their last 5 overall. Now they head to an angry Chicago team that is off an 18 point loss to San Antonio in their last game. Chicago will want to bounceback in a strong way with a big win over the floundering Jazz in this one.
Philadelphia/ Miami Over 194.5: Normally I have been looking to play the under when Miami takes on some of the weaker teams in the NBA, but I feel this is a spot to go the other way. A reason for playing the Under in these games is because these are the type of games that the Heat usually take off offensively, but after narrowly beating Charlotte in their last game I just don't see this Miami offense taking the night off. They will look to put big numbers here and they should vs a Philly defense that has allowed 108 ppg in their last two games and who allowed Miami 114 points in the first meeting. Miami averages 107.9 ppg at home, but they also allow 97.7 ppg on their home floor. Philly's offense not that strong, but they have scored 96+ points in 3 of their last 4 games and should be able to score at least 92 in this one, while Miami notches no less than 17 points of their own. This one should hit at least 200 points.
Red Wolf Sports
Boston Celtics -4
The Celts are on a roll, and we're going to ride them. Boston has covered four spreads in a row, and faces a tired Atlanta squad playing its seventh road game in eight contests. Without Rajon Ronjo, Boston is spreading the ball around, and its other stars are contributing more. Boston has covered seven of eight at home, and will continue that run tonight. Take Boston.
Harry Bondi
GOLDEN STATE (-2) over Houston
Last night we had a nice FREE WINNER on Florida State who avenged their worst loss of the season in beating Virginia outright. Tonight, we take that angle to the NBA where Golden State is primed for payback against a Houston squad that tried to set an NBA record for 3 pointers made earlier this year in running up the score in an embarrassing 140-110 Warriors loss! We think Golden State gets it's revenge tonight against a Houston team that has dropped four of it's last five to the number.