Steve Janus
Los Angeles Clippers -4.5
The Clippers are showing some great value tonight even though they will be playing on no rest. Los Angeles is finally back to full strength and it's only a matter of time before they start playing like the team that had the best record in the Western Conference earlier this season. This is a big game for the Clippers, as they want to finish up their 8-game road trip at .500.
Philadelphia comes in having won 4 of five, but those four wins came against the likes of Charlotte, Orlando, Sacramento and Washington. Sandwiched in there was a horrible 69-88 loss at home to the Pacers, who were playing their 3rd game in three nights. The 76ers simply aren't a very good team and I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Clippers won this game by double-digits.
Los Angeles is 16-6 ATS as a favorite of 3.5-9.5 points this season, while the 76ers are a miserable 2-10 ATS after covering the number in three of their last 4 games this season.
Dennis Macklin
Delaware -7½
Old Dominion fired their long time head coach Blaine Taylor last week and like many professional sports teams, the Monarchs responded with a burst of better play. In fact, Old Dom won by 12 at Drexel as a 12-point dog before falling to Colonial leading Northeastern in overtime. That said, we wouldn't expect this to continue as the flat out just can't shoot. In fact, their three wins have come on the rare occasions that the team has shot better than 40% from the field. The teams met a month ago with the Blue Hens coming away with an 84-72 win. In that game, Delaware got to the foul line 50 times, knocking down 41. They also held Old Dom to 33% shooting from the field. In the end, we find Old Dominion just 1-11 ATS in conference, 2-7 ATS on the road, 6-11 as a dog and 6-15 versus the points overall. Delaware rocks a 7-3 mark as a bully, a 4-1 ATS mark on short rest and a perfect 4-0 against the number vs teams avvg less than 64 ppg. Lay the points.
Don Best Consensus
Los Angeles Clippers at Philadelphia 76ers
Pick: Philadelphia 76ers
The Clippers are 2-4 ATS in their last 6 games overall. The 76ers are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall. Play The 76ers
Andre Gomes
Brooklyn / Indiana Under 183
Brooklyn showed once again yesterday against San Antonio that their offense is super stagnant. Brook Lopez started the game very well and helped his team in dominating the game during the first quarter, but as soon as the Spurs's defense picked up their intensity level, Brooklyn's offense was clueless and scored just 29 points during the second half! They will play at Indiana tonight and the worst thing that they can happen to a stagnant offense like the Nets is to face a top defensive team on a poor spot and this is exactly what will happen to Brooklyn today. The Pacers have a great interior defense and so, they should be able to limit Brook Lopez tonight, while they are also very good in defending isolation plays, so this is definitely a game where Brooklyn's offense is likely to get shutdown from the beginning until the end of the contest. The only thing that will help Brooklyn tonight is the fact that the Pacers are a half court team and so, they won't explore the Nets's terrible transition defense. Indiana also lacks a guard with super skills on dribble penetrations, so the Nets's slow guards won't get outplayed tonight like they were last night by Tony Parker.
On the previous game between these two teams, Brooklyn won a relatively tight contest at home, but where Indiana was very competitive until the end of the fourth quarter. The Pacers were able to keep themselves in the fight for the win due to an excellent interior defense (Brook Lopez 5-14 FG, Reggie Evans 1-2 FG and Andray Blatche 1-8 FG for a combined of 7-24 FG), as the Nets only shot 11-23 FG at the rim and 4-19 FG from 3-9 feet! During the fourth quarter, Brooklyn made some adjustments and put Lopez further from the basket and decided to investing on Deron Williams's penetrations, something that allow them to have a 17-0 run during the fourth quarter. However, its important to notice that Indiana was on a back to back spot at the time, something that isn't happening today, so I believe they will be able to guard Deron Williams well, especially as he has been struggling as of late.
I expect this contest to be a slow paced game as that's the style of both teams, with the Nets's stagnant offense being completely limited by Indiana's great defense, while the Pacers's offense should also struggle in here, as their outside shooting has been great lately, but sooner or later they will regress on this area as well, as they don't really have great shooters on their roster. Therefore, I expect a super low scoring game in here and so, I'll be taking the Under.
Joe Gavazzi
TCU +16
Each of these teams were responsible for Kansas losses in the last week…But while TCU had their letdown game at home vs WVU on Sunday, the Sooners are just 48 hours removed from defeating Kansas on this very court. Where is their incentive in defeating a TCU team that remains firmly entrenched at the bottom of the league standings. Under first year HC Johnson, the Frogs suffered critical injuries to their best offensive players at the first part of the season. Johnson understood that if they had any opportunity to be successful, it would come by slowing the pace. That TCU has done, by allowing opponents just 58 PPG on 42% shooting. Sixteen points is a mountain for a disinterred favorite, with short rest following a huge upset win. Frogs 3-0 ATS, taking 14 or more points, in Big 12 play this season. While all road dogs of 14+ points in 2013 are 93-68 ATS. Frogs as Dogs!!
Philadelphia +5
In this game, I am well aware that LAC is 22-13 ATS / win, following their underdog victory vs New York yesterday. But this team is not the same since multiple injuries have sapped their offensive cohesion. Tonight they are at the end of an eight game, thirteen day road trip. And they are playing a far improved Phila team who enters on a 8-3 ATS run. They are also 7-3 SUATS recently on this court. And are playing the best defense of any NBA team, allowing only 78 PPG L5 games. Upset no surprise.
Jeff Scott Sports
4 UNIT PLAY
Boston/ Charlotte Under 193: The Celtics are off a tiring 3 OT game last night, with travel so I don't expect them to push tempo at all in this one. Last night vs a faster paced Denver squad the Celts held them to just 93 points in regulation and they will be facing a Charlotte squad that has averaged just 88 ppg in their last 7 games. The Bobcats have averaged 96.1 ppg at home, but just 91.7 ppg in their last 5 on their home floor. Boston's offense has been up their last couple games, but that was a 3OT game vs Denver and vs a bad Lakers defense in those two games. For the year Boston has struggled to score on the road as they average 93.9 ppg away from home and with this team being a bit tired I don't expect them to be able to take too much advantage of weak Bobcats defense. These teams played earlier in the year and 189 points were scored in that one, meaning now that no more than 193 points have been scored in 8 of the last 9 meetings, with an average of just 179.9 ppg being scored in the last 9 meetings. This one should be played in the 180's.
3 UNIT PLAY
San Antonio +2 over CHICAGO: Tough spot for the Bulls here as they are off a long road trip in which two of the games were in high altitude and now must take on a Spurs team that is rolling as they have won 12 of their last 3 games overall and 5 of their last 6 on the road. Chicago hasn't played great at home this year as they are just 15-11 on their home floor and while they did recently crush GS here they also barley beat Charlotte, barley bet Detroit and lost to Milwaukee and Phoenix, all within their last 8 home games. Just too inconsistent a team to think they can win this one, especially coming home off the long road trip, which is Marco's favorite situational spot to fade teams. I look for the spurs to win this one late.
Jeff Scott Sports
3 UNIT PLAYS
KANSAS -7.5 over Kansas State: I had Kansas vs Oklahoma the other day and they disappointed me, but I will come right back with them tonight. This is a team that is struggling and taking on another top 25 team yet they are still an 8 point favorite. Hmmm. Well I think it’s justified. This is a team with plenty of talent and just hit a big bup in the road. Now back playing at home vs their instate rivals you can bet that this will be their best game they will have played in their last 4. Kansas is 23-7 ATS the last 30 meetings and they have been solid at home this year going 11-1 SU, while outscoring their opponents by 17.4 ppg on this floor. The Wildcats come in on a 4 game winning streak, but they are taking on a ticked off and very talented Kansas squad that really needs to put a hurtin on someone. Look for that to happen tonight at Kansas wins by 13+.
Delaware/ Old Dominion Under 140: Blue Hen home games this year have averaged just 133.3 ppg, including an average of just 130.2 ppg in their 5 conference home games, while ODU road games have averaged just 131.2 ppg. The Blue Hens have played solid defense this year at home, allowing just 63 ppg, including allowing just 56 points in each of their last 2 conference home games. Their defense should have anther good showing tonight vs an ODU squad that averages just 60.8 ppg on 38.5% shooting on the road. This not a good scoring or shooting ODU squad and their offensive efficiency is 257th in the nation. Delaware has averaged 70.4 ppg at home and 68.5 ppg overall, but they are not a great shooting team as they rank 237th in the nation in shooting (42 %). This game also features 2 of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the land as the Blue Hens rank 308th, while ODU ranks 340th. Neither team is really run and gun, both teams shoot poorly and Delaware plays great defense. expect around 130 points in this one.
Western Carolina/ Wofford Over 123.5: Wofford's road games have averaged 124 ppg, while their last 4 away from home have put up 129.5 ppg. Wofford does struggle to score away from home, as they average 57.1 ppg on the road, but Western Carolina allows 69.5 ppg at home and they have allowed 72 ppg in their last 5 games overall, so i do expect 60+ from Wofford in this one. The Catamounts have put up 68 ppg overall and 66.8 ppg at home, while Wofford has allowed 64.9 ppg on 46.6% shooting on the road, so I clearly expect 64+ points out of the Catamounts in this one. Western Carolina's home games have averaged 136.3 ppg on the year and I would not be surprised at all if this one hit that average, but I will call for just over 130 points to be scored tonight
Ian Cameron
Carolina at NY Islanders
Recommendation: Over
Carolina has scored 3+ goals in each of their last four games with Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner off to good starts to the season. The Hurricanes will be facing Rick DiPietro in net for the Islanders. He’s only started once this season due to injury and he wasn’t very good allowing four goals on just 27 shots in a 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins back on January 25th. He’s been battling injuries for years and hasn’t played enough over the last few years to expect him to be razor sharp in between the pipes. I expect Carolina to have success finding the back of the net against an Islanders team allowing 3.36 goals per game.
The NY Islanders are coming off a 3-2 loss to Buffalo but it’s worth noting they had 43 shots on goal in that game and were absolutely stoned by Ryan Miller who played a terrific game. New York is still averaging nearly three goals per game on the season and they have plenty of young and talented firepower up front with John Tavares, Kyle Okposo, Matt Moulson, Brad Boyes and Michael Grabner leading the way. Cam Ward is expected to be in net for Carolina tonight and he’s played well over the last week but Carolina continues to give up too many quality scoring chances as well as too many shots on goal (NHL-worst 34.1 shots on goal per game). That isn’t a formula for keeping the puck out of your net on a long-term basis and I’d expect the Islanders to do a better job of converting their scoring chances into goals tonight which is something they didn’t do against Buffalo.
These teams have gone 4-1 to the Over in the last five head-to-head meetings and I’d expect that trend to continue.
Harry Bondi
KANSAS (-8) over Kansas State
This is truly a "circle the wagons" type of game for the Jayhawks, who are in unchartered territory after losing their third-straight game on Saturday. Luckily for Kansas, intra-state rival Kansas State comes to Phog Allen Fieldhouse and that's good news since the Jayhawks have dominated this series, going 35-3 straight up in and 27-11 against the spread. With the Jayhawks putting a huge emphasis on this game, and the Wildcats historically struggling on the road against winning teams, we think there's real value in this pointspread. Lay the points and bet the Jayhawks to bounce back big.
Bob Balfe
Los Angeles Clippers -5
There is no way the Sixers can match the talent level on this Clippers team. The only way the Sixers win this game is if the Clippers take the night off. They are at the end of a long road trip, but this same Sixers team proved that doesn’t matter as they lost badly to a Pacers team playing back to back to back. Take the Clippers.
Oklahoma -16
The problem that TCU had in beating Kansas is now everyone they play wants to beat them badly and wont take this team light. This TCU team is just not good from the start and maybe we jumped the gun on how good of a team Kansas really might be. TCU scores under 50 pts a game on the road. That is pathetic. Oklahoma should put them away nice and early. Take Oklahoma.
Kansas State +7.5
This Kansas team can’t lose 4 in a row right? Well why not? They have been playing awful and now are playing a rivalry game with no confidence. This Kstate team is very good this year and plays great defense. If Kansas does get back on the winning track its just hard to see them doing it by double digits. Take Kansas State.
SPORTS WAGERS
Carolina +102 over N.Y. ISLANDERS
OT included. The Hurricanes are a game over .500 but probably deserve better after losing two games to Philadelphia in which they outplayed them by a significant margin. They still have two wins over Ottawa, two over the Sabres and one over the Maple Leafs. Three of those four wins were in convincing fashion. Now they catch the Islanders starting their second string goaltender.
The Islanders signed Rick DiPietro to one of the worst contracts in the history of sports. Back in 2006, he signed a 15 year, 67M dollar contract. He has played sparingly ever since because of injuries and ineffectiveness. The Islanders will use him to try and get something out of him but in just one start this year he allowed four goals on 27 shots. This is his second start of the year and not only do we get the superior team, we get a tag back against a little used, back-up goaltender that has shown absolutely nothing for seven years running. The Islanders have dropped four straight while being outscored 14-4 over that span. This one isn’t likely going to end in the Islanders' favor.