Jeff Scott Sports
3 UNIT PLAYS
Chicago/ Atlanta Under 184: The Hawks come in struggling some on the offensive end as they have scored 84 or less in 4 of their last 6 games. Im not sure if they can reach 84 points, considering they have scored 83 points or less in each of the last 4 trips to Chicago, while averaging just 77.3 ppg in those games. Also making it hard on this Atlanta offense is the fact that Chicago allows just 90.8 ppg at home. The Bulls offense has struggled all year and they average just 91.7 ppg at home. The Bulls have really struggled vs the Hawks the last few years as they have averaged just 89.4 ppg in their last 10 meetings with them. Speaking of those last 10 games in this series, we note that 8 of those games put up 178 or less points and that those 10 games averaged just 173.6 ppg. A low scoring series that should continue tonight with another game in the 170's.
Kings/ Cleveland Under 206: These two met earlier in the month at Cleveland and Just 191 points were scored. That now makes 4 of the last 5 in this series that have put up 191 points or less. Kings home games do average 104 ppg, but Cleveland road games have averaged just 195.5 ppg. Last night the Cavs were in a game that had the potential to be much higher scoring than tonight's game and just 206 points were scored in that one. Yes the Kings have a weak defense, but so did the Lakers, yet the Cavs were able to score just 93 off of them last night. Cleveland has now averaged 93.8 ppg in their last 4 games overall and they have averaged just 94.4 ppg on the road this year. Sacramento scores 100 ppg at home, but they have scored just 94.3 ppg (regulation only) in the first 3 games of their current home stand. I expect this one to finish bin the mid 190's at best.
Dave Essler
Furman +7
Honestly, this is tough to swallow, but if I am choking I'd rather choke on a the best number and +7 may not be around forever.........OK, here's the deal. First off there's more value to seven points in a low scoring game than a high scoring game, and this game may not see 120 points. Secondly, Wofford is going to shoot three point shots and very little else. Yes, this is the team that caught Xavier by surprise, but they actually only shot 33% from the floor in that game, and made 15 of 17 free throws. They still only scored 56 points. Furman is not very good, I would grant you that, but they did just place CoC as well as Davidson pretty tough. Freshman point guard Stephone Croone is the lynch-pin of this team, and at home I'll take my chances. He's been turning the ball over less and less as the season has worn on, and as a team they hit 17-22 free throws the other night, so the potential is certainly there for an outright win, something we usually look for taking underdogs. Furman has lost to Wofford year after year, and this may well be their one shot at beating what USED to be a solid program. Since Dahlman and Rundles left two years ago, they've been on the decline, and often times (this is one of them) the line is based more on what used to happen than what's happening right now. Furman's about to play their SECOND home game in over a month, so clearly stats are skewed. If the Furman team that lost at Jacksonville shows up, this is a loss. If the Furman team that's been playing hard and well the last week shows up and Wofford is off at all, this is a very possible outright win for us.