Nelly
Charlotte - over Sacramento
Sacramento continues to struggle and now will face its third straight road game on the east coast in four days. The Kings do not have an ATS win in the past seven games and Sacramento has allowed 105 points per game and going against a very good Charlotte defense could be problematic. Charlotte has won seven of the last eight games and the Bobcats own an incredible 16-4 S/U record at home this season. The Bobcats are 13-7 ATS at home and Charlotte has covered in the last three meetings in this series. The home team has covered in nine of the last ten games in this series and the Bobcats are starting to look like a viable playoff team for the first time ever.
JR TIPS
Magic at Lakers
The Lakers will try to continue their home dominance tonight when they face a Magic team trying to avoid its seventh loss in nine games. Los Angeles is leading the division after they scored a season high 73 second half points and led by as many as 45 points while Pau Gasol returned from a six-game absence because of a hamstring injury finishing with 20 points and six rebounds in 30 minutes. The Magic haven't played as well of late falling one-half game behind Atlanta for the Southeast Division lead following Friday's 102-87 loss to Portland which was their sixth defeat in eight games. Howard hasn't been dominate of late as the 6-foot-11 center made just 4 of 7 attempts from the field and finished with 11 points Friday and leading scorer Vince Carter is also struggling, averaging 6.8 points on 19.6 percent shooting in his last five games. Carter had five points and shot 1 of 7 against the Trail Blazers and the Magic have lost eight of 10 away from Orlando entering the finale of their current four-game trip. This is a bad place to end a road trip when you're not playing with confidence on your last game of a long road trip where the Lakers have won 17 of their last 18 home games overall.
TAKE LAKERS -6
Rocketman
Western Kentucky @ Middle Tennessee State
Play: Western Kentucky -2
Western Kentucky is 11-5 SU overall this year while Middle Tennessee comes in with an 8-10 overall record on the season. Western Kentucky has won 18 of 22 meetings overall vs Middle Tennessee State since 1997 including 5-0 SU overall vs Middle Tennessee past 3 years. Western Kentucky is 51-6 SU last 3 years and 9-1 SU this year as a favorite. Middle Tennessee State is 0-5 SU as an underdog this season. We'll recommend a small play on Western Kentucky tonight!
BEN BURNS
Ottawa Senators at Boston Bruins
Prediction: Ottawa Senators
This one didn't have an overnight line. However, its up now and the price has gone up on the favorite. The price on the puckline has also climbed on the favorite and I feel that provides us with plenty of value and the visiting underdog Senators.
The reason for there not being an overnight line is that Boston has been dealing with several important injuries. Here, they're in a tough spot. Not only are they banged-up and coming off a tough loss, but they're also playing their first game back home off a West Coast road trip. Additionally, they'll be facing an Ottawa team which has won back to back games and which is playing with "quadruple revenge."
The reason, I'm suggesting laying the extra to juice to play at +1.5 goals is that Boston is coming off three consecutive games which have been decided by a single goal. Looking back further and we find that seven of their last 11 games have been decided by a single goal. Additionally, the last two games in this series, which were played here at Boston, have each resulted in one goal victories by the Bruins. Consider Ottawa on the puck-line.
Drew Gordon
Phoenix at MEMPHIS -2
39-25-3 roll L67 Free Plays (7-2 L9), incl. the Raptors outright rout of the Mavs Sunday! For tonight's complimentary play, we're looking at the Suns/Grizzlies match up.
Sorry Suns-backers, but until your team shows otherwise, they're on my fade list, especially in a match up with a team playing as well as the Grizzlies are. Memphis has gone 20-10 over their L30 games, including 8 straight at FedEx Forum. Not buying it? With home wins over the Spurs, Jazz, and Nuggets over the last month, its your own fault if you underestimate Memphis in this spot!
Phoenix meanwhile is a team on the edge of falling apart, with losses adding up after a hot start, and Stoudemire doing his yearly "trade me" routine, things are not looking good for this team. The biggest issue has been their atrocious defensive play, allowing 111 ppg over their L5 games! We've always known the Suns favor offense to defense, but I don't care how many points you score, if you're allowing 111 ppg, you're going to lose more than you win.
Herein lies the biggest problem for the Suns, because the Grizz have finally started to concentrate on defense this season, and its working wonders thus far. Right now Memphis is allowing 99 ppg at home this season, but they've been even better of late, allowing 95 ppg over their L5 games! That's a huge disparity from the Suns, and I seriously doubt we see a letdown from a Grizz team playing with a lot of confidence right now. (Note: they've been far too consistent to expect a letdown in this spot).
Bottom line, the Suns woes continue, as they run into a red-hot Grizzlies team that already beat them down once this month (128-103 win in Phoenix 1/2). In the end, we knew Memphis has talent, it was a question of them gelling like a team. Well boys, that question has been answered by their outstanding play of late - more of the same today.
Take Memphis over Phoenix in this NBA match up.
2♦ MEMPHIS
Michael Cannon
Syracuse -3 at NOTRE DAME
I am now 66-46-3 with my last 115 free plays.
Take Syracuse as the road chalk over Notre Dame.
The Orange are the best shooting team in the nation at 53.4 percent and they go against a Fighting Irish team that ranks among the worst in the Big East.
That’s a recipe for disaster for Notre Dame.
Syracuse is too quick for Notre Dame and even though Luke Harangody is in the paint to bang for rebounds and inside scoring, he alone won’t be enough for the Irish to stay within this number at home.
The Orange withstood a late West Virginia rally to survive in a 72-71 win at Morgantown on Saturday, while Notre Dame failed to defeat Cincinnati, 60-58.
Syracuse has a decided advantage in the backcourt and I expect them to get the job done in South Bend.
Take Syracuse minus the points as they grab the road win and cover.
3♦ SYRACUSE
Mr. Vegas Wins
Magic at Lakers
Orlando has not turned things around on this long road trip, still riding a miserable run, 2-6 SU/ATS. They were favored at Portland the last game and got blown out again. Now they take on a Lakers club that had battled injuries for a month but is now healthy. They looked it the last two games, winning at Dallas as a +5 dog and blowing out the Clippers. Play the Lakers!
Lenny Del Genio
Towson +7 vs St. Joseph's
Two struggling teams meet in non-conference action Monday night and considering how St. Joe's has been playing, they should not be laying this many points against anybody. Of their only two wins since a 3-0 start, one was against non-lined Lehigh, the other resulted in an ATS loss. They've also covered only two games during that stretch, both as underdogs of nine or more points. One of those was last time out, losing at St. Bonaventure by three, but they are 0-6 ATS off a loss by six points or less. Their 0-2 ATS as a favorite, including an outright loss to Princeton. They are also 9-25 ATS at home after losing two of their previous three games. Towson will be the more confident team here off a road upset of Delaware, also their third straight ATS win. Last three seasons have seen the Tigers go a perfect 6-0 ATS on the road when coming off a SU dog win. Take Towson.
Matt Fargo
Phoenix has lost three straight games and it will look to avoid getting shutout in this roadtrip with a win late this afternoon in Memphis. The Suns seemingly had the game won against Atlanta on Friday night but a three-pointer at the buzzer by Jamal Crawford gave the Hawks a come-from-behind win and sent Phoenix reeling into the next night as it was crushed at Charlotte. That game was over almost before it started as the Bobcats built a lead of 39 points and cruised from start to finish. That loss was certainly not a good one but the one benefit was that players got a lot of rest as no starter played more than 28 minutes. That break can definitely help during these roadtrips ands with this being the last game before the Suns head home, they will be out to salvage the finale. Add to the fact the Suns have not forgotten the 25-point home loss to Memphis earlier this month. While the Suns have lost three straight, Memphis has won three straight to push itself to three games over .500 on the season. All three of those wins have come at home where the Grizzlies are 14-5 on the season and gaining momentum with a current run of 11-3. Going back further, Memphis has won eight straight games at home so it is quickly becoming a team that the opposition can no longer look past. We are still dealing with a very young team however. Phoenix is 11-2 ATS in its last 13 games following a loss by more than 20 points so this veteran team knows what it takes to quickly forget about those defeats and bounce back. The Suns also fall into a solid league-wide situation based on that past result. Play on road teams that are averaging 103 or more ppg on the season after trailing in their previous game by 20 or more points at the half. This situation is 25-3 ATS (89.3 percent) over the last five seasons. Memphis meanwhile is just 6-15 ATS in its last 21 games as a home favorite of fewer than five points. The Suns get their revenge and head home with at least a little bit of confidence in salvaging one game from this trip. 3* Phoenix Suns