Steve Merril
Washington Wizards vs. Los Angeles Clippers
Play: Washington Wizards
Washington is playing terrific basketball right now; the Wizards have won four of their last five games and they’ve also covered the pointspread in nine of their last eleven ballgames. John Wall’s presence on the court just makes this team a whole lot better; he returned for the Wizards 93-83 win over Atlanta last Saturday night. Washington also has defensive stopper Trevor Ariza and Nene back on the court which makes them a complete team on both ends of the court. “It completely changes the dynamics of this team,” Martell Webster said. Washington won in Denver last night 112-108 as 10 ½-point underdogs so they come into this game with a ton of confidence. Los Angeles returns home off a successful 3-game road trip in which they went 3-0 SU and ATS. The Clippers play this home game and then hit the road once again for a game at Golden State on Monday night. Los Angeles isn’t going to be too focused for this game against the 8-29 Wizards so asking them to win by 13 points or more is asking a lot. The Clippers have failed to cover the pointspread as double digit favorites in their last two home games; they are just 5-5 ATS in this role this season. Los Angeles has no reason to blowout the Wizards so we’ll grab the big points with the confident road underdog in this game on Saturday night.
Art Aronson
Detroit vs. St. Louis
Pick: St. Louis
We have to pay a little bit higher than I normally like to get St. Louis but I think it’s worth here. The Blues are a great home team and the Red Wings were not so good away from the motor city last year.
I think we are getting some decent value with the home side Blues team here. The Redwings still get a lot of backing because of past success. I think this looks to be two teams going in different directions with the Blues going up.
The Blues are returning with greater expectations this year after taking huge strides to become one of the best teams in the west last year. This first divisional game against perennial favorite Redwings will likely be a huge test the team will be pumped to pass tonight.
The Blues were the second best home team in the NHL last year with 30 wins to just six regulation losses and five OTL. The Redwings meanwhile, for all their might, were in the bottom half of the league on the road with a below .500 mark in 17-21-3.
St. Louis is one of the bright and upcoming teams in the NHL this year. Very nice of nucleus young players in Alex Pietrangelo, T.J. Oshi and David Backes have nowhere to go but up.
The Redwings meanwhile will have to adjust to life without franchise player Nicklas Lidstrom. The Wings will also miss Brad Stuart on the back end. With Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Bertuzzi all on the declining sides of their career this could be a year of rare mediocrity for the red and white.
The Red Wings won’t make it easy on the Blues but I fully expect the home team to get it down here. Take St.Louis with decent payback on the ML.
Steve Janus
Portland Trailblazers -4
This is a good spot to jump on the Trailblazers at home. Portland has lost four straight and are coming off a bad loss at home to the Cavaliers on Wednesday. Look for the Trailblazers to come out with a lot of energy in this game as they are playing on 2 days rest and in desperate need of a win to get back on track. The Wizards are coming off a nice win on the road against the Suns, but will be playing their fourth road game in seven days. This is the part of the road trip where teams start to lose focus. There's simply too much value on Portland -4 to pass up a small bet on the home team.
LEGIT PICKS
Saturday 1/19/13 Plays...
4* HAWKS +4.5
4:05PM PST
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