SPORTS WAGERS
Texas Arlington +13 over DENVER
Of all the schools in the WAC, Texas Arlington gets less recognition than any of them. They will not make it to the main event this year unless they win the conference tournament but their play has improved and they’re in a perfect spot here. The Mavericks have won seven conference games in a row. UT Arlington’s last conference loss was by 13 points when playing on the road at Louisiana Tech, who is 16-0 in the WAC. The Mavericks are still 11-5 in the conference, they had 24 wins a year ago and they can surely hang around in this one.
The Pioneers are in line for an at-large bid. They host Louisiana Tech on Saturday and that is without question their game of the year. A Denver win at home on Saturday against the 16-0 Bulldogs almost assures them of a spot in the field of 68. Besides that, do you really want to spot 13 points with Denver? The Pioneers play at a snail’s pace. Denver produces the second-fewest possessions per game in the country. In nine of the Pioneers 16 conference games, they’ve scored 64 points or less. That’s not conducive to spotting big wood. This is a Pioneers team that relies heavily on the three-point shot and seldom gets an offensive rebound. With more important fish to fry and a Tournament appearance on the line on Saturday, this host will be looking to just win this one and nothing more.
NHL Predictions
Tampa Bay Lightning -150
These two teams have similar records on the year. Winnipeg is coming off of two straight loses, their latest a 4-1 loss in Florida against the Eastern Conference's worst team right now. The Lightning broke a 5 game losing skid with a big 5-2 victory and they will happy to head back home after playing 6 of 7 on the road. Tampa Bay has already beaten Winnipeg 8-3 this year and they've won 3 straight vs the Jets. The Lightning are 15-3 in these two teams last 18 meetings and 9-1 in their last 10 meetings in Tampa Bay. Take the Lightning.
Penguins / Flyers Over 6
We will go back to the OVER for the third time this season between these two teams. The first meeting was at the very start of the year (first game) and it was a final score of 3-1. Their latest meeting was more like a Pittsburgh/Philly match up with 11 goals scored and each team with over 30 shots on net. The Flyers have scored 30 goals in their last 8 games (just short of 4 goals per game), while the Penguins have scored 11 goals over their past 2 games, and 21 over their last 5 (over 4 goals per game). The OVER is 20-8-1 in the Penguins last 29 road games and 40-17-2 in their last 59 overall. The OVER is 6-2 in the Flyers last 8 overall. Take the OVER.
David Banks
Denver Nuggets -4
One the best offenses in the league hosts one of the best defenses on the NBA on TNT Thursday when the stingy Los Angeles Clippers (43-19, 35-27 ATS) visit the run-and-gun Denver Nuggets (40-22, 37-24-1 ATS) at the Pepsi Center in Denver at 10:35 ET. Now if this were the playoffs, the defensive team would have the advantage, but in a regular season game between two teams not worrying about making the playoffs, the running style of the Nuggets combined with the high altitude could prove too much for the Clippers to overcome especially with Denver looking to take over the fourth seed to gain the home court advantage in the first round that comes with it.
The Nuggets are currently fifth in the Western Conference, but now only one game behind the fourth seeded Memphis Grizzlies and even only three games behind these Grizzlies in third. Denver put itself in this position by winning six straight games with the latest win coming on the road 120-113 at Sacramento on Tuesday. But the real story has been the play of Denver at the Pepsi Center this season as the Nuggets are now tied with the Miami Heat for the best home record in the entire NBA at 26-3! Denver is third in the NBA in scoring at 105.7 points per game overall and fourth in field goal percentage at 47.6 percent, but the Nuggets have taken things to a whole new level in the altitude while averaging an impressive 108.8 points on 48.2 percent shooting at home. Even the defense is allowing less than 100 points per game at home at 98.9 points, and although Denver is 25th in the league in points allowed overall at 101.8 per game, it is in the upper half of the league in field goal percentage allowed in 12th at 44.5 percent, as a lot of the points the Nuggets allow are a by-product of ranking second in the league with a tempo rating of 97.7 possessions per game, trailing only the Houston Rockets.
Now the Clippers are obviously one of the best teams in the league and they recently had big road wins at Indiana and at the New York Knicks. The Clippers rank fourth in the NBA in scoring defense allowing 94.0 points per game and they are second in the higher scoring Western Conference in that category behind only the Memphis Grizzlies. Still, it takes more energy to play defense than it does to play offense, and playing in this altitude while playing the second game of a back-to-back after hosting the Milwaukee Bucks in Los Angeles on Wednesday is not an ideal situation for the Clippers. To their credit, the Clips did hold the Nuggets to just 92 points when they last visited Denver on New Year's night. However, using that much energy on defense may have directly impacted the offense in that 92-78 defeat as the Clippers shot only 38.5 percent from the floor.
The Nuggets are 10-1 ATS in their last 11 home games vs. teams with winning road records, as well as 7-0 ATS in their last seven games vs. the Pacific Division. The Clippers are 2-5 ATS in their last seven games vs. teams with a winning percentage above .600.