FRIDAY PREMIUM SERVICE PLAYS

Confidential Tip-Off

NEW JERSEY over *Atlanta (NBA)...New Jersey has been a solid pointspread winner on the road this season, logging a 15-6 spread mark as a visitor through Jan. 25. The Nets have 1-2 backcourt punch in Devin Harris and Vince Carter to match Atlanta’s Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson, and Harris in particular has hurt the Hawks this season (30 ppg & 10 rpg against Atlanta). Nets have covered 8 of last 9 meetings against the Hawks, and appear ready to extend that streak. NEW JERSEY 100 - *Atlanta 95 RATING - 11

Marc Lawrence

College Hoops Fan Appreciation Play

Brown vs Cornell
Play: Brown +11.5

The Bruins battle Big Red with double revenge on their minds from last season in a game that sets up beautifully for the Brownies. That's because they enter off a 2-point loss while Cornell checks in off a pair of double-digit wins over Columbia. Meanwhile, Brown is 10-2 ATS when playing with double revenge losses from the previous season against fellow Ivy League foes, including 7-0 ATS the last seven games. With that, look for the Bruins to improve to 7-1 ATS on this floor when playing with 3 or more days of rest. Grab the points with Brown.

Dr. Canada

Columbus Blue Jackets -150

Tampa Bay Lightning +130

Lightning/Flyers Over 5.5

Keith Fredrick

Oklahoma City at Utah
Pick: Oklahoma City +8.5

Jazz have been playing a bunch of sour notes recently as over their last 9 games they have won only 3 games while going 1-8 ATS as they really miss Boozer & Kirilenko. Thunder have been rolling along for the past month actually being a bit over .500 SU going 8-7 SU, not bad considering they have only won 11 all season, while posting a 12-3 ATS record with one of those wins coming when Oklahoma beat Utah 114-93 at home on 1/14.

Bob Balfe

NBA Basketball
Wizards +10 over Sixers

NCAA Basketball
Valparaiso +17 over Butler

Scott Spreitzer

Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons
Prediction: Boston Celtics

Reason: I'm laying it with the red-hot Celtics on Friday night. I have used the Celtics on these pages several times during their current win streak. Once again, the team is crushing the opposition thanks in part to the current form of Rajon Rondo. No reason to bore those who have been with me with all of the statistical details on Rondo yet again, but suffice it to say, he was MUCH better during Boston's incredible start to the season than he was during their 2-7 slide. And he's been outstanding dishing out high assist numbers and limiting turnovers during the current nine-game win streak. In fact, in Boston's latest win, a 119-100 blowout over Sacto, Rondo also contributed 24-points on 10-of-15 shooting with nine assists and just ONE turnover. When Rondo is on his game, the studs on the team can focus completely on their own games, rather than having to pick up the slack. Meanwhile, the Pistons closed December and began January with a seven-game win streak, but they're just 4-8 since then. It's even worse against winning teams during the slide, where they're just 1-5 SU, 2-4 ATS. The Pistons are also just 7-15 ATS at home this season. Boston has won four of the last five meetings in Auburn Hills, and won both of this season's meetings by an average of 15 ppg. Rondo's on fire. Eddie House is smoking from area code three. As I have said before, when the Celtics are clicking you either jump on board or pass. Tonight's number presents another opportunity to jump on board. I'm laying the points with Boston on Friday.

Matt Fargo

5* NBA LATE NIGHT BAILOUT *4-0 FRI RUN

Chicago at Sacramento
Play: Sacramento PK

The Bulls are coming off a beatdown against the clippers where they won by 20 points and that puts them in a very tough spot here. Bad teams, and yes Chicago is bad, tend to get very overconfident when winning big like that and usually lay eggs in their next game especially if the opponent is just as bad or worse. There has been really only one situation this year for Chicago where it has played two games in a row against bad teams with that first game resulting in a blowout win. It came against the Wizards in a 12-point victory on January 6 and in the next game against Oklahoma City, the Bulls did in fact lay that egg, losing outright as 8.5-point favorites. It can be said that the Bulls need to win this game as the road ahead is a tough one but Chicago is not a team that can just flip a switch and play well. This team is just two inconsistent and only shows up in rare occasions. The Bulls are at Phoenix tomorrow night and coming off a big win, they are too confident and will be looking ahead to that game. Chicago has been a road chalk three times this season and it is 1-2 ATS in those games. The win over the Clippers came in this role but in the previous two games, it lost outright to Charlotte and Memphis. Overall, the Bulls are 7-11 ATS as a favorite this season. Sacramento is happy to be home or at least it should be. The Kings dropped all four of their games on their recent roadtrip including the last three by 16, 17 and 19 points. Those last two came against Cleveland and Boston so I give them mulligans for those. Prior to that, they were playing pretty well even if it wasn’t showing up in the win column. They went 3-9 in their 12 previous games with one of those losses coming in overtime and another four coming by five points or fewer. Two other losses came by six and eight points, both of which were on the road. The other two setbacks were blowout losses but those came against Denver and Orlando who are both currently in the top six in the league. Sacramento has played the third toughest schedule in the NBA and it is 3-25 against the league’s top 16 teams. That will make anyone cringe but against the teams ranked below that, the Kings are a much more respectable 7-11 and that is where Chicago sits. Not to mention the fact that the Bulls are 6-17 on the road which is a game and a half worse than the Kings record at home yet Chicago gets the call as the favorite. Gong back to my point about the Bulls being overconfident and recent history shows no matter whom the opponents have been, they are not good next time out. Chicago is 7-18 ATS after a win by 10 points or more over the last two seasons. It has a scoring margin of -9.3 ppg in those 25 games showing that is plays exceptionally bad. Playing a team with a bad defense usually gives the opposition a spark but not the Bulls as they are 3-10 ATS this season against teams that allow 46 percent or more shooting from the floor. Sacramento lost the first meeting this season in Chicago and that came by only five points. Coincidentally, it came after three straight losses and a 1-9 run so the situation is very similar to what we have here tonight. Sacramento is 6-1 ATS in the last seven meetings and has won the last four meetings at home. The revenge spot puts Sacramento into a solid league wide revenge situation. Play on teams that are revenging a road loss against opponent and that are winning just 25 percent or fewer of their games on the season. This situation is 167-104 ATS (61.6 percent) over the last five seasons. The percentage may not look great but personally, I believe anything over 60 percent is solid and given the amount of games, it has won close to 53 units which makes the situation even stronger. I completely see the inconsistent Bulls laying that egg and the Kings walking out Friday with a much needed home victory. 5* Sacramento Kings

Brian Gabrielle

Boston at Detroit
Play: Boston -6

Lay the points with the road team in this matchup.

You see, the Pistons do not play well against the Celtics. In fact, Boston has won 8 of the last 11 in this series, including 4 of the last 5 here at the Palace and they have dominated both games this season, winning by an average margin of 15 ppg.That's real consistant with Boston's lastest surge, as the Celtics have won 9 straight and done so by an average margin of victory of over 16 points per game.

Boston 98, Detroit 83

Take Boston as my NBA Game of the Week

We Cover Spreads

Thunder - Jazz Over 211

The over 4-0 in the Jazz last 4 home games, the over is 6-2 in the last 8 meetings between these two teams in Utah, and the over 5-1 in the Jazz last overall. The Thunder also have some trends going over 4 of their last 5 games and 5-1 in their last 6 road games. Utah is on a real defensive slump lately allowing over 100 points in 6 straight games! The Jazz without Boozer are think in the paint and Jeff Green and Kevin Durant should be able to put some points up tonight. Meanwhile Oklahoma City has been giving up more than 103 points in their last 5 games. A lot of trends, bad defense, and some scorers who can rack it up tonight which means take the over.

Celtics-5.5

Last night we told you to take the Spurs because of how bad the Suns were ATS at home this season. Same goes for the Pistons tonight. They are just 7-15 ATS playing at home this year. Right now the way Boston is playing we have to lay the chalk tonight. This team is rolling, plus Hamilton is questionable tonight for the Pistons,in the two meetings earlier this year the Pistons lost by double digts, and their play of late is shaky. They snuck out that cover in the closing minutes the other night for us vs. T'Wolves, lost and struggled vs a Yao Ming-less Rockets team, and lost by 21 to the Mavs. Like we said last weekend let's ride the Celtics while their hot 'till the wheels fall off.

IndianCowboy

State Warriors @ New Orleans Hornets
Pick: 4 units Golden State Warriors +9 (POD)

There is no reason not to back the Warriors here. This team comes off an ugly, ugly thumping at Dallas and will undoubtedly look to bounce-back here. What has gotten overlooked form that game was the fact that Dallas was coming off an embarrassing loss to Boston in the game before and undoubtedly was just looking forward to getting to on the court after such a terrible effort. Well, I look for the Warriors to have that same sense of urgency today at New Orleans. Look, this NO team is going to struggle without Chandler and still does not know if West (who is an All-star reserve this year) will be able to suit up. On top of that, don't forget Ellis is back for the Warriors, tack on Jackson, Azu, C-Mag, Crawford and Watson – this team should be more than game today. Just like any other game, look for the Warriors to wheel and deal and consequently to be competitive in this game. Make no mistake, this team as well as Don Nelson has a lot of pride and note, that haven't had back to back ATS losses in quite some time. Remember, NO beat this team by 5 points earlier this year on the road back in October so this is a revenge game as well. NO is the same team that lost to NY at home when the Knicks had revenge, they come off a huge win over Denver and I can see them getting upset at home today in a let down while the Warriors are itching to play after getting embarrassed in their last contest. The Warriors are 4-0 ATS after a SU loss and the Hornets are 3-10 ATS following a SU win.

Pennsylvania Quakers @ Harvard Crimson
4 units Pennsylvania Quakers +6 (POD)

Yes, we are +26 Units in the month of January in college ball, and we wee 10-1-1 over the last 12 plays but we've hit a little bit of a speed bump in college - ironically, we picked even more steam in the NBA as the total units still remain the same at +61 for January in Hoops. Let's get back on track here will continuing to surge in the NBA for winning week #6 in a row which is within reach today. As per this game, I love the Ivy. I have been tracking Ivy League basketball for quite some time and the dogs are typically very strong in the Ivy. In particular, it is an even stronger play on Friday nights when there are fewer games on the card. Typically, the betting novice just rides the team with a better record and calls it a day on Friday nights and typically gets burned. Well, that will not be the case with us. Folks, I have Penn as the better team. Now, you might think, but wait, Penn is just 4-10. Sure - but have you looked to see who those losses were to? In fact, did you know that Penn has yet to play a conference game? This team has been slowly building up its program by indeed playing some much better teams in order to get even more funds. This team has played the likes of North Carolina, Penn State (Big 10), Villanova, Central Florida, Temple, La Salle and St. Josephs. This team comes off a 12 point loss to St. Josephs at home but I believe they will be very game on the road in the start of conference play. Heck, out of the 14 games that Penn has played so far, this team has only played 2 teams outside the top 300 and they beat both of them. In fact, Penn has yet to lose to any team ranked outside the top 200 for that matter and guess what Harvard is? You guessed it -they are a team outside the top 230 in the power rankings. Tack on the fact that Penn has revenge, has played a tougher non-conference schedule, the majority of the public riding the home favorite here and Penn having yet to lose to any team outside the top 200, I believe our team likely loses by free throws late or has a shot at outright. Remember, Harvard nearly lost to Dartmouth on the road and did lose to Dartmouth at home and considering that Dartmouth is a team outside the top 300 this is a bit surprising. Look for Penn to get inside the number today. The Quakers are 5-0 ATS after an ATS loss and the Crimson are 0-6 ATS in their last 6 Ivy League games.

Winning Angle

Play Boston (-6.5) over Detroit* (NBA Game of Year)

Boston has won 9 consecutive games and they have also won 22 of the last 25 games as a favorite of 3.5 to 9.5 points. Boston has won 10 of the last 11 games when playing their 2nd game in a week and they are averaging over 107 points a game over the last 5 games.

NCAA Hoops

Play Butler (-17.5) over Valparaiso* (NCAA Bonus Play)

NHL

Play Columbus (-160) over Ottawa (NHL Bonus Play)

Bryan Leonard

NBA GOY - Celtics -6.5

Accu Picks

5* CLEV (GOY)
4* NJN
3* OKL CITY

ATS Sports Club

NBA Side Winners

Boston Celtics -6

LA Lakers -6