Ben Burns
Los Angeles Clippers @ Cleveland Cavaliers
PICK: Los Angeles Clippers
Off last night's loss, the Cavs are extremely heavy favorites here. After all, they're undefeated at home and the Clippers practically never win on the road. However, the situation favors the visiting Clippers, who had last night off.
In addition to last night's huge showdown at Orlandom the Cavs have another really big game vs. Detroit on deck. In other words, it should be easy for them to overlook the lowly Clippers. This is more than just a "typical back to back situation" for the Cavs too, as they're also playing their third game in the past four nights.
Yes, the Clippers looked bad in their last game and have now lost three straight. They're slowly starting to get healthier though, having gotten both Camby and Davis back last game. With another game under, those two "stars" should be stronger and the rest of the team will have had a chance to adjust to their return.
As for the Cavs, they're still without West and Ilgauskus remains questionable. Ilgauskus certainly makes the Cavs a better team over the long run. However even if he did return tonight, that wouldn't necessarily make them better for tonight's game. Often, as the Clippers found out when Davis and Camby returned, teams don't perform as well as expected, in the very first game when a star (or stars) returns to the lineup.
It's true that the Clippers have just one win in the last seven games in this series. A closer look shows none of the six losses were by more than 17 points though and that five of them were by 14 points or less. Look for the Clippers to be the "fresher" team and for them to give their hosts a tougher game than most are expecting. Consider LA
Jimmy Boyd
1 Unit on Miami Heat +3
The Heat are rolling, having won 3 in a row and 6 of 8. They are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games and I'll take the points with Dwayne Wade and company tonight. Indiana really struggles on the defensive end and the Heat have proven that they can score against the Pacers. Miami won 109-100 in this season's prior matchup. The underdog has had the edge in this series, going 19-7-2 ATS in the last 28 meetings and the Road team is 9-4 ATS in the last 13 meetings. The Heat are 9-2 ATS in their last 11 Friday games and 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games as a road underdog. The Heat are the better team and I'll take them catching a three-pointer here.
Dwayne Bryant
Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons UNDER 181
We have much info supporting this play. Let's start with series history. The Under is 13-3 in the last 16 meetings, including the last 5 in Detroit. The final totals in those 5 games in Detroit were 177, 174, 169, 170, and 164. Boston has played 2 high scoring games in their last 2 outings (224 and 219 total points scored), but both games were at home. The UNDER is 11-1 in Boston's last 12 road games. Boston's last 2 games went over the total, so it should be noted that the UNDER is 5-1 this season when Boston is coming off exactly 2 overs. The UNDER is also 9-2 in Detroit's last 11 home games against Eastern Conference foes.
The UNDER is:
7-1 in the Celtics' last 8 games following a SU win of more than 10 points
10-2 in the Celtics' last 12 vs. a team with a winning SU record
8-2 in the Celtics' last 10 games playing on 1 day of rest
35-17 in the Celtics' last 52 after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game
7-0 in the Pistons' last 7 home games vs. a team with a road winning percentage of greater than .600
10-2 in the Pistons' last 12 vs. a team with a winning SU record
6-2-1 in the Pistons' last 9 games as a home underdog
11-4 in the Pistons' last 15 games following a SU win
24-9 in the Pistons' last 33 games as an underdog of 5 to 10.5 points
21-8 in the Pistons' last 29 when their opponent scored 100 points or more in their previous game
I expect between 170 and 175 points to be scored in this game, so I will play UNDER 181.
Steve O'Brian
Boston Celtics vs. Detroit Pistons
Play: Boston Celtics -6
Going to offer up a prime time key match up in the NBA tonight. Marquee game featuring the Celtics visiting the Palace in Auburn Hills to meet the Pistons. At first glance I loved Boston in this spot considering the way they have turned around that slump they were in. You know what guys, after checking into this game further I have come to the conclusion I was wrong, the fact is I should not just love them here but be downright crazy about them. The Celtics have covered the number 6 of their past 7 trips there, couple that with the fact the underachieving Pistons are a lousy 7-15 against the number at home. Pistons still getting too much unearned respect from the numbers guys and I am making them pay tonight and suggest you do likewise. Take Boston gentlemen and lay the six. Also I encourage all of you to take a hard look at my Super Bowl offer, winning side & total for one fair price. You won't find a better value guys! Good luck tonight and enjoy your weekend!
Jack Jones
Take Indiana Pacers -3 over Miami Heat
I'll take the Pacers, who are 4-0 straight up against the Heat in the last 4 meetings between these two team in Indiana. The Pacers are on a 4-0 ATS run as a favorite and they've won 5-0 straight against the number on their home court. Indy has won 5 of their last 6 against the spread against Eastern Conference opponents, and they are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 overall. I'm jumping on them, hopefully before they start to cool off. The Heat, on the other hand, are just 3-7-2 after a win of 10+ points, and they are just 13-31-3 ATS after a win in their past 47 contests. Give the points for the home team tonight.
Take Marist +6.5 over Fairfield
Marist has 4 straight ATS wins at Fairfield and they've managed to cover the spread in 7 of the last 9 meetings overall. Neither team has played all that well this season, but the Stags have been particularly bad at home, not at winning (6-2 this year), but at covering the spread (1-5 ATS at home). Marist has a pretty significant advantage at shooting the three-point ball, and that could be the difference between a win and a loss for them tonight. Either way, these are two teams that are evenly matched and there is no way that Fairfield's home court advantage is 6-7 points, it's more like 3, if that.
Chip Chirimbes
Chicago Bulls vs. Sacramento Kings
Play: Sacramento Kings +1.5
The Chicago Bulls have had their problems winning in Sacramento as they have gone over ten years against the Kings without a win in California. the Bulls have now won only six of their last 19 games. The Kings have now lost 20 straight game against East opponents but will bust that streak today against a weak Bulls squad that is only 6-17 on the road and even worse when in Sacramento. Take KINGS!
maddux sports
Today's Free Pick is Ok City & Utah Over 208.5
anyone have ats lock club picks haven't seen them on here since sat and they have a lock of the year pick this sat Blade did they make you stop posting there picks?
Andre Gomes
CHI vs SAC
Everybody expects a huge letdown for the Bulls, as the line opened as -2 and right now we can shop the line as pk. However, "everybody" is forgetting how bad the spot are for the Kings and also how bad this team is.
Well, the Kings are 0-7 L7 games and they completed a road trip by being spanked in 3 consecutive games against the Raptors, Cavs and the Celtics. I understand that especially in the last 2 games the Kings simply didn't have any chance to win, but do you noticed that they played 4 games in 5 nights in that road trip!? This is not over as the last game was in Boston and they had only one day to rest, well they had to travel the entire country and tonight they will host the Bulls. The home court advantage simply doesn't exist for the Kings in this game, nevertheless they are 3-14 ATS in their last 17 home games, so they wouldn't have home court advantage in any of the cases. In this season there were 2 similar spots for the Kings and in both of them the Kings lost at home: 101-107 vs Toronto and 115-119 vs Miami.
The sad news for this team is that they quit easily on the games, remember that they are dead last in terms of points differential: -9.04! Even the Clippers have a more respectable stat! This isn't surprisingly at all for me. This team is looking to make a trade (Brad Miller) for such a long time and recently John Salmons is also included in rumors. Both players already said that the prospect of being moved has certainly been on their minds.
"I heard a lot today about some (trade) stuff, so it's being discussed," he said. "It's at the point where it's got to be discussed. We're (as a team) at a point where they're going to make decisions on where they're going to go with the team and what they're going to do, and everybody has got to be discussed. That's just the nature of the beast." There are so many distractions on this team!
Meanwhile, the Bulls bounced back nicely against a lowly team like the Clippers. If you remember I backed the Bulls in that game by saying that the Bulls made a good effort in the previous game in Minnesota and they worked hard in the practise to finish better the games. Well, they didn't disappoint us and spanked the Clippers by 20 points!
That win gave some confidence to the team: HC Vinny Del Negro said: "Winning builds confidence, that's the bottom line?.I like our mind-set right now." Or also Derrick Rose: "It feels good. We haven't had a blowout for a while. When we're moving the ball like that, it's hard to beat us."
The Bulls don't win in Sacramento since the Michael Jordan era and I don't expect them to overlook the Kings tonight. Basically we are betting on the better team, on the most confident and on the best spot, take the Bulls in here
anyone have ats lock club picks haven't seen them on here since sat and they have a lock of the year pick this sat Blade did they make you stop posting there picks?
The guy that posts them hasn't been around lately