NBA Knowledge
Hot teams
-- Toronto won five of last seven games (7-5AF).
-- Memphis won four of last five home games (5-0 last five HF).
-- Detroit won three of its last four games (3-6 last nine AU).
-- Cavaliers won last eight games (3-1AU).
-- Spurs won their last nine games, covered six of last seven.
-- Utah won four of last six games (5-3 last eight HF).
-- Warriors won seven of their last eight games (1-4 last five HF).
Cold teams
-- Orlando lost five of its last six games (1-3 last four HU).
-- Bulls lost their last three games (3-1AF).
-- 76ers lost five of their last six games (2-8 last 10 HU).
-- Kings lost six of their last nine games (5-2 last seven AU).
-- Lakers lost four of their last five games (3-1 last four AU).
Series records
-- Raptors won nine of last ten games with Orlando.
-- Bulls won last eight games with Philly (3-1 last four vs spread).
-- Pistons lost nine of last ten games with Memphis.
-- Spurs won nine of last ten games with Cleveland.
-- Jazz won five of last seven games with Sacramento.
-- Warriors won seven of last eight games against the Lakers.
Totals
-- Seven of last ten Toronto games went over total.
-- Six of last eight Magic games stayed under.
-- Last five Chicago-Philly games went over total.
-- Three of last four Memphis games went over total.
-- Four of last five Cleveland games went over total.
-- Over is 6-2-1 in last nine Sacramento-Utah games.
-- Five of last seven Laker games stayed under total.
Back/backs
-- Sacramento is 5-4 vs spread if it played night before. Utah is 5-3.
-- Golden State is 8-2 vs spread if it played night before.
Armadillosports.com
NBA: Streaks, Tips, Notes
Sportspic.com
Toronto Raptors vs Orlando Magic
Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic meet at O2 Arena in London England with game time scheduled for Thursday 03:00 P.M. EST. The Raptors have played in London before. In 2011 at this same venue the then 17-44 Purple Dinos' lost a pair to the Nets dropping the first game 116-103 as 2.5 point underdogs then suffered a 137-136 OT loss the following night but grabbed the cash handed another 2.5 points of offense.
Raptors lead by Demar DeRozan (22.9), Kyle Lowry (20.7) a much improved team this time around at 24-15 should deliver positive results against Orlando which has lost some of its Magic lately dropping five of six by an average 12.0 points/game.
Sometimes in sports a team just has another team's number and that's the case for the Toronto when it comes to Orlando. In twelve meetings the result has been eleven wins vs one loss for the Raptors with an 8-3 record against the betting line. The four days rest between games is yet another nod towards the Raptors, since the team has compiled a near perfect 7-1 (6-2 ATS) record the last eight with three or more days off outscoring opponents by 10.8 points/game. Oddsmakers have given Raptors the nod making them -3.0 point favorite with the total set a 194.
Game of the Day: Cavaliers at Spurs
Covers.com
Cleveland Cavaliers at San Antonio Spurs (-5.5, 195.5)
The last time the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs squared off, it turned into one of the most memorable games of the 2014-15 regular season. The latest matchup is lining up as another stellar affair as Cleveland has won eight straight games while host San Antonio's enters Thursday's contest with nine consecutive wins and a 22-0 home mark.
Point guard Kyrie Irving scored a career-best 57 points and drained all seven of his 3-point attempts as the Cavaliers went into San Antonio and produced a 128-125 overtime victory last March. Irving is just rounding into form after surgery to repair a fractured kneecap suffered during June's NBA Finals and scored 22 points as Cleveland produced a 110-107 overtime win at Dallas on Tuesday for its 14th victory in 16 contests. San Antonio continued its strong play with a 109-99 road win over the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday that represents its 16th win in 17 games. The Spurs have won 31 consecutive home games dating back to last season while the Cavaliers are 4-0 on their current six-game road swing.
LINE HISTORY: The Spurs have opened as 5.5-point home favorites, while the total opened at 195.5. Check out the complete line history here.
INJURY REPORT:
Cavaliers - PG M. Williams (questionable Thursday, personal).
Spurs - None to report.
POWER RANKINGS: Cavaliers (-9.5) - Spurs (-18) + home court (-3) = Spurs -11.5
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (27-9, 15-20-1 ATS, 17-19 O/U): Forward LeBron James scored 27 points in the victory over Dallas, and he has a simple explanation for why the team's success rate has soared. "We're finally whole," James told reporters, referencing the recent return of Irving and guard Iman Shumpert from injuries. "It took us a long time to get whole and it's paying dividends to our team and obviously we're not going to win every game, but we want to go out, we want to play our type of game - and that’s defend at a high level." Power forward Kevin Love is performing well and he has back-to-back double-doubles while averaging 11.4 rebounds over the past seven games.
ABOUT THE SPURS (34-6, 28-12 ATS, 18-21-1 O/U): San Antonio has recorded 16 double-digit victories at home but received a stern test in its last game at the AT&T Center. The Spurs held off the New York Knicks 100-99 last Friday as New York rallied over the final minutes and nearly pulled off the upset before Jose Calderon's 3-point attempt bounced off the rim as time expired. A good sign in Tuesday's victory over Detroit was the play of point guard Tony Parker, who erupted for a season-best 31 points on 13-of-19 shooting after averaging eight points on 9-of-29 shooting over his previous three outings.
TRENDS:
* Over is 7-0 in the last seven meetings in San Antonio.
* Over is 9-2 in the last 11 meetings.
* Road team is 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings.
* Spurs are 9-3 ATS in the last 12 meetings.
CONSENSUS: Fifty-five percent of wagers are on the Spurs and the over in this matchup.
Thursday's Tip Sheet
By Tony Mejia
VegasInsider.com
Raptors (-4, 192.5) vs Magic
London’s O2 Arena will host this one, a showcase for two of the Eastern Conference’s most exciting teams.
Europeans Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier and Mario Hezonja of Orlando and Toronto’s Jonas Valanciunas will play headliners on their home continent in this Global Games setting. The Raptors own the second-best record in the East, both overall (24-15) and against conference competition (16-8).
The Raptors have been over to London back in 2011, marking the first time a regular-season game was played in Europe, while a young Orlando team actually has a lot of experience in other countries, playing in Rio de Janeiro this preseason and exhibitions in China and Mexico over the past decade.
Toronto has won and covered in each of its last three games, all on the road. The Raptors have pulled four games ahead of Boston in the Atlantic Division and own a 1-0 edge on the Magic in the season series, having won in Orlando on Nov. 6. They’re playing without small forward DeMarre Carroll, who got his knee scoped last week and is out indefinitely, which means James Johnson and Terrence Ross have gotten extended minutes.
The Magic have been without Elfrid Payton since suffering an ankle contusion on Jan. 2 and are 1-5 in ’16. Orlando has covered only once in its last seven games and has seen a dip in the production of Fournier, once the team’s leading scorer due to multiple nagging injuries as well. After averaging 17.8 points in November, he’s averaged 11.6 in December and is down to 9.5 through the first six games in January, shooting less than 26 percent from 3-point range.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, both Payton and Aaron Gordon will be available to play, giving Magic head coach Scott Skiles a full roster to work with for the first time in weeks.
Pistons at Grizzlies
After seeing a three-game winning streak snapped by San Antonio at Tuesday, the Pistons visit Memphis in a one-off road game before they return home to welcome Golden State on Saturday night.
Reggie Jackson was stifled in shooting 3-for-13 from the field in the 109-99 loss to the Spurs, while Andre Drummond played 28 minutes because Stan Van Gundy feared the Hack-a-Shaq strategy would be used against him. Over the past six games, Drummond is 6-for-33 from the free throw line (18 pct) but has still managed to average 17.3 points and 12.3 rebounds in leading Detroit to a 4-2 mark.
Memphis is attempting to tread water without injured point guard Mike Conley, who may miss his fifth consecutive game with a sore left Achilles. They’ve gone 2-2 with him sidelined, coming off a 107-91 loss to Houston where the Rockets dominated the fourth quarter 35-22. Mario Chalmers will get major minutes and be forced to handle Jackson if Conley can’t go.
Three of Memphis’ games without Conley, one of the top defensive guards in the league, have gone over the posted total.
Cavaliers at Spurs (-5.5, 196)
Not only is this a potential Finals preview, but offers an opportunity for the Cavs to prove something to themselves as they try and destroy San Antonio’s perfect 22-0 start in home games this season.
Coming off an OT win in Dallas, the Cavs bring an eight-game winning streak to the AT&T Center and are 9-1 with Kyrie Irving back in the lineup after his Dec. 20 return from a kneecap fracture suffered in Game 1 of the 2015 Finals.
Although he’s still working his way back into a rhythm, his mere presence has made LeBron James and Kevin Love more efficient. That trio is 42-5 when they take the floor together. With Irving on the floor this season, Cleveland has an offensive efficiency rating of 118.5 and a net efficiency of +17, which would both be league highs if he’d have been healthy all season. Call it a small sample size if you must, but the fact is the Cavs have continued to flourish despite Irving shooting 17-for-47 (36.2 pct) from the field over the last three games simply because of the attention he commands.
Irving’s counterpart, Tony Parker, comes off his highest-scoring game since March, scoring 31 points to lead the Spurs to their ninth straight win. Tim Duncan joined Parker and Manu Ginobili in participating in a back-to-back, but Gregg Popovich has done a brilliant job of keeping all his veterans minutes down.
Both James and Kawhi Leonard are playing at an All-NBA First team level, making their duel must-see TV. They’ve gone at it in multiple NBA Finals over the years, but are seeing each other for the first time this season, one in which Leonard has broken through to the truly elite level. Leonard is shooting 48 percent from 3-point range and averaging a career-best 20.2 points per game. He’s the reigning Defensive Player of the year.
The over has come through in five of the last six wins for both teams.
Kings at Jazz
Utah has not had Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert as part of its starting frontcourt since Nov. 30. The Jazz hope that streak ends tonight as Favors will look to return from a back injury that has kept him out since Dec. 26. Gobert returned from an MCL sprain on Jan. 7, having missed 18 contests in which his team went 7-11 and often fell apart defensively.
Favors has been testing his back out in pre-game warmups and determining whether he can play depending on how he feels, so expect that to continue. Gobert has averaged just 7.0 points and 5.25 rebounds since returning, but should be settling back in a rhythm. Gobert’s task in this one will be to slow down DeMarcus Cousins, who went for 23 points, 12 boards and six assists without the French 7-footer to contend with in Sacramento’s 114-106 win on Dec. 8.
The Kings landed six double-digit scorers in that game, taking advantage of a healthy lineup to shoot 55.8 percent. Rajon Rondo had 13 assists. Sacramento is chasing the Jazz for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference playoff picture, entering this one two games back. The Kings have lost six of the last nine and have posted that same mark against the spread. The over has prevailed in five of their last six. The last three Jazz games have gone under the posted total.
Lakers at Warriors (-17, 216)
Golden State fell in Denver last night, missing Draymond Green in coming out flat to start the game and after halftime. Not only is the NBA’s runaway leader in triple-doubles the Warriors emotional leader, but he’s also their best rebounder, so his absence resulted in a 49-39 disadvantage on the boards that helped the Nuggets secure a 112-110 win.
Stephen Curry scored 38 points in 39 minutes, dishing out nine assists to try and prevent the Warriors from falling to 36-3. Golden State still hasn’t lost a game where Curry, Green and Klay Thompson all participated, which is expected to be the case tonight since Green will be back after resting. The Dubs haven’t lost at Oracle Arena all season (18-0), but are just 9-9 against the number, which includes three consecutive non-covers in Oakland.
The Lakers have been crushed by the Warriors twice already this season, falling 111-77 at Oracle on Nov. 24 and 109-88 at Staples Center on Jan. 5. Kobe Bryant left L.A.’s 96-91 win over the Pelicans on Tuesday night with a sore Achilles. He traveled to the Bay Area with his team, but his availability for tonight’s game is unknown.
The Lakers are 2-6 after victories this season. Golden State is 2-0 after losses. The Warriors are 9-1 on the second night of a back-to-back. Their last four games have all gone over.