Thursday Service Plays

Marc Lawrence

Game: Wis-Green Bay at Wright State
Prediction: Wright State

Reason: Play On: Wright State
Note: There?s nothing like a strong home court to welcome back a team from a three game road trek. Teams who have won 30 or more of their previous 40 games are 535-168 SU in this role since 1990. And the Raiders do own a strong home court, having gone 21-4 SU & 18-6-1 ATS in their last 25 conference games, including 16-2 SU & ATS when hosting .450 or better opponents. They did, however, lose most recently to upstart Cleveland State at the Nutter Center, guaranteeing a focused effort here tonight. What makes this play even more attractive is that Green Bay takes to the road after having been camped at home in their previous three games. Look for a smooth landing from Orville & Wilbur here tonight. KEY STAT: Wright State is 5-0 ATS in games after facing Detroit.

Larry Ness

THURSDAY - Jan. 31

LA Lakers + over Detroit

Many are pointing to Bynum's injury as a big factor in the recent slide for the Lakers. There is no doubt that it is a big loss but the schedule has also played a pretty big role. Los Angeles has lost outright in four of the past six games, but the losses came against Phoenix, San Antonio, Dallas, and Cleveland, a pretty tough lot. The Lakers have also delivered convincing double-digit win over the Nuggets and the Knicks without Bynum so a huge drop off in play should not be expected in his absence. The Pistons play at home tonight but four of the previous five games came on an exhausting road trip. Detroit has seen its defensive numbers slide in recent weeks, allowing over 93 points in five of the past six games. The Pistons own a fantastic record at home but Detroit will be greatly overvalued in this match-up. Los Angeles crushed the Pistons by double-digits in a meeting earlier this season and the Lakers are capable of surprising Thursday night.

BRAD DIAMOND SPORTS

Play on: New Mexico State over Hawaii

Here we have a situation that is really important to the 'Bows playing into triple revenge, but the line is very predictable noting the aforementioned. Visiting NMS 4-1 ATS in the series, but Hawaii is 1-7 ATS at home and allowing 50% FG as a defense this season. Add an assist to turnover advantage for the Aggies and I'm backing the visitor

Tony Mathews

Matchup: California vs. Washington State

Selection: Washington State -10.5 (-110)

Explanation: We will lay the points with Washington State as they face-off against California in Thursday's College Basketball contest.

Washington State is the team with the much better defense. California (on the road) is allowing opponents to score an average of 72 points per game, while Washington State (at home) is allowing opponents to score an average of only 44.4 points per game. It's clear that the Washington State defense is much better then the California defense.

Washington State has already proven they are much better then California. In fact, Washington State is 6-2-1 ATS in their last 9 meetings against California.

Take Washington State -10.5

Sports Gambling Hotline

The Fighting Irish have been impressing us with their play this season, and tonight they get to play host to a Providence team that hasn't traveled well this year.

The Friars are just 4-6 away from home, and 3-7 against the spread in those 10 games played on the highway. They have also lost the last 3 series meetings, and we see them going down to defeat once again tonight.

Notre Dame is fresh off their road win at Villanova, and now come back home where they have yet to lose a game at 11-0 straight up. The Irish have covered in 5 of 8 games with a line in South Bend, and we see them covering this price tonight.

Until we see more evidence that the Friars can actually step up on the conference road, we will go against them.
Play on the Irish.

2* NOTRE DAME

KARL GARRETT

LA snapped a 3 game slide with a home win and cover over the Knicks on Monday. This is the start of a huge road swing for Los Angeles just before the All-Star break and I expect they will be razor sharp in this game as they want to get this road trip off on the right foot.

The Lakers have gone 10-8-1 against the spread on the road this season, and they do come into the Auburn Palace looking for a season series sweep over a Detroit team they dumped 103-91 back in November.

The Pistons are just 3-6 against the spread their last 9 games, and this price is just a little too high for my liking.

G-Man says to take the points with the Lakers tonight.

1* LAKERS

JIM FEIST

Few think of the Lakers as a strong defensive team, as they prefer to run, but the Lakers are very good defensively, allowing 44% shooting by opponents ? 4th best in the NBA. And who is just ahead of them? The Pistons. So you have two teams in the Top 4 defensively meeting here. When they met earlier this season, the game went under the total. Detroit is 12-6 under the total at home where they allow 87 ppg. Fans might be looking at an offensive game, but the stats suggest a defensive battle. Play the Lakers/Pistons under the total

Dave Cokin

CBB

735 Indiana @ 736 Wisconsin

Indiana-Wisconsin shapes up as a very exciting battle. The Badgers are extremely tough at home, but I believe Indiana is the better team and they've been fearless on the road. Kelvin Sampson will have no trouble getting his troops revved up for this crucial conference tilt, particularly off their very poor performance last weekend vs. UConn. I believe Wisconsin is a shade overrated at this point, and I like the idea of taking more than one possession on the number with what I feel is the stronger entry. Indiana plus the points.

Bobby Maxwell

We head to the Valley of the Sun tonight for a FREE play on the Spurs as they take on the Suns in Phoenix.

Tuesday's loss to the Sonics has to be a huge wake-up call to the Spurs that they need to get it in gear if they are going to be contenders in the Western Conference.
San Antonio went to Seattle and lost 88-85 Tuesday, falling to a team that had lost 15 straight games. If that doesn't shake things up with this team, nothing will. Expect them to come out in Phoenix tonight and play with a little more passion and not the slow-motion it looked like they'd been playing in the last month.

And Phoenix might just be the right team for the Spurs to face right now. San Antonio is 8-3-1 ATS in its lat 12 visits to Phoenix and eliminated the Suns from last season's Western Conference playoffs.

Phoenix is just 9-11 ATS at home, and that's after cashing the last three home games.

The Spurs know exactly what to expec when they see the Suns and if the bookmaker wants to give us this many points, we'll certainly take them. Grab the points and watch as the professionalism of the Spurs comes through and they show some pride in this one, competing right down to the buzzer.

And remember they don't have to win for us to get the cash. Keep it close and we're winners.

2* SAN ANTONIO

JEFF BENTON

The Lakers begin a ridiculous nine-game road trip tonight, and they do so against one the best teams in the NBA in one of the hardest places in the league for visitors to win. Detroit, which comes into this game having won three in a row overall, is 32-13 on the season (27-17-1 ATS), including 15-4 at home (13-6 ATS). And in their last nine at the Palace, the Pistons are 9-2 SU and ATS.

What?s more, Detroit has dominated the Lakers in recent years, going 8-2 in the last 10 (7-3 ATS), and it is 11-3-1 ATS in the last 14 meetings going back to the 2004 NBA Finals. The Pistons have also defeated the Lakers eight straight times in Motown (7-1 ATS), with an average margin of victory of 15.8 points per game. Additionally, this is a revenge spot for Detroit, which lost 103-91 at L.A. earlier in the season. However, the Pistons didn?t have point guard Chauncey Billups or big man Antonio McDyess in that contest. Both will play tonight, while the Lakers are still without big man Andrew Bynum (he had 12 points and 7 boards in the home win over Detroit), while Luke Walton is questionable.

Finally, the Lakers are 2-5-1 ATS in their last eight overall (including a ridiculously lucky cover vs. the Knicks on Tuesday), and while L.A. plays again tomorrow night (at Toronto), the Pistons after this one are idle until Sunday (so no look-ahead issues for Detriot). Lay the wood here in what should be an easy double-digit rout for the host.

(based on a 1 to a 10 * Rating)

5* DETROIT PISTONS

TONY WESTON

The freak show that is LeBron James scored 17 in the fourth quarter Wednesday to help the Cavs knock off the Blazers in a game where he scored 37 points, a game after scoring 41 against the Lakers.

Over the team?s last seven games James is scoring four more points than his season average, as he?s putting up 34.7 points per game in a stretch where Cleveland is 6-1 SU and ATS.

While the Sonics are 4-1 ATS their L5 games, they?re 1-4 SU and have shown a lot of inconsistency on the court.

Seattle is giving up 104.5 points per game this year and have allowed at least 109 points in four of their L9 games.

That doesn?t bode well as ?King James? comes to town playing out of his mind.
James will get his 40 points and the Cavs will win easy.
Take Cleveland on the road.

3* CAVALIERS (1* to 5* Scale)

MATT RIVERS

For Thursday take the Pistons

I am just not that sold right now on Kobe and the Lakers. Los Angeles did start the season in great form but things have not been the same ever since Andrew Bynum went down with the injury. LA did just come back and somehow cover the last game at home against the Knicks but they were losing most of the way and have frankly been terrible over the past few weeks. Phil Jackson's squad is clealry missing their young big man and it has showed in the home losses to the Cavaliers and Suns.

Detroit is as good as they come in the East and may not be a total powerhouse themselves but, as usual, they are as solid as they come and as experienced as they come. Chauncey, Rip, Rasheed, Tayshaun and others form a quality squad that in MoTown can suffocate you with their defense and totally wear you out after 48 minutes. I really see things playing out this way today as the Lakers are way overmatched and to be honest with you extremely mediocre right now.

I'm not calling for the Lakers to lose by 50 but I do see them beginning this insane 9 game road trip with a poor performance and a double digit loss!

John Fina

Selection: Nevada -8.5

Today Fresno State will be on the road as they take on Nevada. We will lay the points with Nevada! The Nevada offense should be able to take control of this game. Nevada (at home) is scoring an average of 75.2 points per game, while Fresno State (on the road) is scoring an average of only 61.9 points per game. The bottom line, the Nevada offense should be able to control this game from start to finish. In this series, there has been value with the favorite. In fact, the favorite is 8-2 ATS in the last 10 meetings between these teams. Lay the points! Take Nevada -8

VEGAS EXPERTS

Indiana Hoosiers at Wisconsin Badgers

Hoosiers shot poorly in their loss to Connecticut: 37.1%. They had shot 45.5% in 12 of their previous 14 games: look for their shooting eye to return against the Badgers. Wisconsin shot poorly too in its 60-56 loss to Purdue but ordinarily does not shoot as well as Indiana. WISCONSIN is 0-7 ATS after a combined score of 125 points or less this season.

Play on: Indiana