Rob Homyak
Portland Trail Blazers at Houston Rockets
Play: Rockets -4.5
Oddsmakers currently have the Rockets listed as 4?-point favorites versus the Trail Blazers, while the game's total is sitting at 190.The Trail Blazers defeated the Clippers 116-87 as a 16-point favorite on Sunday. The combined score caused this game to be a PUSH on the posted over/under total (203).LaMarcus Aldridge scored 28 points to go along with 10 rebounds for Portland, while Brandon Roy added 20 points, eight rebounds and nine assists in the win.The Rockets defeated Charlotte 99-78 as a 6-point favorite on Sunday. The combined score fell UNDER the posted over/under total (183).Ron Artest scored a game-high 26 points for Houston, while Yao Ming added 19 points in the win.The Portland Trail Blazers have dropped eight of their last 12 on the road both SU and ATS, with the winner covering the spread in all 12 games. Portland has failed to cover in 12 of its last 16 as a visitor and the team is also 1-4 ATS in its last five against the Southwest Division, 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games as a road underdog.The Houston Rockets are 5-1-1 ATS last seven home games, 4-1 ATS in its last five against winning teams and have won eight of nine at home against the Blazers.Houston is 31-15 ATS (+14.5 Units) second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
Andre Gomes
DAL +5 vs SAN
The public is all over the Spurs in this game. Why not? They are overall a better team than the Mavericks, they have a much better defense than the Mavericks and most importantly the Mavericks are 3-7 onthe road against the other eight West teams who are competing for a playoff spot, the Mavericks haven't picked up a win against one of those teams since they beat Portland on Christmas night.
However I believe that this is going to be a tough game for the Spurs and the Mavs will face the Spurs in the right time. The Spurs completed last Saturday their annual rodeo trip (8 games on the road) and I have to say that this road trip was way different from the previous seasons. Usually, that road trip ended just before the All Star break and the Spurs had some extra days at home to prepare the following games, this is not the case of this season because the Spurs had to play three more road games after the break and traveling New York, Detroit, Washington,San Antonio in one week is not exactly a good schedule for any team.
Note that Greg Popovich knows exactly what Im saying:
It's been a pain in the ass, Popovich said. It's not the same situation we've had in the past, where we've had their attention. It was too broken up. I hated it.
Meanwhile the Mavericks have a much better look for this game. They played three games after the break but two of them were at home and taking in account that their road game was against the Rockets and playing tonight in San Antonio we can say that they didnt leave the Texas for once! Both teams are without their 6th man as Manu Ginobili and Jason Terry are out for this game and I can see two equally teams tonight.
Dirk Nowitzki played poorly in the last 2 games @ Rockets and vs Kings and I expect him to make a bounce back tonight. The series is tied 1-1 in this season with the road team winning both games, in fact in this series the underdog is 19-7 ATS L26 games! This game will be a ballgame and I wouldn?t be surprised if Dallas wins outright tonight but having the chance to grab 5 points is a great deal for us. Take Dallas in here.