Vegas Experts
Portland Trail Blazers at New Orleans Hornets
The Hornets will be eager to get back on the court following a blowout loss to the Lakers 48 hours ago. They have won and covered each of their previous three home meetings with Portland, not to mention they are 33-18 ATS L51 as a home favorite. That includes 15-5 ATS vs. teams with a win percentage between .600 and .700. The Blazers have lost all three of their road games in West Conf action, losing to the Lakers, Suns and Jazz by an average of 13 PPG.
Play on: New Orleans
Tom Freese
Portland Trail Blazers at New Orleans Hornets
Prediction: Under
Portland is 25-13 UNDER after one or more straight Overs and they are 11-2 UNDER after scoring 100 or more points in two straight games. The Blazers are 43-20-1 UNDER after scoring a 100 or more points in their last game and they are 10-3 UNDER off a Straight Up win. New Orleans is 25-11 UNDER in November games and they are 19-7 UNDER after failing ATS in two of their last three games. The Hornets are 6-0 UNDER off a Straight Up loss and they are 8-2 UNDER with one day of rest. PLAY ON 'UNDER'
Jimmy Boyd
Portland Trail Blazers vs. New Orleans Hornets
Play: New Orleans Hornets -7
I like the Hornets to cool the Blazers off tonight. New Orleans is 3-0 SU and ATS the last three times the Blazers have visited. New Orleans is 15-5 ATS in home games when playing against a good team (Win Pct. 60% to 70%) over the last 2 seasons, 18-5 ATS in a home game where the total is between 190 and 194.5 points over the last 3 seasons, and 27-12 ATS after a game where they failed to cover the spread over the last 2 seasons. New Orleans dug themselves a big hole in their last game against LA before exploding to make that game somewhat interesting. The Hornets will learn from that performance and jump all over Portland right out of the gate tonight.
SportsKingz
LOUISVILLE +4
Bryan Leonard
Milwaukee Bucks @ Memphis Grizzlies
PICK: Memphis Grizzlies -4.5
The Bucks have struggled without the leadership of Michael Redd in the lineup but they caught a break on Wednesday against San Antonio. They faced the injured Spurs without Ginobli and Parker and yet the Bucks trailed at the end of each of the first three quarters. They outscored the shorthanded Spurs 29-19 in the fourth stanza for the 82-78 victory. That fourth quarter rally broke a streak of 14 straight quarters that the Bucks ended the stanza behind in the game. Now off that thrilling win they travel to Memphis to take on a very upset Grizzlies squad.Memphis just returned from a tough west coast swing where they faced the Kings, Warriors, Nuggets and Suns. They faced the run and gun Knicks in their first game back and Memphis simply didn't have the legs to compete after playing four games in six days on the road. The Knicks thrashed the host 132-103. For a coach in Marc Iavaroni who stresses defense you know the Grizzlies will be primed for redemption tonight.
We will be playing Memphis in the 1st quarter as well as the game.
PLAY MEMPHIS
Vernon Croy
Cincinnati U vs. Louisville
Play: Over 47
Both of these defenses have struggled against the pass this season but they have been good against the run which will force both teams to air the ball out in this game. The Bearcats defense has allowed an average of 248 pypg on the road this season while the Cardinals defense has allowed an average of 225 pypg overall this season. The Bearcats defense has struggled in their only 2 games on grass this season with their opponents averaging 470.5 ypg and 46 ppg and the Cardinals defense has struggled over their last 3 games with opponents averaging 29.7 ppg against them. Offensively these teams have the ability to strike quickly and both of these teams are averaging over 26 ppg this season. The O/U is 6-1-1 for the Bearcats in their last 8 road games against a team with a winning record and the O/U is 7-1-1 for the Bearcats in their last 9 games played on grass. Take the Over.
Scott Spreitzer
William & Mary at Penn State
Prediction: Penn State
A lot of young players received a ton of playing time for PSU coach Ed DeChellis last season.
I expect last year's growing pains to turn into a top-five conference finish this season. Sophomore PG Talor Battle leads the way. He played in 30 of 31 games as a true frosh and led the team in assists while finishing third in scoring. Battle will benefit from some big shooting guards around him. PSU adds a pair of 6'5 scorers in Chris Babb and Cammeron Woodyard. While it make take a few games to show their worth in conference play, they'll have little trouble taking apart an out-manned Bill & Mary squad.
The Nittany Lions don't have Geary Claxton any more, but the team owns plenty of returning talent on the wings and on the blocks. Tonight, they'll open against the Tribe.
Bill & Mary returns a decent guard in David Schneider, but not much else in the backcourt. I'm also interested in seeing how Schneider fares in this one. The junior guard was a three-point jumpshot Charlie last season. Reports are saying that he has been negatively affected by the increased three-point defense and he will be trying to shoot over the big PSU backcourt. As a team, the Tribe finished the season with a poor 41.7% field goal mark. They haven't brought in the type of player to turn those numbers around too quickly. It's rebuilding time for Tony Shaver. I expect his squad to finish 11th in the CAA, just ahead of UNC-Wilmington.
Strong spot for Penn State and I'm laying the points on Friday.
MTi Sports
Game: Detroit Pistons at Los Angeles Lakers
Prediction: Los Angeles Lakers
The Pistons are 0-8 ATS (-10.4 ppg) after a win in which Tayshaun Prince had more rebounds than points and 0-7 ATS (-11.1 ppg) on the road after a win in which Richard Hamilton played more than 40 minutes. The Lakers are 8-0 ATS (8.6 ppg) with at least one day of rest after a win in which they had an assist to turnover ratio of at least two and 8-0 ATS (9.0 ppg) since December 25, 2007 after two away games in which Vladimir Radmanovic took fewer than 10 shots in each. Consider laying the points.
Blade, do you have Langs pick tonight? thanks
Blade, do you have Langs pick tonight? thanks
It is up in the premium plays thread.
John Ryan
Game: Rider at St. Josephs
Prediction: St. Josephs
Ai Simulator 3* graded play on St. Josephs AiS shows a 79% probability that STJ will win this game over Rider by a minimum of 11 points. Supporting this graded play is a system that has gone 49-21 ATS for 70% since 1997. Play on a home team that had a good record last season with a winning percentage of 60% to 80% playing a team that had a winning record and is a team from a second tier division 1-A conference against a team from a mid-major conference. Given that St. Joes is returning 4 starters, but that the bench players are somewhat of an unknown, playing against Rider will be a advantageous opponent to face. Starters will be Nivins, Carr, Governs, Williamson, and the new comer to the starting lineup Hilliard. In recent years the team has been a great 3-point shooting team that could simply blow out opponents in big bursts. This version will be a more grind it out physical team, which is not the worst thing for their conference style of play. Govens is a proven 3-point shooter and the extra distance of the 3-point arc will not affect his percentage and in summary will not affect any of the top shooters in the country. But, with just Govens a 3-point threat the style of play will be focused more in the paint. St. Josephs will be the type of team that will benefit from the longer 3-point distance. Take St. Joes.
Marc Lawrence
Play On: New Jersey Nets
Nets host the Hawks in an Eastern Conference clash Friday night with New Jersey off an eleven-point home loss in its last game against the Pacers while Atlanta saw it's 6-0 start come to a halt in a 1-point loss to the Celtics in its last game. That sets the table for tonight's contest at the Nets are 11-1 SU and 8-4 ATS as a host in this series, They are also 9-0 ATS in games in which the Hawks own a win percentage of .600 or greater on the season. Grab the points and stay at home with New Jersey here this evening.
Blade, do you have Langs pick tonight? thanks
It is up in the premium plays thread.
I dont see that thread up??? thanks
Blade, do you have Langs pick tonight? thanks
It is up in the premium plays thread.
I dont see that thread up??? thanks
Now i do thanks man
Drew Gordon
Utah at CHARLOTTE +6
Bettors have a tendency to overreact to injury news, especially in the NBA, where the loss of one player (unless he's a superstar) can be made up by spreading the ball around. Tonight's Utah/Charlotte game is a perfect example, as we know Jason Richardson will be out with knee inflammation, but I still like the Bobcats regardless and here's why:
Despite losing their last two at home, the Bobcats did beat the mighty Hornets in the game prior to those losses. How did they do it? The same way they're going to grab the cash in tonight's contest... Defense and a lot of it! Bobcats are allowing just 90 ppg at home thus far this season, and have looked damn good doing it. Only 1 out of their 5 home opponents has scored more than 89 points, and Utah has been far from impressive on the highway (averaging 92 ppg away) including an ugly 95-87 loss at Washington two days ago.
Also, one has to consider the absence of Memhet Okur, which leaves the Jazz starting rookie Koufos at center. That's music to Okafor's ears, as he should easily dominate the softish Koufos in this match up. Not only that, but AK-47 is listed as questionable, leaving Utah's usually stacked frontcourt a shell of its former self (at least in this match up).
Bottom line, try not to overreact to the news Richardson is out, as the Bobcats are solid enough at home to keep this game well within the number. Also, the fact this is Utah's 3rd road game in 4 nights could signal some fatigue tonight. In the end, the Bobcats may not win, but they sure as hell grab the cash.
Take Charlotte plus the points over Utah in this NBA match up.
3♦ CHARLOTTE
Portland at NEW ORLEANS -7
Interesting match up here, as it may seem hard to go against a suddenly surging Trail Blazers squad in this one, but fact remains, the play here rest squarely on the Hornets and here's why:
First and foremost, the Hornets are NOT happy about losing to the Lakers Wednesday 93-86 in front of their home crowd. They played a sloppy game, that included 17 turnovers, and never led in that contest, falling back by as many as 23 points at one point. Listen guys, if ever the Hornets are going to come out with an axe to grind, it'll be tonight.
Second, this is simply not a good match up for Portland, because they have no one on their roster who can stick with Chris Paul. Steve Blake definately can't cover him, and good luck with rookie Rudy Fernandez as well! All you have to do is pop in the tape of their last meeting, a 96-81 shellacking of the Blazers by the Hornets, and you'll see a team that was unable to contend with the Hornets backcourt.
Finally, there's a couple trends that stick out, but none more than the fact the home team is an outstanding 10-1 ATS over their last 11 meetings! Not only that, but not surprsingly, the favorite is 7-3 ATS over the last 10 times these two have met! Look guys, in the end, this is a bad match up for Portland, who catches the Hornets in redemption mode after getting beaten by the Lakers in their last home game. Hornets roll!
Take New Orleans comfortably over Portland in this NBA match up.
2♦ NEW ORLEANS