BUDIN
CHICAGO BEARS -3
COMPUTER CRUSHERS
Villanova -11
Kansas St -6
SportsKingz
SAINTS / BEARS OVER 44.5
madduxsports.
Free Pick is New Orleans & Chicago Over 44.5
TONY STOFFO
SAINTS at BEARS
Pick: OVER 44.5
Analysis: With the combination of the Saints allowing 28 points a game on the road so far this season, and Drew Brees having no problem throwing against the Bears 28th ranked pass defense as in his last 2 games against Chicago he has thrown for 674 yards. I look for a wild open high scoring game for tonight making the Over the highly recommended play here.
Chicago 16-4 Over as a home favorite since 2006.
New Orleans 15-5 Over in road games off a home win against a division rival.
Karl Garrett
Boston at WASHINGTON +9'
The G-Man has a feeling the points will work tonight in DC, as Washington is off their Tuesday night upset win over Detroit, and they have covered 5 straight games, ALL catching points.
Boston does have a big game with New Orleans back in Beantown on-deck for tomorrow night, and the Celtics could get caught looking ahead in this spot against the 4-15 Wizards.
Series numbers show the Wizards having won outright the last 3 times these teams have faced each other, and Washingto has been the straight up winner in 6 of the last 7 showdowns.
Washington just pulled off a trade to try and shake things up, and with 5 straight covers in the dog role, you can certainly see the effort has been there for this Wizards team.
Too many points for Boston to cover tonight on the road.
Take Washington plus the points.
1♦ WASHINGTON
Drew Gordon
St. Joseph's at VILLANOVA -9'
One game removed from a tough loss to Texas, the Wildcats get the perfect opponent to re-sharpen their claws against tonight at home. St. Joseph's will have trouble matching up at multiple positions in this one, and the fact they come into this game off an easy win at Towson is NOT a good thing.
Why? Because the Hawks have proven jack on the road this season, and a false sense of accomplishment at beating a bad Towson team tells me the Wildcats will have the motivational edge here tonight at home, coming off a loss and looking for revenge. Looking over the Hawks "true" road schedule, a loss at Holy Cross, and wins at Lehigh and Towson should hardly instill confidence in their backers!
Speaking of the revenge factor, a lot has changed for the Hawks since their last meeting. In that match up, the Wildcats got blown away 77-55, but that was with Pat Calathes and Rob Ferguson dropping in a combined 40 of the Hawks' 77 points. Both those players are gone, while the Wildcats still have their studs, Cunningham and Reynolds, playing and looking for redemption!
Bottom line, this is a huge bounce back game for the Cats, and the fact their off a tough loss to Texas only serves to further motivate them. Look for 'Novas defense to lock down the visiting Hawks, who may start the game competing, but eventually the Wildcats drop the hammer at home!
Take Villanova comfortably over St. Joseph's in this college hoops match up.
2♦ VILLANOVA
Matt Rivers
For Thursday take the Jazz at home.
Playing without Carlos Boozer is not great as the young and talented Trailblazers are no joke right now but there is something about Utah at home.
Jerry Sloan is in his 20th season with the Jazz and his squad just always seems to win game after game after game at home. Whether it's Stockton and Malone or Williams and Boozer or whomever it just doesn't matter. Utah is a total juggernaut in Salt Lake and even without their main man should be able to handle the road weary Blazers. For Gosh Sakes these guys are on an unreal 46-21-2 ATS run at home. Numbers like that are a bit more than just a mere coincidence.
Portland just had that five game East Coast swing. Then they came home for one game, a one point heartbreaking loss to Dwight Howard and the Magic and now hit the road again here. Also today's visitors have failed to cover in five straight and may have some tired legs after all of the recent travel.
Utah can run the floor, even without Boozer and I can see WIlliams, Okur, Kirlenko and others do just that in yet another routine home win and cover.
Vegas Experts
Portland Trail Blazers at Utah Jazz
When these teams met last month, the Jazz barely eked out a cover as 6.5-point favorites, winning by just a seven point margin. Portland went on a 13-4 run immediately after. However, the Blazers have been struggling at the betting window of late. failing to cover each of their last five contests. The home teams has totally dominated this division rivalry, winning and covering four straight. Jazz are 19-7 ATS at home coming off an ATS loss.
Play on: Utah
Ted Sevransky
Charlotte Bobcats @ Dallas Mavericks
PICK: Over
The Charlotte Bobcats were involved in last night’s blockbuster deal with the Suns. Head coach Larry Brown was more than willing to trade away leading scorer Jason Richardson, acquiring Raja Bell and Boris Diaw in the process. In the long term, the move will probably make Charlotte a more athletic team and a better defensive squad. In the short term, however, Brown isn’t expected to have his new players in the lineup tonight, leaving the Bobcats extremely short handed on the second night of back-2-back games, after getting hammered in New Orleans last night.
We can expect Rick Carlisle to get his team to run and gun tonight against a shorthanded foe. Dallas has been an uptempo team for much of the season. Jason Kidd likes to push the pace, as does his ultra-energetic backcourt mate JJ Barea. Jason Terry has been on fire for weeks coming off the bench; Dirk Nowitzki and Devean George play their best basketball in transition. Dallas has scored 100+ in each of their last seven contests, with six of those games producing at least 198 points. The Bobcats have seen low totals all year, based on Larry Brown’s defensive mindset, but they’ve been flying Over of late, cashing Over tickets in five of their last six ballgames. With a limited bench and tired legs, don’t expect Charlotte to control the pace tonight. Take the Over.
John Ryan
St. Josephs at Villanova
Prediction: St. Josephs
Ai Simulator 3* graded play on St. Josephs ? AiS shows an 77% probability that St Joes will lose this game by 10 or fewer points. Villanova coming off a tough loss to Texas and it was the type of game they really exposed their weaknesses. Whenever two top level teams face off early in the season and one team dominates another as Texas did Villanova, it becomes very hard for the losing team to rebound emotionally and mentally for the next game. Villanova team is questioning themselves now wondering if they are an elite team and this makes them extremely vulnerable having to face a city rival. This is probably more than just a city rival too as it has been proclaimed the Holy War and has appeared on ESPN?s Rivalry week schedule. This is the first time in 8 seasons though that the two teams are facing each other before the New Year. The last 7 have been decided by more than 13 points so the rivalry part has been diminished. Yet, this game will quite close based on the AiS. This is the 66th time these two teams have played and there is a storied history behind these games. Supporting this graded play is a system that has gone 44-17 for 72% since 2002. Play on a road team off a road win scoring 85 or more points playing only their 3rd game in a week. Take St. Joes.
Boston Celtics at Washington Wizards
Prediction: Washington Wizards
Reason: Ai Simulator 3* graded play on Washington ? AiS shows a 75% probability that Washington will lose this game by 9 or fewer points. At this time of the season the best and worst teams have appeared and are all but identified as such. Here is a game where one of the worst is at home facing one of the best. Pride becomes a big part of these games during December and January where the weak team would like to prove to themselves and especially the home folks that they are team worth supporting. True too is the fact that these top teams now have a bulls eye on them in every road venue they enter. Just ask the Lakers what the recent loss to the Kings was like. Washington finds itself in a strong role noting they are 27-14 ATS (+11.6 Units) vs. good free throw shooting teams making >=76% of their attempts over the last 2 seasons; 26-14 ATS (+10.6 Units) as an underdog of 3.5 to 9.5 points over the last 2 seasons; 14-3 ATS (+10.7 Units) in December games over the last 2 seasons. Granted, this Boston team is by far the best team in the past 10 seasons of their storied franchise, but the following angle is quite relevant. Boston is just 14-30 ATS (-19.0 Units) off a road win scoring 110 or more points since 1996. Scoring a 110 on the road is a strong game and many times when having to go on the road again for the next game it is very difficult to duplicate that performance level. Look for Washington to give the Celtics everything they have tonight and make this a very close game.
Jrtips
CHARLOTTE vs. DALLAS
The Dallas Mavericks were outstanding on offensive in their last game but still ended up losing in double-overtime to San Antonio. The Mavericks look to bounce back from their second loss in 11 games against the Charlotte Bobcats who traded their leading scoreer Jason Richardson on Wednesday. Dallas (11-9) had won nine of 10 games before falling 133-126 to San Antonio. The Mavericks scored at least 100 points for the seventh straight game, had 28 assists on 48 field goals, shot 51.6 percent from the floor and made nine of their 24 3-point attempts but couldn't stop the Spurs who had 17 points in the second overtime. The Bobcats (7-15) will be playing their second game without Richardson who was averaging a team-high 18.7 points in 14 games with Charlotte. Without its starting shooting guard, Charlotte fell 105-89 to New Orleans on Wednesday. The Bobcats received Raja Bell, Boris Diaw and rookie Sean Singletary in Wednesday's deal. Bell is averaging 9.6 points this year and Diaw is averaging 8.3 points and 3.8 rebounds. The two probaly will not play tonight as Charlotte tries to avoid its fifth straight loss. In their first meeting with the Mavericks, Charlotte was outscored 28-10 in the first quarter and shot 38.8 percent from the field in a 100-83 home defeat Nov. 18. Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki had 32 points and nine rebounds against Charlotte, one of his seven games with at least 30 points this season. Rookie guard D.J. Augustin led Charlotte with 21 points and went 9-for-15 from the field against the Mavericks. Without their leading scorer, the shorthanded Charlotte Hornets have no chance against the hot Dallas Mavericks tonight.TAKE DALLAS -11.5
Brian Steinberg
New Orleans / CHICAGO over 44½
Playing road teams on short weeks has proven to be a detriment to one’s bankroll and therefore I can’t recommend the Saints and I’m not in favor of laying points to Drew Brees and Co. What we have here is two efficient offenses going at it against two vulnerable defenses. In addition, both teams punt and kick-off return teams leave plenty to be desired and with Bush and Hester getting some chances, they both could set up some rather short fields. Both teams can run the ball and both defenses can’t stop the run and when you throw in some play action it would appear that both offenses will light it up. This game reminds me of a game played in Chicago earlier in the year between the Vikes and Bears in which both teams put up over 40. To some, in Chicago on a cold December night, you would think this total is a little high, as the Bears have been a defense-minded team forever. However, that is no longer the case and I have to trust this one goes over this total with relative ease. Play: New Orleans/Chicago over 44½ (Risking 2.2 units to win 2).
Rob Homyak
New Orleans Saints at Chicago Bears
5 unit Play on Chicago Bears
Oddsmakers currently have the Bears listed as 3-point favorites versus the Saints, while the game's total is sitting at 45.
The Saints defeated Atlanta 29-25 as a 3-point favorite last week. The combined score went OVER the posted over/under total (51.5).
Pierre Thomas rushed for 102 yards and a touchdowns and he also caught a TD pass for New Orleans, while Drew Brees passed for 230 yards with two touchdowns
The Bears defeated Jacksonville 23-10 as a 6.5-point favorite last week. The combined score fell UNDER the posted over/under total (40).
Kyle Orton passed for 219 yards with a pair of touchdown passes and an interception for Chicago, while Greg Olsen caught three passes for 52 yards with a touchdown in the win.
Double revenger for the Saints who lost 2006 Title Game to the Bears, 39-14 and again last year 33-25.
The Bears have a 12-11 edge in their all-time regular-season series with the Saints. Smith is 3-0 all-time against New Orleans, while the Saints Payton is 0-2 against both Smith and the Bears as a head coach.
The weather could be a factor in this game.The cold and windy conditions will be an advantage for the Bears.The Saints are all offense and no defense. They have the league's top ranked offense, but only rank 21st on defense. The Bears defense is ranked 7th in the league.
Saints are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games after accumulating more than 150 yards rushing in their previous game.
Saints are 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games as an underdog of 0.5-3.0.
Saints are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games as a road underdog of 0.5-3.0.
Bears are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games in December.
Bears are 10-2 ATS in their last 12 games in Week 15.
Take the Bears.
Gina
Charlotte Bobcats at Dallas Mavericks
The hot Mavericks have won nine of 10 games, including Tuesday's,133-126 double-overtime defeat to San Antonio. Take Dallas to get back to winning ways when they face the struggling and shorthanded Bobcats at American Airlines Center. Dallas has won the last nine meetings and has covered the spread in the last 7.
Dallas Mavericks -13