Daily Sports Roundup
Thursday, February 11
Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Flames play host to the Stars, the Cavaliers meet the Magic, and St. Mary's looks for a West Coast win at Gonzaga.
Tipping off on the hardwood . . .
The NBA has two games on its schedule for Thursday with the league on the verge of its All-Star break: San Antonio at Denver, and Orlando at Cleveland. The Cavaliers' winning streak is up to a dozen games, as they got past New Jersey 104-97 in their last outing on Tuesday night. LeBron James put up 32 points to go along with 11 assists in that game for Cleveland, which is now a league-leading 42-11 SU and 26-25-2 ATS on the season. The Cavaliers and Magic met back on November 11, with Cleveland winning 102-93 in a road game.
As well, there are a pair of ranked teams in action on the college basketball schedule for Thursday, with No. 18 Butler at Youngstown State, and St. Mary's at No. 16 Gonzaga. The Bulldogs (19-4 SU, 10-9-1 ATS) are coming off a 66-58 win over Memphis in their last game on Saturday; Matt Bouldin poured in 19 points for Gonzaga in that win. The Gaels (21-3 SU, 16-6-1 ATS) trounced San Francisco 73-57 in their last game, getting 24 points from Omar Samhan. St. Mary's is 8-0 on the road so far this season, while Gonzaga sits at 8-1 at home.
Taking a trip around the rink . . .
Finally, there are seven games on the NHL's schedule for Thursday, with Buffalo at Carolina, Washington at Ottawa, San Jose at Detroit, Boston at Tampa Bay, Vancouver at Florida, Edmonton at Los Angeles, and Dallas at Calgary. The Stars lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Blackhawks in their last game on Tuesday, with Mike Ribeiro scoring a goal for Dallas in his return from injury. Dallas also announced a trade for Atlanta netminder Kari Lehtonen after the contest. The Flames are riding a two-game skid, falling 3-2 to the Senators on Tuesday night.
Today's Wagering Tips
Thursday February 11
Line to keep an eye on
The Magic-Cavs total dropped from an opener of 195 to the current number of 194. The last four games played in this series have gone over.
Weather to watch
The UNC-Wilmington at Towson game slated for Wednesday night was postponed until Thursday at 1 p.m. because of the winter storm. The original line on the game had Towson as a 2-point favorite with a total of 140.5.
The forecast for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in Northern California calls for rain on Friday and temperatures in the low 60s throughout the tournament.
Who’s hot
Ottawa has won 12 of its last 13 games, earning 13.9 units on the moneyline during that stretch.
The Magic are 8-2 ATS against the Cavaliers during the last 10 meetings.
Who’s not
San Antonio is 3-7 ATS in its last 10 games and 1-7 ATS in the team’s last eight Thursday matchups.
The Minnesota Gophers are 0-6 ATS in their last six games.
Key stat
21-4 – Spurs record this season when they score more than 100 points in a game. The Nuggets have given up 100+ points in four of their last five games and Denver has surrendered 102.0 opponent points per contest this year.
Injury that shouldn’t be overlooked
Sophomore Paul George is expected to return to the Fresno State starting lineup on Thursday after missing the team’s last four games. George leads the team in scoring (17.0 ppg), rebounds (7.3 rpg) and steals (2.6 spg) and the Bulldogs have gone 2-2 SU and ATS without him on the floor. Fresno is favored by 4 points at home against New Mexico State, who has won the last five meetings in this series.
Games of the day
Orlando Magic at Cleveland Cavaliers (-6.5, 194)
San Antonio Spurs at Denver Nuggets (-5.5, 204.5)
Notable quotable
"Maybe I should come out of retirement like what Brett Favre does every year."
-- Retired MLB pitcher Curt Schilling posted on his Facebook account Wednesday.
Tips and notes
- The UNC-Wilmington Seahawks had their third game of the season postponed Wednesday. The Seahawks lost both of those makeup games but interim head coach Brooks Lee said the recent delay is a chance “for us to develop some camaraderie and togetherness” and expects the team to “handle it fine.” Wilmington plays Towson Thursday and has dropped six straight ATS.
- Notre Dame coach Mike Brey called for an 8 a.m. practice last Tuesday after his team lost on the road to Rutgers. The Irish responded to the change of routine (which Brey also did last year) by winning two consecutive conference games. Notre Dame is a 5.5-point dog versus Seton Hall but has won six straight games in the series.
- Phil Mickelson has won the AT&T Pebble Beach National twice in the last five years and three times overall. He is getting +715 odds to win the tournament and +165 odds to finish in the Top 5. Dustin Johnson, the event’s defending champ, is playing great golf right now (finished T-3rd last week) and is getting +1850 odds to win.