NBA
Monday, March 27
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Trend Report
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7:30 PM
DETROIT vs. NEW YORK
Detroit is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Detroit's last 6 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of New York's last 6 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 4 of New York's last 5 games
7:30 PM
ORLANDO vs. TORONTO
The total has gone OVER in 11 of Orlando's last 16 games on the road
Orlando is 3-14 SU in its last 17 games when playing Toronto
Toronto is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games when playing at home against Orlando
Toronto is 1-6 ATS in its last 7 games when playing Orlando
8:00 PM
CLEVELAND vs. SAN ANTONIO
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Cleveland's last 5 games
Cleveland is 1-5 ATS in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 7 of San Antonio's last 8 games when playing at home against Cleveland
San Antonio is 3-7 ATS in its last 10 games at home
8:30 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY vs. DALLAS
Oklahoma City is 2-8 SU in its last 10 games on the road
Oklahoma City is 2-5 ATS in its last 7 games on the road
Dallas is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Dallas's last 5 games
10:30 PM
MEMPHIS vs. SACRAMENTO
Memphis is 15-2 SU in its last 17 games when playing Sacramento
The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Memphis's last 14 games when playing Sacramento
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Sacramento's last 7 games when playing at home against Memphis
Sacramento is 1-7 SU in its last 8 games when playing at home against Memphis
10:30 PM
NEW ORLEANS vs. UTAH
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of New Orleans's last 11 games on the road
New Orleans is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games when playing Utah
Utah is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games
Utah is 1-2-2 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against New Orleans
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NBA
Monday, March 27
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Monday’s NBA Game of the Day: Cavaliers at Spurs
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Kawhi Leonard scored a career-high 41 points as the Spurs survived an overtime affair at Cleveland earlier in the season.
Cleveland Cavaliers at San Antonio Spurs (-5, 211.5)
The Cleveland Cavaliers are in danger of falling out of first place in the Eastern Conference and they won't have an easy time stopping the bleeding against a team in hot pursuit of the top spot in the West when they visit the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. The Cavaliers' latest defensive debacle came in a 127-115 home loss to Washington on Saturday and resulted in a tie for first in the East with Boston, with a visit to the Celtics on the horizon.
"I'm not confident," Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue told reporters when asked if there was time to repair a defense that has given up an average of 117.2 points during a 2-3 spell. "But we've got to." The Spurs have had no such issues, holding opponents under the century mark three times during a four-game winning streak - the latest a 106-98 triumph over the New York Knicks at home Saturday. Kawhi Leonard's 29 points led the way for San Antonio, which has a potentially pivotal matchup with the first-place Golden State Warriors - who entered Sunday with a two-game lead - on Wednesday. Leonard scored a career-high 41 points as the Spurs survived an overtime affair at Cleveland earlier in the season.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT, FSN Ohio (Cleveland)
LINE HISTORY: The Spurs opened as 4.5-point home favorites over the visiting Cavaliers and that spread was bumped slightly by the books to -5 on Monday morning. The total hit the board at 212.5 and was dropped to 211.5. Check out the complete line history here.
WHAT SHARPS SAY: "Cleveland's road struggles are pretty well documented and the Cavaliers have really struggled on the road when playing solid teams as they are just 1-9 as underdogs. But a loss here knocks them out of first place in the Eastern Conference so something has to give. This is a game that needs to be waited on to bet with both teams always a threat to rest players but if everyone goes, the value is on Cleveland getting a pretty sizeable number." - Matt Fargo.
INJURY REPORT:
Cavaliers - No injuries to report.
Spurs - PG D. Murray (Mid April, groin).
POWER RANKINGS: Cavaliers (-6.5) - Spurs (-11.6) + home court (-3) = Spurs -8.1
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (47-25 SU, 32-37-3 ATS, 41-30-1 O/U): LeBron James was able to play Saturday despite a scratched cornea, ditching protective goggles early in the contest and finishing with 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. He is averaging 27 points while shooting 58 percent in four games since resting in a road game against the Los Angeles Clippers, while running mate Kyrie Irving has scored at least 20 points in a career-high 22 straight games. Reserve guard Iman Shumpert was scratched from Saturday's lineup due to knee soreness, although he was able to go through warmups and could be available Monday.
ABOUT THE SPURS (56-16 SU, 37-34-1 ATS, 38-32-2 O/U): An eight-point win at home against the struggling Knicks - who nearly erased all of an early 20-point deficit - was not what San Antonio had in mind as it gears up for back-to-back games against conference leaders. "We had too many defensive breakdowns," center Pau Gasol - who had 19 points and 10 rebounds - told reporters. "They were getting in the paint too easily, which forced us to get bodies off other bodies. They got too many easy looks and they made the run." Guard Danny Green was out of the lineup to rest and rookie Dejounte Murray (groin) sat out his eighth consecutive contest.
TRENDS:
* Cavaliers are 1-8-1 ATS in their last 10 games following a double-digit loss at home.
* Spurs are 2-9 ATS in their last 11 games following a straight up win.
* Over is 13-3-1 in Cavaliers last 17 vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
* Under is 12-3-1 in Spurs last 16 when their opponent scores 100 points or more in their previous game.
* Over is 7-1 in the last 8 meetings in San Antonio.
CONSENSUS: Early consensus returns are showing 64 percent of the public supporting the home favorite San Antonio Spurs and 57 percent of the totals wagers on the Over.
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NBA betting road map: 76ers continue to cover pointspreads at historic rate
The Philadelphia 76ers are 8-2 ATS over their last 10 games, and 17-5 ATS over their last 22.
With just 17 days remaining in the NBA's regular season, there's still great drama atop each of the conferences. San Antonio is just two games back in the loss column behind Golden State, while Boston's defeats exceed Cleveland's by just one.
Two of the three biggest remaining games on the schedule will be played in the Alamo City this week, as San Antonio will welcome both the Cavs and Warriors. And those results will go a long way toward determining the No. 1 seeds.
Al McMordie takes a look at the upcoming week.
Spread Watch
The Philadelphia 76ers are 8-2 ATS over their last 10 games, and 17-5 ATS over their last 22. For the season, they're 46-27 ATS (.630) and that pointspread win percentage, if it holds over Philly's final nine games of the season, would rank among the best ATS win percentages of all-time.
However, look closer, and you'll notice that the 76ers are doing something remarkable this season. Notwithstanding their success at the betting window, they're still just 27-46 on the season (.369). Generally speaking, extreme point spread success (or failure) is strongly correlated with a team's actual win percentage. It's quite rare that a horrible team like the Sixers would have such a great ATS win percentage.
Indeed, the best ATS win percentages over the last 26 years belong to the 2008 Celtics (66-16 SU; 53-28-1 ATS), 1995 Jazz (60-22 SU; 52-28-2 ATS) and 2010 Bucks (46-36 SU; 52-28-2 ATS). Only once in the past 26 years (Charlotte in 2006) has a team covered more than 60% of its games, yet lost more than 60% of its games, straight-up.
This is all a credit to coach Brett Brown and his staff for getting his charges to play hard every single night. This week, the 76ers will play at Brooklyn, then host Atlanta, and conclude with road games at Cleveland and Toronto. Wednesday's game with Atlanta seems to be the best one to play on the 76ers, notwithstanding Atlanta's recent success (6-0 SU/ATS) vs. the 76ers. Philly is 25-11 ATS at home this season, including 12-0 ATS since January 3 off a road game. Meanwhile, Atlanta is currently on a nasty 7-game losing streak (2-5 ATS), and is 5-13 ATS since Valentine's Day.
Totals Watch
The Golden State Warriors are the league's best team because they are sensational both on offense and defense. This season, Steve Kerr's crew is neck-and-neck with the Houston Rockets for the top offensive efficiency rating, and also in a virtual tie with the San Antonio Spurs for the top defensive efficiency rating.
Yet most NBA fans still perceive the Warriors to be primarily an offensive, rather than a defensive juggernaut. In Vegas, however, Golden State's defense has enabled bettors to cash a lot of totals tickets. Golden State has gone Under in 46 of its 73 games this season, including 10 straight, and 15 of its last 16.
This week, the Warriors will play the Rockets twice - sandwiched around a road game at San Antonio - and then finish with a home game vs. Washington. Certainly, Wednesday's game at San Antonio looks to be the best one to play Under the total. The Spurs and Warriors have gone Under in the last four meetings in San Antonio and the Spurs held Golden State to 92, 79, 92 and 85 points in those four games. The Dubs haven't scored more than 100 points in any of their last eight games at San Antonio (87.8 ppg)! Expect a relatively low-scoring game on Wednesday.
Injury Watch
Marc Gasol missed his fourth game of the season on Sunday, when Memphis played the Warriors in Oakland - Zach Randolph got the start, instead. But the ripple effect for the Grizzlies was that their bench was greatly weakened.
So far this season, Memphis is 1-3 in the four games that Gasol has been sidelined, both SU and ATS. That's not surprising, as his production (19.9 ppg; 6.3 rpg; 20.27 PER) is vital to a Grizzlies squad, which is locked into a battle with the Thunder and Clippers for the fifth seed in the Western Conference.
If there is a silver lining to the timing of Gasol's injury, it's that this week's opponents (Kings, Pacers, Mavericks, Lakers) are on the soft side. But if Gasol can't go Monday vs. Sacramento, Memphis will be susceptible to an upset. Sacramento, of course, is coached by Memphis' former coach, Dave Joerger and they've been decent, of late, with a 17-13-1 ATS record since Jan. 21, including an eye-opening win, as a 13.5-point underdog, at the Clippers on Sunday. With Memphis a poor 17-39 ATS vs. foes with double revenge that are not off back-to-back losses, think about backing Sacramento on Monday.
Schedule Watch
The proud Detroit Pistons franchise has not won a playoff game since the 2008 season, as it's been swept the last two times (2009, 2016) that it reached the post-season. This year, Stan Van Gundy's troops are right in the mix for the final Eastern Conference playoff slot, as they're among four teams (Heat, Bulls, Pistons, Hornets) currently separated by a mere two games. The Pistons haven't done themselves any favors by starting off their 4-game road trip with three losses, including a 28-point upset loss at Orlando on Friday.
Detroit's final road game on this trip will be in Madison Square Garden, where it will battle the New York Knicks, followed by home dates vs. Miami and Brooklyn. The Pistons are a solid 26-12 ATS their last 38 off an upset loss, which bodes well for them against the Knicks on Monday. And it won't hurt matters any that Carmelo Anthony might miss the game due to soreness in his left knee. Look for Detroit to handily defeat New York.
