indiancowboy
5* NBA GOM. #717. Sacramento Kings +8.5 over the Detroit Pistons (Friday @ 8:05pm est).
Last NBA 5* GOM: Bucks Outright ver Jazz.
6 of 9 Winning days in the NBA.
Going for 4th NBA 5* Winner in a Row.
8 Total Football Plays on the card this week.
The Kings are primed for an outright win here. What has quietly gone unnoticed is the fact that Kevin Martin, their star player has returned. The Kings Coach did not want to immediately put pressure on him to return to the starting lineup so he put him as a reserve. Well, he performed like the starter, the leader of this team and the All-Star he is for 30 minutes worth of 20 points and going 8 for 8 from the line. Heck, he led his team with all scores. Now, this team goes on the road to play the Pistons who will be without Richard Hamilton in this game. Plus, Wallace and McDyess are both listed as questionable. Remember, when the Kings faced the Pistons earlier this year at home? The final score was 100-92 Detroit. But, what is missed unless you check the boxscore is the fact that this Kings team was up 31-18 after the first quarter and was up by 2 going into the fourth quarter and somehow managed to miss the 7.5 cover. With Martin back, this team has a bounce in their step. They have revenge against the Pistons from nearly defeating them at home, have their star player back who led them to victory over the Clippers at home, and face a Pistons team that comes off a nice win over the Nets at home but scoring 83 points will simply not it get done here. This Kings team is about to go on an upswing and we will catch them on the rise. Remember the Pistons only beat OKC by 2 points at home and that was with Hamilton. I just think the Kings come out strong and stay focused from start to finish here. The Pistons are 1-6 ATS against teams at home with a losing record meaning they are expected to do above their means at home, we have the Kings with revenge the Pistons are the public team that has covered several games in a row and now Vegas is making it difficult for them to cover here, our star player is back while Hamilton is out for the 'Stones. Likely a close game, but look for the Kings to cover and maybe even an outright.
4 Unit Play. #754. Take Oregon State +15 over UCLA (Friday @ 10:30pm est). I'm known for taking some unpopular dogs and such will be the case here. But, let's go over some basics. This will be a sold out crowd in Coraville. This game is not on national television and this is UCLA's second road contest of the year. Oregon State was dismal last year. They lost their top player in Marcel Jones to the NBA. But, this team began to rebuild its team by hiring Craig Robinson - Barack Obama's Brother-in-law. Somehow using that connection, Craig is looking to lure a top 25 class including a 4* Point guard from Arizona and his fab four as he calls it is likely to come in next year. And, he nearly has all of their commitments. But, as per this year. Robinson is running the Princeton offense. His team has been showing improvement every game. After all, after losing to Howard in the season opener on the road by a score of 45-47, this team crushed Howard at home 90-54. This team also defeated Nebraska 64-63 at home and was competitive at Iowa State losing by 13. Heck, this team even beat a top 150 team on the road in Fresno State by 9 and even lost to Nevada by single-digits. Don't count out this Oregon State team as Craig Robinson gets the most out of his players and has consistently done so his entire life. This is the biggest game of the year for Oregon State in many ways as they host UCLA and I expect him to get his players going for this game. Do I expect a win, no. But, if you are UCLA, how do you get up for Oregon State? A team that was dead last in your conference last year and didn't even win a conference game last year? In fact, they are the only Pac-10 team ever to not win a conference game last year. You better believe that Robinson has reminded his team of that and will have the game. Oregon State opens up its Pac-10 play here, at home, fired up, with a packed house, and I think UCLA will get caught a bit off-guard as Oregon State likely loses by 8-10 points here.