Service Plays Friday 2/5/10

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

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[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Ice picks: Today's best NHL bets

Carolina Hurricanes at Buffalo Sabres (-215, 5.5)

The Buffalo Sabres are hoping a home date against one of the NHL’s worst teams can get them back on track.

Buffalo has dropped back-to-back games and has lost eight of its last 12 heading into Friday night. The Sabres’ most recent defeat came at the hands of the red-hot Ottawa Senators, knocking off Buffalo 4-2 at home Wednesday. The Sens scored two goals in the final minute of the game to pull ahead, leaving the Sabres’ with their heads in their hands.

"To be 2-2 and lose at least a point is disappointing, especially against a team like that in our division," Sabres center Tim Connolly told the Buffalo News. "It's in our arena and there's a few minutes left, we've got to buckle down and at worst go to overtime and go from there."

Rebounding from that crushing loss will be tough – even with the Hurricanes coming to town. Carolina is winless on its current four-game road trip, losing to Edmonton and Calgary.

The Sabres are aiming for a repeat performance of their 5-1 victory over Carolina back in late November, when they played the role of spoiler and scored five unanswered goals in the third period.

Pick: Buffalo


Phoenix Coyotes at Chicago Blackhawks (-185, 5.5)

The Blackhawks are stumbling and the finger pointing it starting to blow around in the Windy City.

Most of the blame for the team’s current slide is goaltender Cristobal Huet, who has a 2-3 record in his last five starts including dropping back-to-back starts versus the Blues and Hurricanes.

"We're not blaming the goaltending at all," coach Joel Quenneville told the Chicago Tribune. "We know the importance of it and we know it's a key position for us and we're going to rely on it as we go along here. The last two games, nullifying one of those goals would have led to wins in both of them."

Huet allowed three goals on just 19 shots against St. Louis Wednesday and watched four pucks whizz by on 24 shots in a loss to Carolina last weekend. Despite those poor showings and the return of fellow goaltender Antti Niemi, Chicago is sticking with Huet Friday night.

Wednesday’s 3-2 loss snapped a streak of four straight over finishes for Huet. He is posting a 2.33 GAA and boasts an over/under record of 7-4 in 2010.

Pick: Over

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Pick 'n' Roll: Today's best NBA bets

Chicago Bulls at Atlanta Hawks (-7, 197)

Just as everyone began to hop on the Bulls bandwagon after rattling off five straight ATS road wins, it might be time to hop off.

Chicago has now lost two in a row, straight up and against the spread, and will be without the team’s “Charlie Hustle” contributor until the All-Star break.

Reports have been confirmed that Joakim Noah, the Bulls leader in field goal percentage, rebounding and blocked shots, will be shut down until after the All-Star break because of plantar fasciitis.

"It's frustrating," said Noah, who sat during the team’s Thursday practice. "I can't move the way I want to."

Losing your team’s best blue-collar player is tough to overcome, especially when you have Brad Miller picking up the slack.

The Hawks rarely lose at home (20-5) and have been extremely profitable at Philips Arena (17-8 ATS) this season.

Pick: Hawks


Milwaukee Bucks at New York Knicks (-3, 200.5)

It was a little over a month ago when “Nasty” Nate Robinson was riding the Knicks bench game after game, a casualty inside Mike D’Antoni’s doghouse. But on Friday, Robinson will be announced as the team’s starting point guard.

Robinson supplanted Chris Duhon as the starter after igniting New York’s offense in a second-half comeback versus the Wizards on Wednesday.

Duhon was benched the entire second half after going 1-of-6 from the floor with two turnovers. Robinson totaled 23 points, eight assists and six rebounds in the game and the Knicks erased a 4-point halftime deficit to win by 22.

"In the first half we were dead in the water and I didn't feel like there was any life," D'Antoni said. “I just thought we needed Nate to show some energy and he did, and the rest of the guys responded really well.

"When a guy deserves to play he deserves to play. There is a moment in the season, you got to seize it and I thought he seized it.”

Expect inspired play from Robinson at home Friday night. This spread opened at 2.5 and the sharps quickly moved it to 3 so grab the field goal margin while you can.

Pick: Knicks

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Game of the day: Nuggets at Lakers

Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers

Feeling ‘Melo

Denver has played their last six games without the NBA’s leading scorer Carmelo Anthony, who is again doubtful against the Lakers with an ankle injury. They have lost two straight and are 3-3 without him.

Without Anthony, the Nuggets are a very average offense. They are averaging just 99.5 points per game sans Melo and have shot 46 percent or below in five of those six games compared to 106.8 ppg and 47 percent with him in the lineup.

Denver lost its last game on Wednesday night against the Suns, managing just 97 points against one of the worst defenses in the NBA. They’ll need more of a contribution from fellow All-Star Chauncey Billups, who had just 11 points and shot 5-for-14 against the Suns which followed up a shooting 6-for-25 night in Monday's win against the Kings.

"Sometimes he takes a little too much responsibility for Melo not being in the lineup — and because of that, he's probably missed a few shots that maybe we should have been a little patient with," head coach George Karl said.

Without Anthony, the Nuggets struggled at creating a "hot player" on offense, as Karl likes to say. Nene led Denver with 15 points against Phoenix — the lowest top-scoring total for the team this season.

With their recent cold streak, the Nuggets have fallen 4.5 games behind the Lakers in the Western Conference playoff standings. They are 4-2 in their last six road games, with quality wins at Utah, Golden State, San Antonio and Houston.

Denver could struggle against the Lakers stout defense. L.A. is allowing just 93.6 points per game in their last five games.

Leg-less Lakers

Shortly after Kobe Bryant became the Lakers all-time leading scorer, head coach Phil Jackson became the winningest head coach in franchise history with their win over the Bobcats on Wednesday night. It was their first game home after an eight-game road trip out east and they are feeling the aftereffects.

Stars Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant were just 8-of-25 from the field and managed just 19 points. "We got out of sync a little bit, and the legs were extremely heavy," said Gasol.

Bryant is dealing with a sprained ankle that has hampered him for the past few games. He did not practice Thursday and his status for Friday is uncertain.

That setback has left the team scrambling to figure out how to win with Bryant and Gasol not at their most effective. Bench contributors Shannon Brown (10 points) and Lamar Odom (19 points) helped out immensely Wednesday.

The bench will need to provide more contribution with four tough games remaining before the All-Star break, including games against Portland, San Antonio and Utah.

Prior engagement

These two met in Denver in mid-November in their only previous meeting this season. Denver dominated that game, leading by 29 points at one point, and ended up handing L.A. their largest loss of the season (26 points).

The Lakers shot a season low 35 percent from the field and had 18 turnovers. Denver had a +12 edge in points in the paint and a +10 advantage in fast-break points.

The Lakers have defeated the Nuggets at home in four of the last five meetings, winning by a margin of 9.8 points per game.

Trends

Denver is just 4-12-2 ATS in their last 18 vs. the Western Conference and more specifically, 1-6-1 ATS in their last eight games versus the Pacific Division.

The Nuggets haven’t performed well on the road lately, as they are just 3-8-1 ATS in their last 12 road games whereas the Lakers are 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 home games.

Los Angeles is 13-6 ATS in the last 19 meetings with Denver and 12-3 ATS in the last 15 meetings in Los Angeles.

These two teams have played to the under in 11 of the last 14 meetings.

 

[Anthonyd4]

Atskings

Rex Rodgers (this guy has been phenomenal)


Rex Rodgers Picks Page



3* New Jersey Devils -1.5 +150

 

[Anthonyd4]

Atskings


Tony Taylor (4-1 L3 days)


Tony Taylor Card for Friday February 5th





3* Over Knicks/Bucks 200.5

3* Over Mavs/Twolves 206

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

John Ryan

5* graded play on Yale as they take on Cornell in Ivy League action set to start at 7:00 EST. Our proprietary sports handicapping model and simulator shows a high probability that Yale will easily cover the generous 22 point spread. Just last week we nailed a winner with Cornell against Dartmouth laying a whopping 26 points and Cornell won easily 71-37. This, however, is not Dartmouth and Yale will be a far tougher opponent. We are not suggesting in any way that there could be a huge upset. We do believe that Cornell will get caught a bit complacent and Yale will be able to hang around the 10 point deficit throughout this game. Yale has won 4 of their last 6 SU. They are coming off a poor game where they shot just 35% and allowed 51% shooting in a loss to Princeton 58-45. Now, the tendency for all D-1 teams is that they play far above their season averages after posting a real poor game. After all, all of the teams have at least a few players who played at a high level in High School and maybe even leading their teams to State titles. Point is that these athletes have a tons of pride and will focus very hard after poor outings. That is how they got to this level in the first place, especially Ivy League players, who also worked very hard in the classroom. Supporting this graded play is a system that has produced a record of 29-7 ATS for 81% winners since 2004. Play against home favorites of 10 or more points after having covered 4 of their last 5 against the spread and playing with 5 or 6 days rest. Take Yale.

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

RedZone Sports

free internet play Yale (NCAAB)

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Free Selection from Arthur Ralph Sports
396 - 277 run 59 %

Bonus Play 15-5 run: FRI LAKERS -8½

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

DCI

Straight Up: 2669-844 (.760)
ATS: 1082-1088 (.499)
ATS Vary Units: 3134-3241 (.492)
Over/Under: 918-920 (.499)
Over/Under Vary Units: 1388-1375 (.502)

Atlantic Sun Conference
Jacksonville vs. BELMONT: TOO CLOSE TO CALL
LIPSCOMB 75, North Florida 61
Big Sky Conference
MONTANA 71, Weber State 69
MONTANA STATE 73, Idaho State 65
Portland State 78, SACRAMENTO STATE 76
Ivy League
COLUMBIA 66, Brown 59
CORNELL 80, Yale 53
DARTMOUTH 62, Penn 59
HARVARD 62, Princeton 53
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
FAIRFIELD 64, Saint Peter's 62
MANHATTAN 71, Marist 54
NIAGARA 72, Canisius 67
RIDER 72, Loyola (Md.) 64
SIENA 70, Iona 62
Non-Conference
South Dakota 83, SIU EDWARDSVILLE 70

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

DCI

Straight Up: 485-207 (.701)
ATS: 390-328 (.543)
ATS Vary Units: 958-788 (.549)
Over/Under: 355-363 (.494)
Over/Under Vary Units: 501-524 (.489)

INDIANA 100, Detroit 96
ORLANDO 105, Washington 90
BOSTON 104, New Jersey 85
Milwaukee vs. NEW YORK: TOO CLOSE TO CALL
ATLANTA 101, Chicago 95
MEMPHIS 103, Houston 98
NEW ORLEANS 100, Philadelphia 94
DALLAS 109, Minnesota 96
Phoenix 115, SACRAMENTO 111
L.A. LAKERS 108, Denver 101

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

DCI

Season: 289-192 (.601)

NEW JERSEY 3, Toronto 2
WASHINGTON 4, Atlanta 2
BUFFALO 3, Carolina 2
FLORIDA 2, Calgary 1
Phoenix vs. CHICAGO: TOO CLOSE TO CALL

 

[ugk]

BEN BURNS

NBA picks

10* Top Central Div. Total - Over 199 Indiana Pacers vs Detroit Pistons
9* Personal Favorite - Atlanta Hawks -7
No * yet - Sacramento kings +3.5

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

CAPPERS ACCESS

Bulls

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

GAMBLERS DATA
Calgary/Florida under 5.5

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

NCAAB DUNKEL


Princeton at Harvard
The Crimson look to bounce back from their loss at Cornell and build on their 5-0 ATS record in their last 5 games following a SU loss. Harvard is the pick (-8 1/2) according to Dunkel, which has hte Crimson favored by 14. Dunkel Pick: Harvard (-8 1/2). Here are all of today's games.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5

Game 821-822: Yale at Cornell
Dunkel Ratings: Yale 42.828; Cornell 71.769
Dunkel Line: Cornell by 29
Vegas Line: Cornell by 21
Dunkel Pick: Cornell (-21)

Game 823-824: Pennsylvania at Dartmouth
Dunkel Ratings: Pennsylvania 40.607; Dartmouth 43.453
Dunkel Line: Dartmouth by 3
Vegas Line: Dartmouth by 2
Dunkel Pick: Dartmouth (-2)

Game 825-826: Brown at Columbia
Dunkel Ratings: Brown 41.214; Columbia 47.047
Dunkel Line: Columbia by 6
Vegas Line: Columbia by 4 1/2
Dunkel Pick: Columbia (-4 1/2)

Game 827-828: Princeton at Harvard
Dunkel Ratings: Princeton 52.215; Harvard 66.050
Dunkel Line: Harvard by 14
Vegas Line: Harvard by 8 1/2
Dunkel Pick: Harvard (-8 1/2)

Game 829-830: Loyola-MD at Rider
Dunkel Ratings: Loyola-MD 49.217; Rider 55.277
Dunkel Line: Rider by 6
Vegas Line: Rider by 5
Dunkel Pick: Rider (-5)

Game 831-832: Canisius at Niagara
Dunkel Ratings: Canisius 50.416; Niagara 57.094
Dunkel Line: Niagara by 6 1/2
Vegas Line: Niagara by 8 1/2
Dunkel Pick: Canisius (+8 1/2)

Game 833-834: Iona at Siena
Dunkel Ratings: Iona 58.138; Siena 67.382
Dunkel Line: Siena by 9
Vegas Line: Siena by 8
Dunkel Pick: Siena (-8)

Game 835-836: St. Peter's at Fairfield
Dunkel Ratings: St. Peter's 58.387; Fairfield 55.797
Dunkel Line: St. Peter's by 2 1/2
Vegas Line: Fairfield by 5 1/2
Dunkel Pick: St. Peter's (+5 1/2)

Game 837-838: Marist at Manhattan
Dunkel Ratings: Marist 38.127; Manhattan 55.769
Dunkel Line: Manhattan by 17 1/2
Vegas Line: Manhattan by 14
Dunkel Pick: Manhattan (-14)

Game 839-840: Weber State at Montana
Dunkel Ratings: Weber State 59.150; Montana 57.823
Dunkel Line: Weber State by 1 1/2
Vegas Line: Montana by 5
Dunkel Pick: Weber State (+5)

Game 841-842: Idaho State at Montana State
Dunkel Ratings: Idaho State 45.367; Montana State 54.311
Dunkel Line: Montana State by 9
Vegas Line: Montana State by 8 1/2
Dunkel Pick: Montana State (-8 1/2)

Game 843-844: Portland State at Sacramento State
Dunkel Ratings: Portland State 51.621; Sacramento State 47.370
Dunkel Line: Portland State by 4 1/2
Vegas Line: Portland State by 3
Dunkel Pick: Portland State (-3)

Game 845-846: Bethune-Cookman at Coppin State
Dunkel Ratings: Bethune-Cookman 43.964; Coppin State 40.267
Dunkel Line: Bethune-Cookman by 3 1/2
Vegas Line: No Line
Dunkel Pick: N/A

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

NCAAB WRITE-UP

Friday, February 5

Information on Friday's college basketball games........

Home side won nine of last ten Yale-Cornell games; Bulldogs lost five in a row in Ithaca by 5-4-1-20-28 points, but they did beat Cornell in last meeting LY. Yale split its first four Ivy games, losing to Brown by nine, Princeton by 13. Big Red won, covered its first four Ivy games, winning by 21-26-24-36 points. Ivy League home favorites are 5-2 vs spread.

Dartmouth swept Penn LY after losing previous 10 meetings; Big Green is 0-4 in Ivy League, scoring 48.3 ppg, but they did hang within four of Harvard in only home game. Penn upset Brown by a point in last game, for just their second win in 16 games, shocking collapse by once-proud program. Quakers are 2-8 vs spread as an underdog this year.

Road team is 4-0 vs spread in Brown's Ivy League games; Bears lost last three games, by 8-17-1 points. Brown lost three of last four visits here, losing by 12-9-6 points. Home team is 9-3 in last twelve series games. Columbia is 1-3 in Ivy League, beating Dartmouth by 12 in only game that wasn't against Cornell/Harvard, two best teams in league.

Harvard got crushed at Cornell, now has to win to stay within striking distance of Big Red until rematch; Crimson won other three Ivy games by 29-4-29 points, but they've lost seven of last nine games against the Tigers. Princeton won its first two Ivy games by 17-13 points, both on road; they've won seven of last eight games vs D-I opponents.

Rider won last three games, by 1-3-8 points, evening their MAAC mark at 6-6; Broncs (+3.5) lost 68-66 at Loyola Jan 2, after trailing by 17 at half. Rider is 0-4 as MAAC home favorite, winning home games by 4-3 points. Loyola lost seven of last nine games, but they covered last four on road- they've lost road games by 5-20-5-5-6 points.

Canisius (+2) just beat Niagara 73-70 last Friday; home team won four of last five series games. Griffins lost last six visits here by 6-12-7-18-6-24 points. Canisius is 4-1 vs spread on MAAC road, losing road games by 12-2-19 points. Niagara lost six of last eight games losing three of last four at home. MAAC home favorites are 11-27 against the spread.

Iona (+4.5) lost 73-60 at home to Siena Dec 7, but Gaels have now won last eight games (7-1 vs spread); they're 4-1 on road, losing at Canisius by 12, 2-1 as MAAC underdog. Siena has 2nd-longest home win streak in country; they're 12-0 in MAAC, 2-4 as home favorite, winning home games by 22-11-18-12-15-6 pts. 1st home game in 15 days for Siena.

Fairfield has 19 offensive rebounds, forced 18 turnovers while holding St Peter's to 36% from floor in 61-48 win in Jersey City Dec 6 (+1). Stags are 4-2 at home in MAAC, but 0-6 vs spread, winning home games by 9-5-3-2 points, losing to Seina/Rider. Peacocks won five of their last six games, are 5-1 as MAAC road dog, winning last three on road SU.

Marist is 1-21, but only win was 72-66 over Manhattan at home Jan 2 (+4.5); Red Foxes lost last nine games (2-7 vs spread) are 4-1 as MAAC road dog, losing away games by 9-4-12-7-19 points. Jaspers lost seven in a row, nine of last ten games- they're 1-4 at home in MAAC, 1-3 vs spread as a MAAC favorite. Jasper MAAC wins are by 14-23 points.

Montana won five of last six games since 64-56 loss at Weber State (+5) Jan 2; Griz shot 35.7% in that game, 1-13 from arc, but they won three of four at home in Big Sky, winning by 17-13-32 points. Weber is 8-1 in Big Sky, winning last five games; they're 3-1 on road, winning last away game in triple OT at Idaho State. Big Sky home favorites are 14-13.

Montana State was 10-24 from arc, +8 in turnovers in 70-63 win Jan 3 at Idaho State (+2.5); Bobcats are 3-1 as Big Sky home favorite, winning Big Sky home games by 24-12-6-9 points, losing to EWU. Idaho State is 0-3 on Big Sky road, 1-1 as road dog, losing by 1-12-12 points on road. Bengals won three of last four series games.

Portland State made 13-27 from arc, shot 54% for game in 94-66 win vs Sacramento State Jan 2 (-12) but Vikings lost five of seven games since, are 1-4 on Big Sky road, winning only at EWU. Underdog covered four of their last five games. Sacramento is 1-3 at home in Big Sky, losing at home by 15-1-5 points, with only win by a point over Idaho State.

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

Joe wiz Bonus Plays

sixers
pacers
sac st

 

[Can'tPickaWinner2]

INSIDER SPORTS REPORT

5* St. Peters +5.5
3* Pacers -4
3* Rider -5

 

[ugk]

JEFF BENTON
Friday's Action

20 Dime: HAWKS
10 Dime: TIMBERWOLVES

Hawks

Time to fade the Bulls, and it’s easy to see why.

After ending a tough seven-game Western Conference road trip with five straight upset victories, Chicago came home and lost to the Clippers 90-82 on Tuesday. Then the Bulls went to Philadelphia 24 hours later and suffered a gut-wrenching 106-103 overtime loss to the Sixers. Now it’s on to Atlanta, making this Chicago’s ninth roadie in its last 10 games going back to Jan. 18.

If that’s not rough enough, Chicago will be without one of its most important players, as center and leading rebounder Joakim Noah will miss this game with a foot injury. That’s a real bad break, considering one of the Hawks’ best players is center Al Horford (who played with Noah at Florida). Horford averages 13.4 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, and he’s coming off a double-double in Wednesday’s game against the Clippers (16 points, 10 rebounds).

Atlanta rallied to win that contest against L.A. 103-97, but failed to cover as a 9½-point favorite. That was the Hawks’ third straight non-cover – just the second time this season that the league’s #2 pointspread team has dropped three straight ATS decisions (it hasn’t lost four in a row against the number all season). Still, Atlanta is 20-5 SU and 17-8 ATS on its home court this season. One of those wins and covers came against Chicago on Dec. 9 – and what a destruction it was, as the Hawks rolled 118-83 as a 10½-point chalk. And think about this: Atlanta won that game by 35 points despite the fact Noah (11 rebounds) neutralized Horford (who finished with eight points and five rebounds in 24 minutes).

True, Chicago got a little payback 10 days later at home, going overtime for a 101-98 win over Atlanta. But all that did was snap a five-game SU and four-game ATS losing skid to the Hawks. And it doesn’t change the fact that the Bulls have lost four in a row in Atlanta, including three losses by 35, 12 and 21 points!

Then again, the Bulls have struggled against a lot of teams from Atlanta’s Southeast Division, failing to cash in 21 of their last 29 against the Hawks, Magic, Heat, Wizards and Bobcats. On the other hand, the Hawks are on ATS upticks of 19-8 as a home favorite, 9-3 against teams with a losing record, 7-2 after getting a day off and 10-4 after a non-cover.

Bottom line: The Hawks are the vastly superior team, and they’ve been dominant at home all year. And on top of that, this situation clearly favors Atlanta, which is playing its second straight home game while the Bulls are playing their third game in a different city in the last four days. In fact, check out the Bulls’ itinerary over their last 13 games: Chicago (vs. Detroit) to Boston back to Chicago (vs. Washington) then to the West Coast for seven straight road games, then home to Chicago (vs. the Clippers) then to Philadelphia and now to Atlanta.

In a word – BRUTAL! Throw in Noah’s absence, and this one’s a no-brainer, as I actually wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the Bulls (who have a home game against Dwyane Wade and the Heat tomorrow night!) throw in the towel by the midpoint of the second half.

Timberwolves

How in the hell can the Dallas Mavericks be laying double digits again at home? When will the oddsmakers learn their lesson?

Seriously, guys, this play shouldn’t surprise you in the least, as I went against Dallas twice last week when it was a home favorite and cashed both times (including Saturday, when the Blazers won outright as an 8½-point pup). And I’m still kicking myself for not playing the Warriors on Wednesday night, when Golden State went to Dallas and lost 110-101 but covered as a 12-point underdog. With that result Wednesday, the Mavericks are now – are you ready for this? – 1-17 ATS in their last 18 home games.

The one cover? A seven-point win over the Cavaliers as a 3½-point home UNDERDOG! In the other 17 games, Dallas was favored … and didn’t ONCE bring home the cash! Take away that game against the Cavaliers, and you have to go back to Nov. 18 for the last time the Mavs covered at home (and that was a 99-94 overtime win over San Antonio as a three-point pup). The last time they won a home game by more than seven points? Go back another eight days to Nov. 10!

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Yeah, but Minnesota is AWFUL.” I can’t really argue that point. But at least the TWolves are coming into Dallas with confidence, having posted by far their most dominating victories of the season – and in back-to-back fashion, crushing the Clippers by 14 points last Friday followed by Sunday’s 19-point rout of the Knicks. With those two wins and covers, Minnesota is now 8-5 ATS in its last 13 games.

Finally, two points to make about this rivalry: The home team has owned it from a pointspread persective (21-7 ATS last 28 meetings), and the TWolves have walked away with the money six straight times they’ve played in Big D!

Simply put, until the Mavericks – who have failed to cover in 20 of their last 28 overall, including the last five in a row – prove they can put away a team at home with a convincing win, I’ll keep betting against them.

Paid and confirmed, gl guys