OC Dooley
“1 UNIT” NBA INTANGIBLE (Blazers +3 at Bucks in a 8:05 eastern tipoff): The intangible surrounds the untimely early death yesterday of legendary Portland enforcer Maurice Lucas who was a key cog of the franchise back in the glory days of the 1970’s. Even though the current Blazers are for the most part unaware of his exploits, they have been informed in the past 24 hours what he meant to the franchise courtesy of various media outlets. More importantly Portland has WON 3 of 4 games this campaign and in the triumphs they have outscored the opposition by a whopping 85-49 point count in the final quarter. I will admit that the Blazers endured their first loss last night in Chicago, but my database research indicates that they have gone an outstanding 16-4 ATS long term in “unrested” situations such as this. In addition Portland has enjoyed great success when playing AT Milwaukee where star Brandon Roy has a career average of 23 points per game. The last couple of times he has played at the Bradley Center, Portland big man LaMarcus Aldridge (52 points, 8 rebounds) has literally been off the charts. As for Milwaukee they have begun a brand new season without star guard Michael Redd (knee) who is out indefinitely while another guard Chris Douglas-Roberts (eye) is also on the shelf for most likely most of this month. The Bucks best active player Brandon Jennings is coming off a massive “triple double” but all that has done is inflate tonight’s price tag which has risen from an opening figure of 2 points. In the past two years the Blazers are 9-1 ATS/ROAD versus poor passing opponents averaging “20 or less” assists per contest. As mentioned earlier Portland is on a mamouth 16-4 ATS roll when taking the court “unrested”