Bob Balfe (YTD -- NBA 65-44 / NCAA 50-41)
NBA Basketball
Nets +7 over Heat
With the exception of last night against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Miami Heat remain the league's worst "average" team. They played arguably their best game of the season on the road last night and it is highly doubtful they will put on a display like that again tonight, even if it is against the worst basketball team in the league. The last meeting between these two was an extremely close matchup with the Heat walking away with only a one-point victory at home. The key to this game will be the battle between Brook Lopez and Udonis Haslem and Lopez should walk away victorious tonight and limit second chance opportunities for Miami. Miami in 6-1 ATS on the road this season against teams with a sub .400 winning percentage and that should start to equal out as the second half of the season winds down. Look for the Nets to battle this one out all the way to the end. Take NJ +7.
College Basketball
Ohio State -3 over Purdue
Ohio State is extremely dominant at home (15-0) and should remain undefeated for the rest of the season. It is with a high conviction rate that the Buckeyes will win tonight and the 3 point spread should not deter you at all. Shots simply were not falling down for Ohio State in their previous matchup against Purdue and they easily won the game (despite the fact that they only won by 4-it was definitely a convincing win). There is a reason why they are ranked in the top 5 in offensive field goal percentage. Purdue is an impressive basketball team, but their winning streak will end tonight because they will not be able to keep up with the scoring attack of the Buckeyes. Ohio State wins at home by an average of 24 points per game. It won't be that much of a whooping but it will be convincing enough to easily cover the spread. Take the Buckeyes -3. Please note this game starts at 6:30pm, so get your bets in soon!
NBA Basketball
Nets +7 over Heat
With the exception of last night against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Miami Heat remain the league's worst "average" team. They played arguably their best game of the season on the road last night and it is highly doubtful they will put on a display like that again tonight, even if it is against the worst basketball team in the league. The last meeting between these two was an extremely close matchup with the Heat walking away with only a one-point victory at home. The key to this game will be the battle between Brook Lopez and Udonis Haslem and Lopez should walk away victorious tonight and limit second chance opportunities for Miami. Miami in 6-1 ATS on the road this season against teams with a sub .400 winning percentage and that should start to equal out as the second half of the season winds down. Look for the Nets to battle this one out all the way to the end. Take NJ +7.
College Basketball
Ohio State -3 over Purdue
Ohio State is extremely dominant at home (15-0) and should remain undefeated for the rest of the season. It is with a high conviction rate that the Buckeyes will win tonight and the 3 point spread should not deter you at all. Shots simply were not falling down for Ohio State in their previous matchup against Purdue and they easily won the game (despite the fact that they only won by 4-it was definitely a convincing win). There is a reason why they are ranked in the top 5 in offensive field goal percentage. Purdue is an impressive basketball team, but their winning streak will end tonight because they will not be able to keep up with the scoring attack of the Buckeyes. Ohio State wins at home by an average of 24 points per game. It won't be that much of a whooping but it will be convincing enough to easily cover the spread. Take the Buckeyes -3. Please note this game starts at 6:30pm, so get your bets in soon!
Tony George
Utah -3
Utah pounded Houston last night and I like the fact they have a game under the belt after the all star break while New Orleans has not played a game in a week. Without Chris Paul, the Hornets simply do have the punch they had earlier in the season and Utah’s frontcourt should dominate this game, not to mention the Jazz are the hottest team in the NBA at 7-0-1 ATS their last 8 road games and the Hornets are 5-13 ATS their last 18 games against the Pacific NW division. For the Jazz Millsap and Kouver providing quality p[points off the bench as well and the Jazz own the 7th best offense in the NBA right now. Play 1 Unit on Utah.
Utah -3
Utah pounded Houston last night and I like the fact they have a game under the belt after the all star break while New Orleans has not played a game in a week. Without Chris Paul, the Hornets simply do have the punch they had earlier in the season and Utah’s frontcourt should dominate this game, not to mention the Jazz are the hottest team in the NBA at 7-0-1 ATS their last 8 road games and the Hornets are 5-13 ATS their last 18 games against the Pacific NW division. For the Jazz Millsap and Kouver providing quality p[points off the bench as well and the Jazz own the 7th best offense in the NBA right now. Play 1 Unit on Utah.
The Duke's Sports
Temple (-6) for 2.5 Units
The Owls are a more well rounded team than the Bonnies and they should maintain focus after an impressive win vs Rhode Island last Saturday. Although the Bonnies have a dominant post player in Nicholson who significantly contributes to the team's high shooting percentage, the Bonnies don't scare anyone on the perimeter (31%); consequently, we'll look for the Owls' big man - Allen to neutralize Nicholson while the Owls' do what they do best: lock you down defensively, create turnovers and work transition with the strong back-court of Brooks and Fernandez. Temple has dominated this series at 7-1 ATS and sport a 4-1 ATS mark as a road favorite in this spread range. The Bonnies, however, are 0-5 ATS at home vs a team with a road winning % above .600. Temple it is.
Temple (-6) for 2.5 Units
The Owls are a more well rounded team than the Bonnies and they should maintain focus after an impressive win vs Rhode Island last Saturday. Although the Bonnies have a dominant post player in Nicholson who significantly contributes to the team's high shooting percentage, the Bonnies don't scare anyone on the perimeter (31%); consequently, we'll look for the Owls' big man - Allen to neutralize Nicholson while the Owls' do what they do best: lock you down defensively, create turnovers and work transition with the strong back-court of Brooks and Fernandez. Temple has dominated this series at 7-1 ATS and sport a 4-1 ATS mark as a road favorite in this spread range. The Bonnies, however, are 0-5 ATS at home vs a team with a road winning % above .600. Temple it is.
News Flash! Teams heading to the playoffs are winning! OK, it’s not such a surprise; that’s why they’re heading to the playoffs. But, as we hit the post-Allstar break stretch you could see the impact of the playoffs on last night’s NBA fare. With one exception, every team that’s making that last ditch effort for playoff position won against foes who have already woken up from playoff dreams – Miami, Chicago, Portland, Boston, and the Lakers all defeated opponents who are just playing out the regular season. Look for this trend to continue - tonight and in the remainder of the 30 some games on the schedule.
Take Miami Heat -6 1/2 at the New Jersey Nets. The exception noted above to last night’s winning contenders was Charlotte who took it on the chin from the lowly New Jersey Nets. While the Bobcats managed to tie it up at halftime, the Nets were really in control throughout. Led by Courtney Lee who had 21 points, the Nets looked like a different team – BUT IT WAS STILL JUST THEIR FIFTH WIN. The Nets remain on pace to finish worse than the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers who were 9-73. Allstar MVP Dewayne Wade and the Miami Heat are looking to make the playoffs and the Nets won’t be what stands in the way. Miami is currently sitting on the 8th spot (and who wants to play the Cavaliers in the first round), and the Bucks are making some noise, putting on pressure from below. Miami is playing back to back road games, but they looked like they were plenty rested in their thrashing last night of the 76ers. The Nets are one of the worse in the NBA Against the Spread at Home (33%), and while they have have been playing pretty well of late ATS, the 6.5 Points assigned to this game is soft. Give up the 6 1/2 Points and take the Miami Heat.
Take Utah Jazz -3 at New Orleans Hornets. Don’t look now, but the Jazz are just one game behind the Nuggets in the loss column. And, while they’re playing back to back road games (after covering vs the Rockets last night), they’ll still take it to the rested New Orleans Hornets, who are playing their first game since the Allstar Break. While the Eastern Conference has gotten better at the top, the last three teams it puts into the playoffs will not be as good as three teams that don’t make it to the playoffs in the West – right now those Western Conference teams look to be New Orleans, Houston, and Memphis (all of whom may be better than Charlotte, Chicago, and Miami). But, the Hornets are 6-10 vs Top Ten teams (and part of that was with Chris Paul). In their last 10, the Jazz are 9-1 straight up, 7-2 Against the Spread, and 3-0 ATS on the Road.For the season, the Jazz have won on the Road Against the Spread 59% of the time. The Hornets are 1-4 ATS in their last five home games. Take Utah to cover the 3 Points in New Orleans.
Take Phoenix Suns +4 1/2 at Dallas Mavericks. With trade talks in the air about Amare Stoudemire, and Mark Cuban making a move by adding Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, and DeShawn Stevenson to the Mavs, you might have expected something other than what you saw last night. Stoudemire had 21 points and 10 rebounds as the Suns never let Memphis contend. Dallas, on the other hand, started out pretty well, but in the end was handed their 21st defeat by the Oklahoma City Thunder. The result – The Suns and the Mavs will be playing tonight for the 4th spot in the Western Conference Playoff standings. Dallas has been miserable at home Against the Spread, winning only 21% of the time – they’ve lost ATS in their last 4 efforts at Home. Phoenix, on the other hand is 5-1 Against the Spread in their last 6 road games, and for the season has won 59% of the time Against the Spread on the Road. 4 1/2 points is just too much. Take the Phoenix Suns and the 4 1/2 points.Other Games of Interest. It’s an interesting night in the NBA and for those of you looking for more action, I have three games for you to consider. The last game I kicked out was Houston at Milwaukee. The Bucks and the Rockets are going in opposite directions; the Bucks trying to dig their way into the playoffs and the Rockets trying to give up what seemed like sure playoff hopes. The Rockets are going back to back after a loss to Utah last night, and the rested Bucks are just coming off their Allstar Break. But, fundamentally the Rockets are a better team and I think the 5 1/2 points that the Bucks must cover may be too much. Memphis at Toronto is an almost identical matchup. At one point in the season, Memphis looked to clearly be the better team, but lately they’re treading down while the Raptors are trending up. Memphis is coming off a bad loss to Phoenix; Toronto is yet to play post-Allstar Break. But, again, I think 7 Points is a lot for Toronto to cover. Finally, Chicago at New York provides a rematch of last nights game where the Bulls beat the Knicks 118-85. The Bulls are trying to keep their playoff hopes alive and they should beat the Knicks again tonight.
Agreed
That would be ideal but it will never happen here.
This may be a good site and CPAW does great, but until the mods take any action against the beggars, this forum will continue to be double digit pages when others can do it two or three.
I alwys wondered why they can't put the continuous beggars on a temporary ban but obviously it doesn't matter.
That would be ideal but it will never happen here.
This may be a good site and CPAW does great, but until the mods take any action against the beggars, this forum will continue to be double digit pages when others can do it two or three.
I alwys wondered why they can't put the continuous beggars on a temporary ban but obviously it doesn't matter.
