4 Unit Play. Take Under 229 between Golden State @ Minnesota Timberwolves (Tuesday @ 8pm est).
3 Straight NBA Winners.
2-0 Yesterday (Elon & OKC/Dallas Under) (+7.6 Units in March).
3-1 in March.
Winning January and Winning February in Hoops (+87 Units for 2009).
8 of 10 Winning NBA Weeks.
6 of 8 Winning College Hoops.
We've now hit 3 straight NBA Winners in a row, won 8 of 10 weeks in the Association and come off a 2-0 sweep yesterday as the Under in OKC cash as well as Elon +14 over Davidson - and 1-0 on the week in the NBA. Let's keep it going with our 4th NBA Winner in a row with another Under and this time in Minnesota. For starters, there will be no Telfair for this game. Normally, this would not mean a whole lot for a Minny team that had depth with McHale taking over but it does have ramifications today. After all, with the injuries to Brewer and Jefferson for outstanding amount of time, Telfair was a key part of this team's staggering offense. After all, this team only has five capable scorers and they were Miller, Foye, Gomes and Love. You take out Telfair and this team will have to have Craig Smith and Rodney Carney take over. Tack on the fact, that this team has a very small bench that it relies on with the likes of Brian Cardinal and Bobby Brown - who? Bingo. In an up and down game with the Warriors and with a total that is as high as 229, you have to have efficient shooting. With this team's key guard out, the fact that it will have to rely a bit more on defense, I don't see a great out pouring of scoring. Sure, there can be over 200 points scored in this game and frankly, I expect around a total of 210 but by no means, do I think these teams will have the efficiency to put up a 229 spot here. After all, I have seen enough totals in my time to know what kind of efficient shooting needs to take place for a 229 spot and keep in mind that Minnesota is infamous for their scoring droughts of offense. Also note that GS will not have the services of Ellis or Maggette today so their "slashers" are limited and they will have to rely on more outside shooting as well. Turiaf will likely be out or limited as well for this game. In short, if these two teams were healthy, 229 would be nothing as they could drop a total of 250 without blinking together. But, given that they are banged up, I believe this total will go under the posted total by at least 15 points similar to yesterday's Under in OKC which went under by around 20 points. The Under is 5-0 for the Warriors in their last 5 road games and the Under is 7-3 for the Timberwolves following a double-digit loss at home speaking to their increased focus on defense after a big home loss.
4 Unit Play. #722. Take Iowa +1.5 over Ohio State (Tuesday @ 9pm est). Elon holds on for us as a +14 point dog at Davidson as does the Under in OKC for us to go 2-0 yesterday and start March off well as we look for our 3rd straight winning month in hoops. You might want to get a few tums out for this contest, but I like Iowa here to get it done over Ohio State. I went against the Buckeyes when they were at Purdue and the Boilermakers blew them out. There is no reason that a 74.5% free throw shooting team, at home, coming off tough road losses to Northwestern by 6 and Michigan State by 8 cannot beat a Ohio State team who they lost to by just 3 points on the road earlier this year 65-68. Bear in mind that Iowa went into that game as a 8.5 dog and nearly won Outright as they were down 28-36 at the end of the first half, but got their bearings together to put a great run outscoring Ohio State 37-32. I love Iowa as they are a team that never quits and busts their tail. I actually waited around so we can get the +1.5 line as compared to the +1 line as that 1 point could become significant today. In fact, who knows, the line could go up as much as +2 if you wait around as over 63% of the public is on Ohio State off of the television loss to Purdue. Iowa is relatively healthy again and has scoring pop through Gatens, Kelly and Bawinkell. Iowa by the way only had 7 free throw attempts in that game and was 5 for 7 (over 70%) while Ohio State got all the home court calls and went to the line 22 times and made just 15 of 22. Make no mistake, Iowa gets those calls today. You don't think Iowa can play? This team beat Michigan at home in OT, beat Northwestern at home, beat Wisconsin at home in OT, beat Kansas State on neutral footing, crushed ATS darling Citadel on the road by 22, beat Iowa State at home by double-digits, lost to Michigan State by 8 on the road, shoots 74.5% in free throws as a team which will be key, has great defense, lost to Purdue by 4 points at home and lost to Minnesota by 3 points at home. Ohio State in conference play has only defeated Indiana and Michigan and has lost all of its other road games. Iowa gets it done today at home Outright as they are 5-1 ATS when facing teams with a winning % greater than 60% meaning they show up against the better teams in the league and are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 home games which have also been Big10 games well. Go Hawkeyes!
Good luck,
Indian Cowboy.<!-- / message -->
