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8 unit Play. #512. Take Cleveland -11 over Chicago (Saturday @ 8:35pm est)
3 unit Play. #505. Take New York Knicks PK over Charlotte (Sunday @ 7:05pm est)
3-Unit Play. #505. Take New York Knicks PK over Charlotte (Sunday @ 7:05pm est)
We roll with these two selections today in what should be a great opportunity here for New York to bounce-back after a terrible loss in their last game to the Clippers. From ejections, to poor shooting to simply getting routed by LA is not the way the Knicks wanted to continue what has been a decent bounce-back season. New York is 22-23 which is far better than what anyone expected especially with Derek Fisher as the head coach who frankly is not an x/o guy and delegates his work to assistants who are doing the real coaching. Phil Jackson knows this. This is a team that lost 88-116 in their last game after back to back wins and 4-2 over their last 6 games. Charlotte comes off a huge win at Orlando and we expect them to have a let down here consequently as 'Melo and company will get up to face Jordan and the Hornets as they typically do even when they had down seasons.
8-Unit Play. #512. Take Cleveland -11 over Chicago (Saturday @ 8:35pm est)
David Blatt is gone. Lebron is Happy. All is well in Cleveland until Lebron finds someone else to blame? We'll just have to wait and see. But, for now, this team will come together with Tyronn Lue who is Lebron's hand picked guy. This is no accident. Blatt took over the Cleveland job before Lebron decided to come back to Cleveland. If Lebron would have agreed earlier, then Izzo or even Billy Donovan would have been pursuaded to come. But, Lebron chose to come back a bit later when many of the coaching hires were already done. But, ironically, this coaching hire might work. This team will have a its an us versus the world mentality. They are using the Golden State game as the reason for Blatt to be fired but in reality, the makeup and sync of this team is not that sound. But, Lue likely brings them together here. This is a Doc Rivers coaching tree guy. Lue has a lot of tenacity and in his first game as a head coach and the rest of the season, this is the spurt this team likely needs. They like Lue. They will play for him as they did not play for Blatt. Consequently, what does a team do in their first game when a coach gets fired - and to shove it to guys like Rick Carlisle (who is the head of the Coaches Association who called this firing everything but a sham job) - they win, and win big. That is Lebron's way of saying, it's my way, it's my crew or the highway. Lebron rightfully feels that his time is limited and he does not want NBA Finals runner-up trophies and he feels like Blatt is not the answer and maybe that's so - even for the simple fact they might not get along that well. In their first game without Blatt, look for the Cavs to rout a rival here in the Bulls by potentially 15 or more or even 20 or more. The Bulls also beat this team by a bucket back in late October, what better way to show improvement in a short period of time than beating they by 15-20 here at home in Cleveland.
Dr. Bob
Opinion – New York (-1 ½) over CHARLOTTE
04:00 PM Pacific, Rotation: 505
New York was destroyed last night by the Clippers while Charlotte had to go to overtime to win at Orlando. Those events set up a reversal scenario tonight, as the Knicks apply to a 103-41-1 ATS situation based on last night’s results. Nicolas Batum and Cody Zeller both missed last night’s game, and are expected to be out again tonight, and Jeremy Lamb is out for the Hornets too, which hurts the defense. My ratings favor New York by ½ a point with current lineups and the line has adjusted to the injuries and the Hornets’ overtime. I’ll just lean with New York at -2 or better based on the good situation and I’d take New York in a 1-Star Best Bet at -1 or better.
Opinion – ST. MARY’S (-17) over Portland
08:00 PM Pacific, Rotation: 680
The line is catching up to St. Mary’s but my variance adjusted ratings favor the Gaels by 20 points (I get 23 ½ with no variance adjustment), so there is still some value. I’m a bit concerned about a possible letdown after their comeback win over Gonzaga but I used my database to mimic the situation (i.e. a home win over a good team and now a big home favorite 2 nights later) and it turned out to be a slight positive (54% ATS). One game that came up in that query was St. Mary’s 79-46 home win over San Diego just 2 night after beating BYU. So, with my concerns quelled I have no issues in recommending St. Mary’s as an opinion but I’ll still resist making the Gaels a Best Bet unless the line goes down some more. I’d take St. Mary’s for 1-Star at -16 or less.
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