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Re: 4-29-09
sargentsportsline
3 UNIT-Cleveland Indians
3 UNIT-Atlanta Hawks
sargentsportsline
3 UNIT-Cleveland Indians
3 UNIT-Atlanta Hawks
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Re: 4-29-09
tonyosports
Play: HEAT
Comments: (NBA SLAM DUNK # 5 IN A ROW) - The Atlanta Hawks will look to continue to stifle Dwyane Wade as they prepare for a huge Game 5 tonight at home against the Miami Heat. The Hawks' defense on Wade will determine whether or not they'll advance to the 2nd round. In two Atlanta wins, Wade is averaging just 20.5 points per game on 36 percent shooting. But in 2 Atlanta losses, Wade is averaging 31 points per game on 51 percent shooting. The Hawks had six players reach double figures during their Game 4 win which included backup center Zaza Pachulia, who scored 12 points & grabbed a career-playoff high 18 rebounds. Wade hasn't had two back-to-back subpar games in this series, so look for him to rebound & lead Miami to a big Game 5 road win. All Heat!
Result: Pending
Play: RAYS
Comments: The Tampa Bay Rays will go for a series win tonight against Minnesota, as southpaw Scott Kazmir (3-1, 3.97 ERA) will go up against Twins righthander Nick Blackburn (1-1, 4.44 ERA). Kazmir has gotten 30 runs of support in his 3 wins so far this season & hasn't lost to Minnesota since July 18th, 2006. In that game, Kazmir allowed 4 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings of work during the Rays' 8-1 loss. Blackburn's shortest outing of his big-league career came against Tampa Bay on September 19th, 2008 as he lasted just 1 & 1/3 innings while giving up 6 runs on 6 hits during Minnesota's 11-1 loss. Look for Kazmir to have a solid outing today, as Tampa Bay will leave Minnesota with a series win. All Rays!
Result: PendingComment
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Re: 4-29-09
Andy Iskoe
Miami at Atlanta
Pick: Under 180.5
This has been a most unusual series in that both teams have recorded a pair of double digit wins, one at home and one on the road. What has been consistent for much of the series has been deflated scoring. After playing 4 very low scoring games during the regular season (160, 174, 174 and 160) the teams have gone UNDER in 3 of 4 Playoff games (154, 185 and 152). Only game 2 -- won by Miami 108-93, went OVER the Total (although Miami's 107-78 win in game 3 stayed under by just a deuce). Still, the teams have established styles of play that suggest scoring shall again be limited in game 5 especially with thie now turning into a best of three series. It might well be that the first team to 80 wins this game -- and may be the only team to 85 in a game that handicaps as being played in the high 160s to low 170sComment
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Re: 4-29-09
Jim Kruuger
Miami at Atlanta
Play: Under 179.5
When these two divisional teams have met this past year the best spot to play is the UNDER. In the last 8 meetings between them, the UNDER is 7-1. In their last game, the Heat and Hawks combined in the second half for only a total of 64 points. The pace was a very slow tempo. Dwayne Wade is complaining of back spasms and didn’t practice yesterday. If he is not 100%, the Heat offense does not work. An April playoff trend that deals with the amount of rest for both teams and is 22-2 UNDER since 2004 is active tonight in this game.Comment
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Re: 4-29-09
Matt Fagro
7* NBA STAR ATTRACTION 59%
New Orleans at Denver
Play: New Orleans +10.5
Denver is coming off a match of the biggest playoff victory in the history of the NBA. This could be looked at in two ways. New Orleans can completely fold after that game and give the series to the Nuggets. Or it can takes some pride in itself and come out strong while Denver could be playing with some overconfidence. My first thought was that it might be more of the latter as the Nuggets will be overconfident and may be looking to just slide by in this game to take the series. As bad as the Hornets played, those players want to play for pride if nothing else. That lopsided victory prompted the linesmakers to bump this line up four points from the previous two games that were played in Denver. I was not expecting double-digits in this game so we get incredible line value and we see that the public does not care and is lining up on the Nuggets side. The Nuggets have mostly dominated the series, and they lead all Western Conference playoff teams in scoring and shooting percentage. The Hornets trail the field in both categories but both of those are skewed by that last game. New Orleans is coming into this game loose and knowing the pressure is on the Nuggets. Hornets forward David West said the pressure is on the Nuggets to close out the series tonight. If Denver wins, it will be the first time since the 1993-94 season the team has advanced past the first round. “We have to go up there with the mind-set we have to do everything in our power to keep the game close and hopefully give ourselves a chance to win,” West said. “We have not played them close up there the last two games.” This is a big contrarian play and that is how money has been made in the NBA this entire season. There is an interesting historical scenario that comes into play here. Two other teams in playoff history have lost games by 56 or more points and they both came back to win the next game. It hasn’t happened since 1973 and while those games really mean nothing here, it does show that when pride is on the line, teams do tend to play better than anticipated. New Orleans does fall into a great contrarian situation as well. Play against favorites of 10 or more points after allowing 80 points or less going up against an opponent after allowing 110 points or more. This situation is 40-13 ATS (75.5 percent) since 1996. This is the first time New Orleans has been an underdog all season long of more than 10 points so we are definitely catching a great number here. 7* New Orleans HornetsComment
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