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Lock Of The Day

Denver Nuggets-4.5

The Denver Nuggets are playing much better lately. They are well-rested and ready to put up 120 points on the Bulls. The Bulls are the downslide. That huge trade yesterday is not a good sign. This squad has no team chemistry. The Nuggets should win big tonight.

Alatec
Winthrop +3 
15* Superplay: Cal-Santa Barbara +4 


ER
Houston +4
Seattle +2 


Playmaker
Boston +1

Johnny Guild

Boston Celtics (41-11) at Phoenix Suns (37-17)

The hot Celtics have cooled down, following back to back losses, mainly because their stingy defense has played below par. Expect to see a speedy tempo in a close battle tonight in Phoenix. The total has gone over in 6 of the last 8 clashes in this series and 9 of the last 13 at US Airways Center. Take the Suns. Phoenix is averaging 110 points per game and should grab a victory, especially if the Celtics continue playing weaker defensively.

Phoenix Suns - 1
Over - 217


Daily Picks

Cornell Big Red - 7.5

Gina

Washington Wizards (25-28) at Cleveland Cavaliers (30-24)

The struggling Wizards have dropped nine of its last 10, going 3-7 ATS and have lost eight of the last nine meetings versus the Cavaliers. Go with Cleveland tonight at Quicken Loans Arena. Cavaliers' LeBron James should have it easier with the assist of Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, and Ben Wallace in the lineup this evening when they take on the gloomy Wizards. The home team has won eight of the last 10 in this series.

Cleveland Cavaliers

ODDS ON SPORTS

NBA

Bulls +5
Under 200 Clippers/Jazz
NY Knicks +6
Under 197 Knicks/Raptors
Golden st -9
Pistons -12.5

NHL

Dallas -191
Over 5.5 Dallas/Edmonton
Over 5.5 Colorado/Phoenix
Under 5 Anaheim/St.Louis

ANTON WINS

4 unit Denver -4.5.


Vegas Runner Official "steam"

2*Davidson /Winthrop Under 131.5


KELSO

25* New Orleans Hornets

5* Davidson

4* Cal- Santa B

3* Cornell

Michael Cannon

15 Dime –

ROCKETS

Take the points with the Rockets tonight when they travel to take on the Hornets.

Houston has been white-hot lately, winning 10 in a row. They are currently in seventh place in the West, just four games behind the conference-leading Hornets.

With a healthy Tracy McGrady back in the lineup the Rockets are a dangerous team. They also have a good enough defense to bother the Hornets Chris Paul.

New Orleans could be in a let down spot tonight, as they’re coming off a win over the Mavericks on Wednesday and travel to play the Spurs tomorrow night.

Take the points with the Rockets as they stay within the number on the road tonight.

5 Dime –

WARRIORS

Take the Warriors as the home chalk tonight over the Hawks.

Two teams headed in opposite directions here.

Golden State is shooting for its fifth win in six games while Atlanta has lost six straight.

The Warriors match up well with the Hawks because Atlanta doesn’t have the rebounders to slow down Golden State’s fast-break game.

This is also Atlanta’s third game in four nights, so they may not have the legs to compete for the full 48 minutes.

Take the Warriors as they grab the home win and cover

Larry Ness

Charlotte Bobcats

Many Sacramento players were involved in trade rumors for months because of the team's failure to emerge as a legitimate playoff contender in the loaded Western Conference. In the end, Mike Bibby was moved to Atlanta but Artest (19.4-5.8-3.9), despite strong interest from Denver, remained with the Kings as Thursday afternoon's trade deadline passed. Martin (23.3) has proven to be a legitimate scoring threat this year and Brad Miller (14.4-9.7) remains a consistent center. Salmons (14.0-4.2) proved himself while Martin was out hurt and Udrih (12.0-4.1 APG) replaces Bibby as the team's full-time PG. Udrih had 18 points and 10 assists Wednesday and he's averaging 14.0 PPG and 5.0 APG in 33 starts this season, most of which came while Bibby was sidelined with a thumb injury for the first 2 1/2 months of the season. A bit of bad news is that third-year swingman, the 6-7 Garcia (12.4), remains sidelined and his loss is significant (had averaged just 5.8 PPG in his first two years with the Kings). Sacramento visits Charlotte tonight and the Kings are just 8-18 SU on the road this year. The Bobcats are coming off their second-worst shooting performance in the four-season history of the franchise. Charlotte shot just 28.6 percent in its 85-65 loss at San Antonio on Tuesday night and got just 13 field goals on 49 attempts (26.5 percent) from the its starters. Point guard Raymond Felton (14.0-6.8 APG) led Charlotte with 19 points in the loss to the Spurs and while Gerald Wallace was just 0-for-9 on FG attempts on Tuesday, expect a much better performance here, as he's averaged 20.9 PPG and 6.2 RPG on the season. Richardson (20.0-5.1) and Okafor (13.4-11.1) have also been consistent this year for the Bobcats and Mohammed (7.6-5.9) has contributed nicely since being acquired from the Pistons. The Kings improved to 4-0 at home all-time against the Bobcats when they beat them 105-91 on Jan 30 but they're 0-3 against them here in Charlotte. It's hard to see the Kings as road favorites with that 8-18 SU mark, so I'll take the Bobcats.

Big Al

Atlanta

At 10:35 pm, our selection is on the Atlanta Hawks plus the points over the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors upset Boston on Wednesday night, and that was without Stephen Jackson (who is questionable for tonight's game). But one Warrior who will definitely not play tonight is Andris Biedrins. He scored 21 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in the Celtics game, even though he felt sick throughout. His discomfort was related to his appendix, and he underwent surgery to remove it yesterday. His absence will be felt tonight as he is averaging 10.3 ppg and a team-high 9.7 rebounds per game. And off that upset win, the Warriors are in an awful spot tonight, as .394 (or better) home teams are 0-16 ATS off an upset win at home, if matched up against a .394 (or better) foe off back-to-back losses. Look for Atlanta to snap its 7-game road losing streak tonight.

Upset Shocker of the Month on the Hawks.

INDIAN COWBOY

Memphis (POD) +8

A nice opportunity for Memphis to cover here as they are in a good spot. This team lost to Dallas earlier on the road this year by a 11, but got off to a bad start and they come back home after a dissappointing game against the Clippers who had revenge against them. The Grizzlies do have bite as this team beat the Clippers at home and beat the Kings at home as well recently - remember, the Kings went on the road to beat the Blazers and beat the Hawks handily at home as well which shows their competence. With a young crew of Gay, Warrick and Conley Jr. this team does have some talent and although Mike Miller is listed as questionable, I think it will take some time for Dallas to mesh much time it will take some time for Shaq to mesh with the Suns completely. I think Kidd takes a way the Mavs explosiveness a bit that Devin Harris provided and Memphis can have plenty of bite at home. I look for this game to be similar to the Spurs vs. Twolves game yesterday. The Mavs have failed to cover their last 4 road games and with over 70% of the public on the Mavs and the line yet to budge, I'll gladly take the public's overplay of Jason Kidd's influence on the Mavericks becoming a drastically better team.

Dartmouth -1

It was either between this game or Brown in what I was going to choose to play in the Ivy Friday night and I went with Dartmouth for a couple reasons despite Brown being a sound play. Columbia has revenge over Brown, and for that reason I laid off it. Dartmouth lost by a bucket to the Quakers earlier this year and have had a tough stretch of late in conference play and are coming across a series of home games and including that is a game agaisnt Upenn tonight. Upenn is 1-8 on the road and yet they are getting a great deal of respect because of their recent home win against Harvard. Home court is a big deal in the Ivy and remember, Upenn is the same team that lost 30-60 against Florida Gulf Coast who is a top 300 team. They face a Dartmouth team who admittedly is in the top 300, but Upenn is not that far behind as they are in the top 280 and the home court advantage makes the difference here in my opinion. Remember Dartmouth beat Harvard by 17 at home and this is where the slide ends as the Big Green pick up a big home win today. Dartmouth is 4-1-1 ATS against teams with a winning % of less than .400 and the Quakers are 1-7-1 ATS as an underdog of this margin.

Boston +1.5

I admire the Suns as a basketball team, but if I went with the Lakers on the road at Phoenix to likely win outright, it only makes sense that I ride the Celtics on the road to win outright at Phoenix as well. After all, I consider the Celtics to be a better team only slightly albeit to the Lakers in the power rankings, the Celtics come off back to back losses on the road in tight ballgames and would desperately love to pick up a road win here. Although both teams match fairly evenly, I like the fact that the Celtics come off back to back losses, I don't believe they have lost 3 in a row all year and the Suns I believe will take some more time to mesh with Shaq. The Celtics are 6-1 ATS as an underdog by this margin and the Suns are 1-5-1 ATS as a home favorite of late. I also think think in the end the defensive intensity of the Celtics likely wins this game.