Brad Wilton
Always dicey to pick against the Golden State Warriors, but if there is a time to do so, Saturday in Memphis may be that night.
The Dubs are playing their third of five straight on the road, and they do have a stop in Minnesota tomorrow up next, and a stop in New Orleans on the 13th to close things out. Golden State will likely pace themselves here, and while they have dominated the Grizzlies lately, Memphis does bring a solid 5 game straight up winning streak into this showdown, and big man Marc Gasol should be able to dictate in the paint against the perimeter-oriented Warriors.
Golden State owns an 11-1 road straight up mark this year, but they are just 6-5-1 against the spread in those dozen roadies thus far.
Memphis has covered al 3 during their current 5 game winning streak in the underdog role, and with Golden State still having 2 more road games left on this trek, I will side with the Grizzlies to find the back-door in the underdog role.
Play on the Grizzlies.
2* MEMPHIS
Kyle Hunter
Xavier -11.5
The Utah Utes are in really bad spot here. Utah has a young and very unproven team. Here, they go all the way to Cincinnati to take on Xavier in their first true road game of the year. Utah isn't very good right now. The Utes are way down from where they were the last couple years. I think this is a case where the past history of this team gives us value in fading them. Utah is weak in the backcourt this year, and their best offense is getting offensive boards. That's a problem here, since Xavier is seventh in the nation in defensive rebounding percentage. Xavier is coming off two road losses, and this is a great spot for them to bounce back big. The Musketeers are a top 20 team in the country for sure, and they might be even better than that. Utah was waxed at Wichita State in their first road game last year, and that was when the Utes were a good team. The Utes should lose here by at least 15.
Wunderdog
Miami vs. Chicago
Pick: Under 200.5
Banged-up Miami winds up a three-game trip with no offense at #28 in the NBA in scoring, and #27 in field goal shooting. They prefer to slow the pace down, good for eighth in the league in points allowed. Miami scored 84 points in the last game and is 16-5 UNDER the total when following a straight-up loss of more than 10 points. Miami is also last in the NBA in free throw shooting (67.1) and faces a strong Chicago defense at seventh in points allowed. The Bulls took down the Spurs the last game, 95-91, and they are 15-7 UNDER the total against the Eastern Conference. When these teams clash, the UNDER is 8-2.