3-Unit Play #714 Take Toronto -6 ½ Over Washington (8 p.m. EST, Friday)
A visit from the Wizards is the perfect thing to stop a losing streak in its tracks and that is just what we feel will happen tonight. Toronto has lost three straight and we feel they have been playing much better as of late and expect a big performance tonight. Even with that losing streak they have won six of their last nine and Washington is just horrible on the road. Washington has lost seven straight on the road, and they have lost those games by an average of 14 points. And it is not like all those games have been against playoff teams – they included losses to the Clippers. Phoenix, Indiana and Memphis. In fact, the game against Memphis was the only one where they would have covered a line this small as they lost to the Griz by five. The home team is 7-3 ATS in the last 10 meetings.
4-Unit Play #715 Take Charlotte -3 Over Oklahoma City (8 p.m. EST, Friday)
The Bobcats have won the last three meetings between these clubs, and all by three points or more. Now Charlotte has much more to play for as they are in do-or-die mode and must win every game in order to keep their faint playoff hopes alive. While one of the best bets in the NBA this season, the Thunder are in a funk and have covered only two of their last eight games and it took about five missed threes by Denver in the final minutes for them to get a cover last time out as a big road underdog. The Bobcats are rested with two nights off and they are 10-5 ATS in these situations this season. Charlotte has had some very tough games lately as their last four have come against playoff opponents. We think they get a pretty easy win tonight against an opponent that is clearly outclassed, not to mention Kevin Durant is playing with some very sore ribs and is not 100%.
3-Unit Play #717 Take New Orleans +7 Over Dallas (8:30 p.m. EST, Friday)
The Hornets have won four straight in this series and have covered in three of those meetings. Dallas has been playing well and New Orleans has been in a bit of a slump, but we just don’t think that this justifies the Mavs being such a big favorite here. The Mavs have had a home heavy schedule lately and have played scrubs on the road while the Hornets have played a pretty tough road-heavy schedule lately. We had this game handicapped at 5 and we still liked the Hornets at that number so this number provides even more value, on our opinion.
6-Unit Play #723 Take Sacramento/LA Clippers UNDER 217 (10:30 p.m. EST, Friday)
This will be the fourth meeting between these teams this season and the first three ended up nowhere near this number. The highest total these teams reached was 201 and the other two meetings ended up at 182 and 184, respectively. These Clippers are banged up beyond belief and we just don’t know how they will score enough to get this one over the posted total. Zach Randolph is one of their main scoring threats and he is still out because of a DUI suspension and Baron Davis and Eric Gordon are the only real threats to have big scoring nights. But are both these guys going to get 30+? Doubtful. And even if they do who will pick up the rest of the scoring slack? Fred Jones or Brian Skinner? Don’t think so. The Clippers have scored more than 100 in only two of their last 10 and one of those was an OT game against the Knicks where they had more of their offensive weapons on the floor. We agree with the oddsmakers that this will be a close game and we just don’t see the Clippers keeping it close with a shootout so they will have to play defense and try and slow the game down. They have played pretty good D their last two games, holding the Lakers and T-Wolves in the 80s. The under is 9-3 in the last 12 meetings.
Doc Sports NBA 4-10-09
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