East Carolina (4-3, 2-4 ATS) at Memphis (2-5, 1-5 ATS)
Conference USA gets its turn in the national spotlight, with East Carolina traveling to Memphis in search of its fourth consecutive blowout win over the Tigers.
The Pirates are coming off a 49-13 rout of Rice, easily cashing as an 18½-point home favorite on Oct. 17. Since suffering consecutive non-conference road losses to West Virginia (35-20 as a 6½-point underdog) and North Carolina (31-17 as an 8½-point pup), East Carolina has won three of four (2-2 ATS), with the defense yielding an average of 18 points per game during this stretch, including 14.7 ppg in the three wins.
Memphis followed up a mild 35-20 upset of UTEP with a 36-16 setback at Southern Miss, falling short as a 14-piont road underdog. The Tigers’ defense has been nonexistent all year, surrendering 27 points or more in five of seven games and yielding an average of 31.8 ppg to its six Division I-A opponents.
East Carolina has posted three straight double-digit wins over Memphis by scores of 35-20 (home), 56-40 (road) and 30-10 (home). The Pirates cashed easily in all three games – all as a favorite – and they’ve covered in seven straight and 10 of 11 in this series, going 4-1 ATS in five trips to Memphis. The host has won seven of 10 SU.
East Carolina is 1-3 SU and ATS on the highway this year, the lone win coming at Marshall on Oct. 3, a 21-17 triumph as a two-point ‘dog. Furthermore, the Pirates have failed to cover in 10 of their last 12 road games, and they’re on additional ATS slides of 5-13 overall, 1-4 after a spread-cover, 3-7 against losing teams and 2-5 on artificial turf. ECU has cashed in eight of 11 in October.
Memphis is 1-6 ATS in its last eight overall and 4-9-3 ATS in its last 16 in October, but the Tigers are 10-4-1 ATS in their last 15 after an outright defeat, 10-3 ATS in their last 13 after a bye and 8-4 ATS in their last 12 as a home underdog against C-USA foes.
The under is on stretches of 9-2 for East Carolina in Conference USA play, 3-0-1 for Memphis overall, 4-0-1 for Memphis in league action and 3-1-1 for Memphis in October. Conversely, four of the last five meetings in this rivalry have gone over the total.
ATS ADVANTAGE: EAST CAROLINA and UNDER
NBA
Boston at Cleveland
Shaquille O’Neal makes his regular-season debut with new teammate LeBron James and the Cavaliers, who tip off the 2009-10 season with a matchup against the Eastern Conference rival Celtics at Quicken Loans Arena.
O’Neal was acquired from Phoenix via trade in the offseason and joins his fifth NBA squad, one that finished with the league’s top SU and ATS records last year at 66-16 SU and 50-32 ATS. The Cavs’ success was mostly due to the dazzling play of James, who won his first MVP award by averaging 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game. Despite the regular-season success, however, Cleveland failed to get to the NBA Finals, as they were bounced in the Eastern Conference finals by the Magic in six games (1-5 ATS).
One year after beating the Cavaliers in a thrilling seven-game playoff series en route to their 17th NBA championship, Boston also saw its 2008-09 season end at the hands of the Magic, falling in seven games (3-4 ATS) in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Celtics, who didn’t have injured All-Star forward Kevin Garnett for their playoff run, finished with the second-best record in the conference and third-best in the NBA at 62-20 (42-39 ATS), and they cruised to the Atlantic Division title by 21 games over second-place Philadelphia.
Going back to the start of the 2006-07 season – and including their 2008 Eastern Conference semifinal series – the home team has won 18 consecutive meetings in this rivalry (9-8-1 ATS). Last year, the team’s split four games, with Cleveland going 3-1 ATS, including a season-opening 90-85 loss in Boston as a six-point road underdog. The Cavaliers are 18-6-2 ATS in the last 26 matchups with the Celtics, including five straight spread-covers at Quicken Loans Arena, and the home favorite has gotten the money in seven of the last 10 clashes.
Boston ended last season on ATS runs of 8-3-1 on the road, 3-1-1 against the Central Division and 4-0-1 as an underdog of less than five points (all on the road). The Celtics are also 35-15-1 ATS in their last 51 as an underdog and 45-19-1 ATS in their last 65 as a road pup, but they have failed to cover in five of their last seven on Tuesday.
Despite ending the season with a 1-5 ATS mark against Orlando, the Cavs enters this year on ATS surges of 36-15 at home, 11-3-1 as a chalk, 13-4 when laying less than five points, 7-0 at home as a favorite in that price range and 22-5 versus Atlantic Division foes.
Three of the four meetings between these teams last year remained under the total, and each of the last four meetings at Quicken Loans Arena have stayed low. The under is also on runs of 4-0 for Boston overall, 17-8 for Boston as a road pup and 8-1 for Cleveland on Tuesday. On the flip side, the over is on stretches of 4-0 for the Celtics against the Central Division, 5-1 for the Cavs overall and 4-0 for the Cavs at home.
ATS ADVANTAGE: CLEVELAND and UNDER
L.A. Clippers at L.A. Lakers
Kobe Bryant and the Lakers will raise another NBA championship banner to the rafters at Staples Center when they begin defense of their title with a designated home game against the Clippers, who will be without rookie Blake Griffin.
The Lakers closed the 2009 postseason on a 6-1 SU and ATS run, including eliminating the Magic in five games in the NBA Finals to capture the franchise’s 15th league title, including its 10th since moving to Los Angeles. Bryant followed up his 2008 MVP campaign with another spectacular season, ranking third in the league in scoring at 26.8 ppg to go with 5.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists per outing. Bryant also ranked second to LeBron James in playoff scoring, pouring in 30.2 ppg. At 65-17 (43-39 ATS), the Lakers finished with the best record in the Western Conference, one game behind Cleveland for the top mark in the league.
The Clippers are coming off yet another miserable season, as they finished 19-63, which tied for the second-worst record in the league, just two games ahead of the Sacramento Kings. The Clippers, who also had the worst ATS mark in the NBA last year (32-50), lost Nine of their final 10 contests (2-8 ATS), with the lone win coming at home against the aforementioned Kings. Of those nine losses to end the year, seven were by double digits, including two embarrassing defeats to Utah (106-85 on the road) and Oklahoma City (126-85 at home) to cap the season.
The lone positive for the Clippers came when they won the NBA draft lottery and selected former Oklahoma star Griffin with the No. 1 pick. However, it was reported late Monday night that Griffin has a stress fracture in his patella tendon in his left knee and could be sidelined up to six weeks.
The Lakers have swept the last two season series from their rivals, winning all eight games, including seven by double digits. But after cashing in the first six of those eight, the Lakers failed to cover in the final two clashes last year, both as a massive 16-point favorite, winning 108-97 and 88-85. The Lakers’ 6-2 ATS run against the Clips has all come from the favorite role.
In addition to finishing last year in a 2-8 ATS nosedive, the Clippers are on addition pointspread purges of 7-19 as a road team (all as an underdog), 7-21 versus the Western Conference, 1-6 as an underdog and 25-52-1 as a ‘dog of five to 10 ½ points. Although the Lakers covered in six of their last seven playoff contests, they’re just 4-9 ATS in their last 13 against Pacific Division rivals and 2-5 ATS in their last seven when laying between five and 10½ points.
The Clippers stayed under the total in five of their last six overall last season and 12 of 17 on Tuesday, while the Lakers carrying “under” streaks of 34-16-1 overall, 19-7 at home, 29-9 as a favorite, 8-2 against the Western Conference and 9-4 on Tuesday. Also, five of the last seven in this rivalry have stayed low.
The sports advisors 10/27
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