[LLXC]

***BEST BET
*New Orleans over Dallas by 23 (Saturday)
Unlike the Colts, Sean Payton and the Saints really want to go unbeaten dur- ing the regular-season.They realize this matchup is their most serious chal- lenge. New Orleans concludes the regular season hosting one-win Tampa Bay and meeting the highly-disappointing Panthers on the road. Dallas does not have the December track record, pass rush and intestinal fortitude to pull the upset. December has come to mean two things – Christmas and the Cowboy choking. Dallas is a miserable 3-15-1 ATS in December. The Cowboys are averaging 15.1 points during their past nine games in December. Dallas has covered only three of its past 13 overall road games. Tony Romo has yet to go into his annual late swoon, but the Cowboys have many other problems. Marion Barber isn’t 100 percent, their offensive line isn’t as effective away from home and star pass rusher DeMarcus Ware (check status) suffered a possible serious neck injury in Sunday’s home loss to San Diego. Dallas has kicking problems, too. Nick Folk has missed six of his last nine field goal attempts. Simply put, the Cowboys haven’t gotten it down against superior competition.They’ve defeated only one team with a winning record.The Saints are averaging 35.8 points.They have scored 466 points. No other team has reached 390 points yet. By comparison, the Saints have scored 107 more points than undefeated Indianapolis and Peyton Manning. Drew Brees is having an MVP season. He has a wide range of dan- gerous targets, including Marques Colston, Robert Meachem and Reggie Bush.The Colts don’t have nearly the depth to stay with all of them.When favored by between 3 _ and 10 points, the Saints are 10-2 ATS. NEW ORLEANS 37-14.

[LLXC]

***BEST BET
*Orlando over Portland by 18
Portland has no one to slow Dwight Howard down with Greg Oden out for the sea- son. The Trail Blazers’ depth has taken a serious heat with Travis Outlaw, Nicolas Batum and Rudy Fernandez all out, too. Portland has yet to beat a winning team on the road. The Trail Blazers were 7-15 ATS as a road ‘dog of between five and 10 _ points. ORLANDO 105-87.

***BEST BET
Atlanta over *Chicago by 14
The Bulls don’t match up well to the Hawks, not that they’ve matched up well to other teams either. The Bulls have dropped 10 of their last 12 through Dec. 14, with seven of those defeats occurring by 19 or more points. This strongly points out a non-com- petitive team. One of those losses was by 35 points to the Hawks just 10 days ago at Atlanta. The Bulls only were competitive in the first quarter in losing their fifth in a row to the Hawks. Only twice in their first 20 games have the Bulls even broken the century mark. Just once has Chicago shot 50 percent from the field. Atlanta has a win- ning road mark and was 5-1 SU and ATS in the second of back-to-back contests. ATLANTA 107-93.

[LLXC]

***BEST BET
Seton Hall* over Temple by 14
Temple’s first half against Miami-OH, and their second half against Villanova – where they couldn’t miss – will be evening out. Their people stormed the court against Villanova after chanting, “Overrated!” and “We Want Kansas!” Beware the “Overconfident!” Said if before, will say it again: The time to be on Seton Hall is now, before Bobby Gonzalez breaks ‘em down. SETON HALL, 87-73.

**PREFERRED
San Diego State over Arizona State* by 7
The Sun Devils have beaten nobody and their cousins so far this season. SDS has shown the positive effects that a long, post-season run (NIT) of games and practices can have on a program. Mountain West teams were 31-16 ATS thru December 12. Quick Aztec guard D.J. Gay can get through the match-up zone to break it down, and the visitor is the better rebounding team. SAN DIEGO ST., 71-64.

[Scorpion]

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