NBA Wednesday

[TazaD]

Detroit -10.5 League: 16-7-1 (Av. win 16.6) home 10+ fav, 1 day off 10- ats loss as away 4- fav. [Det] (4-1 season) 7-0 (Av. win 22.6) if they won SU but lost ats. (10-2 (Av. win 18.4) on any rest) Orlando 1-12 v. the Atlantic div this season (0-2-1 v. Detroit). Detroit 6-1 when home total 190-195, shows they beat teams with bad D's. In 3 home games since Brown's return, Detroit have won by 17, 13 and 12. Also a couple of good quotes: "This is a good chance for our young players to learn...Despite not being able to be in the play-offs. Maybe we can help develop them now for the future." Steve Francis. Orlando coach has also admitted it will be hard to keep the team focused now the year is effectively over. "Our goal right now is to continue to get better. We're not really worried about what other teams are doing." Larry Brown. One team is focused here, one team is not. To quote Sani....DEEEETTTTRRRROOOOIIIITTTTT BBBBBAAAASSSSKKKEEETTTBBBAALLLLL!...(Or something similar!) Indi -3 League: 2-12-1 (0-14-1 this no...Av. loss 10.5) any away dog, 3+ days off 10- ats win as home 4- fav. [NJ] 0-3 (Av. loss 8.3) if 4- dog. NJ: 0-3 this season on 3+ days rest, av loss 17.0!! Indi battling away very hard, and look for them to be ready tonight after 2 poor defensive efforts. NJ too inconsistant on the road. Memphis +4 (2.40ish ML) League: 7-1 SU! (Av. WIN 5.1) away 4- dog, 1 day off 10+ ats loss as away 5+ dog, if opp off any ats win as fav. [Houst] Houston have been struggling to score @ home lately, and Memphis playing great ball on the road. The Rockets have won 1 of their last 5 home games by more than 2 points, and they beat Memphis by just 3 in their first meeting. They av. just 91.2 ppg at home this season and they are 0-2, and 3-14 in the last 3 years v. teams who allow <91 ppg in the second half of the season. Memphis hold teams to 90.5 ppg and it's tough to see Houston scoring enough to win big in this game.

[sani]

Re: NBA Wednesday Charlotte over Atlanta (+4) @1.98 (www.pinnaclesports.com) Why Charlotte? Well, it's rather simple. They won in Philips Arena the other day (110-105 OT). Why not Atlanta? Because they are the worst team in the NBA this season and that win against Minnesota won't fool me. But let's just leave the obvious reasons alone. Bobcats, no matter how bad they are (16-61 overall record, but 12-26 at home) actually have a legitimate 1-2 punch (Knight-Okafor) that is good enough for the NBA. Coming into this season, Hawks had high hopes of developing one such duo, with Walker and Harrington, but that just turned out to be a disaster. Now they have that Josh & Josh rookie duo, but it might take years before they develop into impact players. I also like Primo (if he plays) and Ely better than Collier and Drobnjak. And if a team has to play a guy like Drobnjak as much as Hawks play him (30 minutes) that team is baaaaad. Trust me on this, i'm from Serbia and i've seen him play a lot, i know how much damage he can do to his own team with his catch-and-shoot style of play. Key Factor: I'd really have to think hard to remember when was the last time i saw a team worse than Hawks. Golden State over Minnesota (-4.5) @1.93 (www.pointbet.com) This one's interesting. Tonight we will see Golden State Warriors anxious to stop their 2-game losing streak!!! When was the last time that happened? I don't know exactly, but i guess most of Warriors players couldn't even grow moustache at that time. But seriously, Warriors will go for a win here, even though they don't need one. They didn't need any one of those wins they got past two months, but that couldn't stop them. If you have a look at those two consecutive losses, the one against the Spurs was a heartbreaking loss really, and the one in Denver, well, if they weren't so tired after double OT vs Spurs, they'd have their chances to win. If a team is good enough to run with Denver, that is one hell of a team. Exactly how i rate Warriors these days. Minnesota, with their aging backcourt players will finally have a chance to see what this GS-mania is all about. Most of it is about outrunning oponnents, if the guys you're running against are Cassell (35) and Sprewell (34), it makes life a lot easier. Key Factor: Warriors will be motivated, that's not something you can say about Wolves. Besides, Minnesota (40) has only 9 wins more than Golden State (31), so they're not that much better. Boston over Milwaukee @1.87 (www.multibet.com) This looks great, even though it's Boston, usually a no-bet team for me. Bucks could yet again be without Joe Smith, but no matter if he plays or not, lack of motivation shouldn't be an issue for Milwaukee. Boston will be fighting for home-court advantage in Rd 1 (probably against Indiana or Washington), and with their up and down form, they will definitely need it. If you just have a look at the rosters, Celtics certainly have a better team, with 3 players that have more chances of being stopped by their own foolishness than being stopped by Bucks. That would be the crazy trio of Pierce, Walker and Davis of course. And after that 4 game losing streak (which has followed the 11-1 run) Celtics have now won 4 of last 6. That just adds to the fact they are a weird team. But still, no matter how weird they are, they have a lot more to play for than Milwaukee. And they are better. So even though it's Boston, that should be enough. Key Factor: Battling for homecourt advantage vs. playing for ........ (i can't think of anything Milwaukee would play for). P.S. Because Primo is out for Charlotte this one also makes sense Charlotte-Atlanta UNDER 204 @1.94 (www.pinnaclesports.com)