Originally Posted by
sando
NBA
This is a joint play in collaboration with my good buddy RealDealAu, we've put our heads together to come up with this play early before the line gets smashed.
Toronto @ Houston
Rockets -4.5 (-108 Pinnacle) 3x
*also available at Centrebet, Luxbet, William Hill, 188Bet
Boys this line won't last, will be -5.5 by game time tommorow. Lock it in now.
Big psychological angle in this one. With the tragic passing of coach McHale's 23 year old daughter I expect this young Rockets team to be fired up and absolutely full of intensity, Mchale is very well liked and commands serious respect from his organization, with the players voicing their support of the coach through social media. If anything I am worried they will over-play their hand so to speak and could lead to unnecassary turnover's. Regardless how are the Raptors going to match their intensity? Because Lowry is returning to Houston? please... People saying a fired up Lowry will be the best player on the court, um have you been watching James Harden this season? Arguably the second best off guard in the NBA and surely a top 10 player these days. There's hardly a player in the league who can guard him at the moment and there sure as hell isn't one on the Raptors list. As some of you may know by now I am very big on momentum and well the Rockets are hot and the Raptors are not simple. A solid home win over the Bulls followed by a slaughtering of the NBA's current hype team in the Knicks, compared to 4 losses in a row against Philly, Charlotte, Detroit and SA. Yes the raptors Have been very competitive and have been great ATS recently (4-1 last 5)
although Houston have been rather good at home and are also 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games. Bargnani is not the same player he was last year when he carried the team, and they do have a great 1-2 pairing in Lowry and Derozan, however Rockets also have a pretty impressive 1-2 pairing and do you think there isn't massive pressure on Lin to perform? Especially today with Lowry coming to town. Lin has shown so far through the aftermath of "Linsanity" that he can handle pressure and I expect him to lift today, but it is in the bigs where I expect Houston to dominate, in particular Asik and the impressive young Patterson. Would not be surprised to see another blow out tonight.
Houston's record is not very impressive at 6-7 but to put it into context they have faced the toughest draw in the NBA so far this year, with their 7 losses coming against Memphis, Denver, Portland x2, Miami, Lakers and Utah.
Minnesota @ Sacramento
Kings -1.5 (-103 Pinnacle) 1.5x
Kings playing great basketball last three games. Crushed the Lakers at home by 16 before heading on the road and dominating the Jazz in Utah (how many teams do that?) for three quarters, eventually going down by 2 points. The home and home series moved to Sacramento the next day where the Kings did what they should have done in Utah and after putting the game away in the third, held on to run out comfortable 11 point winners. This young Kings list is actually a nice list with two stars in Cousins and Evans, three legit guys in Thompson, Brooks and Thornton, a crafty vet in Salmons, a (potentially) pure shooter in Fredette and a hard working honest "big" in Chuck Hayes. Evans has recently started playing again like the rookie that took the NBA by storm only a couple of years ago. No surprise that the Kings recent three game surge comes on the back of 4 oustanding games in a row now from Evans and if he maintains that form against the Wolves then I fail to see anyone on this Wolves team who can guard him effectively.
NBA Total of the day
Dallas @ Philly
Under 193 (-110 Pinnacle) 1x
*Have this total at 188