Announcement

**StarDust Bum** · 04-01-2012, 01:17 PM

Sunday Night Tips

March 31, 2012

The Sunday night card wraps up with a handful of games, including several key interconference matchups. The Rockets look to keep their hold on the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference against the Pacers, while the Lakers and Warriors wrap up the night at Staples Center. We'll start with the Nuggets continuing their road swing in the Sunshine State.

Nuggets at Magic - 6:05 PM EST

The sixth of seven stops for Denver on its long road trip comes in Orlando, taking on a Magic team seeking consistency before the playoffs. Orlando blew a 15-point lead, as Dallas mustered up enough energy on the second end of a back-to-back to stun the Magic, 100-98 as five-point road underdogs. The Magic will try to snap a two-game skid against a Nuggets' club that has alternated wins and losses the last four contests, coming off Friday's victory at Charlotte. Denver hasn't won consecutive games since March 5, while posting an 0-6 SU/ATS mark off a victory the last six opportunities.

Wizards at Raptors - 6:05 PM EST

Washington attempts to cover for the third straight cover, fresh off Friday's home rout of Philadelphia as eight-point underdogs, 97-76. The Wizards head north of the border for a fourth meeting this season with the Raptors, as the home team has captured each of the first three matchups. The Raptors are just 2-6 SU and 3-5 ATS the last eight games, including Friday's 113-101 home loss to the Heat. Washington has won consecutive contests only once this season, while owning a 1-10 SU and 3-8 ATS mark off a victory.

Pacers at Rockets - 7:05 PM EST

Houston is quietly putting things together following a rough stretch after the All-Star break with wins in four of the last six games. The Pacers continue their Texas swing after Saturday's defeat in San Antonio, as Indiana owns a 3-7 ATS record the previous 10 games. Frank Vogel's team has cashed in four of the previous six opportunities in the underdog role, while winning five of the last six games against Western Conference opponents. The Rockets embark on a four-game road trip following Sunday's contest, as Houston goes for its sixth victory in the last seven at the Toyota Center.

Hornets at Suns - 9:05 PM EST

Phoenix returns to the court after three days off, looking to halt a two-game losing streak against New Orleans. The Hornets have lost each of the last two meetings with the Suns at home, but New Orleans stunned Phoenix in the season opener, 85-84 as 6 ½-point 'dogs. The Suns can get back to .500 with a win on Sunday, as Alvin Gentry's squad owns a 10-3 SU/ATS the last 13 home contests. This is the final stop on a five-game road trip for the Hornets, as New Orleans is 8-1 ATS the last nine times as a single-digit 'dog on the highway.

Wolves at Blazers - 9:05 PM EST

Minnesota has had its way with Portland through two meetings this season, beating the Blazers by double-digits each time. The Wolves aren't playing their best basketball of the season by going 4-9 the last 13 games since beating Portland at the Target Center on March 7. Rick Adelman's club has put together a 5-2 ATS mark off a loss the last seven opportunities, coming off Friday's home defeat to the Celtics. The Blazers lost in the final seconds on Friday night to the Clippers as 9 ½-point underdogs, the first cover for Portland in four games. All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge missed the Clippers game with an elbow injury, as the Blazers' forward is listed as a game-time decision against the Wolves.

Warriors at Lakers - 9:35 PM EST

Quite a stir was made the last time these teams met in Oakland on Wednesday, as Lakers' center Andrew Bynum was benched after attempting a three-point quarter in the third quarter of a 104-101 victory. L.A. failed to cash as seven-point road 'chalk,' the second time the Warriors have covered in a loss to the Lakers this season. Golden State dropped all three games on its recent homestand, including a disappointing two-point setback to New Jersey after blowing a 19-point lead. The Warriors are rolling as a road 'dog of late with a 6-1 ATS mark, including a pair of outright wins at Sacramento and New Orleans with rest.

**StarDust Bum** · 04-01-2012, 01:20 PM

April Paths

April 1, 2012

With the calendar about to turn to April here is quick look at the upcoming schedules for six NBA teams. With the late start to the season and the condensed 66-game schedules, April will be a long and challenging month for several teams. Here is a look at three favorable draws and three difficult paths to close out the year.

Favorable April Schedules

Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks currently sit within a clump of teams with similar records at the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. There will certainly be a great incentive to avoid being the #7 or the #8 team, meaning not having to play Chicago or Miami in the first round and the Hawks have a schedule that should allow them to move up comfortably into the middle match-ups. Atlanta only has 12 games in the final month and eight of those games will be at home. The Hawks play just six winning teams in April and they don't have to play any of the top elite teams in the league. They also get a pair of games with three of the worst teams in the league, Charlotte, Detroit, and Toronto. The final five games of the season will be at home and the Hawks should be in a good position to finish strong and be a threat in the first round of the playoffs.

Indiana Pacers: The Pacers look like a team that also should maintain a safer position in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Indiana does have to play Oklahoma City and Chicago in the final month but both games are at home and. Indiana will play just five of 15 April games on the road and only seven of those 15 games will be against winning teams. Two of those games will be against Philadelphia, a team that appears to be sinking in the wrong direction and the Pacers will finish with each of the final four games at home. The finale is against the Bulls and Chicago has a great chance to have the top seed wrapped up, meaning it may be a freebie for the Pacers if they need it.

Milwaukee Bucks: The new-look Bucks are on the outside of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference but they are the only team still in play to move into that picture. The Bucks are currently 2.5 games behind the Knicks for the final spot but Milwaukee's schedule is far more favorable the rest of the way. The Bucks play just six of the final 14 games against winning teams and only five of the final 14 games will be away from home. The Bucks get Washington twice in addition to games with Toronto, New Jersey, Detroit, Charlotte, and Cleveland so if Milwaukee takes care of business against lesser teams they should be able to pick up some ground. The Bucks have six games against winning teams remaining but none of the games are overly threatening as they face none of the six teams with winning percentages over .600 in the final month.

Unfavorable April Schedules

Boston Celtics: The Celtics have closed to a tie with Philadelphia for the top spot in the Atlantic Division, playing great ball in the month of March to recover from a poor start to the season. Given the age on the team the Celtics would love to coast into the playoffs but a grueling final month may be ahead. It is hard to envision the Celtics climbing out of the #7 spot where they currently sit, which means they would likely face Miami in the opening round. Boston will get plenty of practice against the Heat as they face Miami three times in April in addition to facing Chicago and San Antonio in the final month. Eleven of the final 15 games will be against winning teams and over half of the remaining games are road games, where Boston has struggled this season. Boston faces six sets of back-to-back games in as many nights including one instance of three games in three days.

Golden State Warriors: The Warriors are a team that has the incentive to tank as their 2012 #1 pick is top seven protected. If they end up with a pick after seven it belongs to Utah barring a deal getting made. Finishing with the seventh worst record doesn't ensure a top seven pick in the lottery but right now Golden State has just the ninth worst record. If the Warriors want to lose games down the stretch the schedule will help the cause. Twelve of the final 16 games are against winning teams and ten of those final 16 games are away from home. The Warriors will play only one game the rest of the season against a team with a worse record than their own as they play a couple of competitive teams with losing records with Portland and Minnesota on the map. The Warriors will go up against some of the best in the Western Conference with two games each against the Spurs, Lakers, Mavericks, and Nuggets so Golden State is certainly in a good position to improve its chances of keeping its draft pick in what could be a pretty loaded first round.

New York Knicks: The Knicks have played some better basketball since the coaching change but injuries could cause some problems with Amare Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin both missing recent games. New York has a little bit of room between Milwaukee, holding on to the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference but the schedule will present some serious hurdles in April. Eight of the final 13 games are against winning teams including having to play the Bulls twice and the Heat once. Eight of the 13 are away from home and the Knicks have been a much worse performer on the road. New York only has three sets of games on back-to-back nights in April but they will close the season with four of the final five games on the road, setting up for a potentially disappointing finish given the easy slate that Milwaukee has the rest of the way. The Bucks and Knicks do play in mid-April and it will be a tough spot for the Knicks, playing in a second straight road game on back-to-back nights following up back-to-back games with the Bulls. Given Milwaukee's light early April schedule the Knicks and Bucks might be nearly tied by that point and it could be an absolutely critical game.

**StarDust Bum** · 04-01-2012, 01:23 PM

Chicago Bulls Visit Thunder On NBA Betting Slate

Some of the best teams in the league are going to be squaring off against each other in NBA betting action on Sunday and Monday to start off the new month, the last of this hectic season. Four of the top title contenders are going to be seen Sunday afternoon on ABC in what promises to be two colossal clashes of titans.

In the first game of the new month at 1:00 p.m. (ET), the Chicago Bulls pay a visit to the Oklahoma City Thunder. At 22-4 on its home court, Oklahoma City has the most victories as hosts in basketball. However, Chicago has a 21-6 mark on the road, easily the best that the league has to offer.

This could be a game that goes a long way in determining home-court advantage in the NBA Finals. These two teams are amongst the three favorites to win it all this year, and the Bulls enter the final month of the year just two-games up on the Thunder for the best mark in the league.

Chicago is a tremendous 35-17 ATS in its last 52 home games, but Oklahoma City comes into this one riding a five-game winning streak in which it has covered four of the five.

Another team on fire right now is the Boston Celtics. The C's have taken the lead in the Atlantic Division as we head into March, and they plan on holding off both the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers to take down yet another division crown in 2012.

Boston has won four games in a row both SU and ATS, but none of the four teams are anywhere near locks for the playoffs that it beat. Sunday's game against the Miami Heat at TD Garden is the first of seven straight games in a span of just 11 days in which the Celtics will face teams that are almost certainly going to be in the second season.

The Heat had been struggling before the end of the workweek when they managed easy wins over the Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors on back-to-back nights. LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade all had at least 26 points against Toronto, a great sign for matters going into the weekend.

Tip time from Beantown is set for 3:30 (ET) on Sunday afternoon.

Elsewhere on the Sunday slate, the Orlando Magic look to snap a two-game skid against the Denver Nuggets, while the Toronto Raptors duke it out with the Washington Wizards. Both games start at 6:00 (ET). The lone 7:00 p.m. (ET) start time features the Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers from the Toyota Center.

There are three late games. The showcase game on NBA TV sees the Minnesota Timberwolves taking on the Portland Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden at 9:00 (ET). The Phoenix Suns hope to get back to .500 when they host the New Orleans Hornets at 9:00 (ET), while the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers finish off the night at Staples Center at 9:30 (ET).

Monday features a relatively small slate with just six games on the docket. The Thunder are going to be back in action for a second straight day at home, this time against the Memphis Grizzlies. It is a huge game for the Grizzlies, who are one of the eight teams that have anywhere between 24-30 wins and still fighting to get into the playoffs in the Western Conference.

The game from the Sooner State is one of the two 8:00 (ET) tips on Monday night. The other showcases the Bulls hosting the Rockets.

The night starts in our nation's capitol, where the Wizards play host to the Milwaukee Bucks at 7:00 (ET). The Bucks are now 10-4 SU and 11-3 ATS in their last 14 games.

The Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers meet in a battle of 30-win teams at the American Airlines Center at 8:30 (ET) on Monday night as well.

The Trail Blazers host their a game for the second straight night when they welcome the Utah Jazz to the Rose Garden in a 10:00 (ET) tip, while the Timberwolves are going to try to stop a streak that has seen them go just 2-6 SU and 3-5 ATS in their last eight on the road when they take on the Sacramento Kings.

**StarDust Bum** · 04-01-2012, 01:25 PM

Flyers, Penguins battle for home ice Sunday

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (45-24-9, 99 points)

at PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (48-24-6, 102 points)

Puck drops: Sunday, 7:35 p.m. EDT
Line: Pittsburgh -185, Philadelphia +160, Total: 6

Two of the NHL’s most bitter rivals square off in the Steel City as the Flyers take on the Penguins on Sunday for the first of two games in Pittsburgh over the final week of the regular season.

Pittsburgh and Philadelphia look to be on a collision course to meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the four and five seeds in the Eastern Conference. The question is, which squad will grab the four seed and the all-important home-ice advantage? The Flyers have a quick turnaround after Saturday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Senators where Philly came back from three goals down to steal a standings point. Philadelphia is 4-0-0 all-time at the Consol Energy Center, and the Flyers are 3-1-1 overall against the Pens this season as Sergei Bobrovsky (13-9-2, 2.94 GAA, .900 SV Pct.) makes his second start on back-to-back days for just the third time this season. The Penguins’ have seen their lead over the Flyers dwindle this week after dropping both games of a home-and-home series with the last-place Islanders, but bounced back nicely with a 5-3 road win over the Sabres on Friday. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (41-16-4, 2.32 GAA, .914 SV Pct.) has been extremely shaky lately, allowing five goals in each game against the Isles, and has just two wins in his past nine starts against the Flyers. With two teams who appear to be so evenly matched, there’s simply too much value in the line to pick against PHILADELPHIA getting a big road win in this one.

This extremely rare six-star FoxSheets trend also likes the Flyers:

PHILADELPHIA is 13-0 ATS (+13.0 Units) after a close loss by 1 goal in their previous game this season. The average score was PHILADELPHIA 4.8, OPPONENT 2.0 - (Rating = 6*).

The Flyers turn to Bobrovsky in goal after an untimely injury to starter Ilya Bryzgalov (chipped foot bone). Bryzgalov was one of the NHL’s hottest netminders before suffering the injury—going 10-2-1 with four shutouts in the month of March.

This matchup will feature no shortage of offensive firepower, as the Flyers average 3.2 goals per game (3rd in NHL), and the Penguins have scored three or more goals in seven consecutive games. Expect team points leader Claude Giroux (27 G, 59 A) to make his presence felt in this game. The 24-year-old center has been held pointless in three straight games, but has five assists in four games against the Penguins this year.

As expected, Sidney Crosby’s return to the lineup has turned the top-ranked Penguins offense (3.3 goals per game) into a seemingly unstoppable force. Crosby had a goal and three assists in Friday’s 5-3 win over Buffalo for his second four-point performance since returning to the lineup on March 15.

With a win on Sunday, the Penguins would all but lock up the four seed in the East, as they would then hold a five-point advantage over the Flyers with three games to play. Meanwhile, a Philadelphia victory would create a four-point swing the other way—making next Saturday’s matchup between the two clubs an essential play-in game for home ice in the first round.

**myrjimmy3** · 04-01-2012, 01:27 PM

Bol sdb

Announcement

The Bum's Sunday's Best Bets !

The Bum's Sunday's Best Bets !

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment