The Lakers come into tonight

Memphis overachieved last season; the Tigers were not projected to do much yet they went 24-10. Much of Memphis

The total on tonight

This is the second game in two nights for both teams as they are playing in the BTI Invitational. Oregon is hosting the tournament so they do get the advantage of the home court, but that is about the only edge they

Philadelphia has been very competitive all year; all six of their losses have been by 10 points or less which would make them 7-1 ATS to tonight

This is a huge game for Wofford. Three of their best players will be going back home to Minnesota and playing their first collegiate game in front of their family and friends. Jamar Diggs, Cameron Rundles, and Noah Dahlman were all big-time high school players in Minnesota so tonight

Seton Hall returns a ton of talent and experience this season. The Pirates have their top four scorers back from a team that won 19 games last season and they should be even better this year, especially with their new coach Kevin Willard who comes over from Iona. Willard is a huge upgrade from former coach Bobby Gonzalez and he will get the most out of this Seton Hall team.

Gonzalez was not well liked around the program, and when asked about how the team has united around Willard, the new coach said:

Western Kentucky is a team loaded with big-game experience; the Hilltoppers won 21 games last year and they went deep in the NCAA tournament the previous season. This team also has a ton of depth, and they

This is the second meeting of the season between the Celtics and Heat; the first game was an 88-80 win by Boston on opening night. That was a low-scoring, half-court game and we expect this game to play out in a similar way. Both teams have terrific defensive units that have already proven that they can shutdown each team

There

On the surface, neither team appears to be any good; Houston is just 1-5 and Washington is just 1-4. However, when you dig a bit deeper, the Rockets record is excusable because they

Both teams come into tonight

Boston played last night in Oklahoma City so the Celtics will be on some tired legs tonight. The Celtics also look to slow the pace way down on the second night of a back-to-back set so there

The two coaching staffs are quite familiar with each other. The Celtics became a defensive juggernaut when Doc Rivers hired Tom Thibodeau to run Boston

Both of these teams played some pretty strong defense last season. However, the Thunder and Blazers have been terrible on the defensive end of the court this season and the linesmakers have yet to adjust the totals on their games. But that will allow us to take advantage of that tonight as this total is priced right around the same range as they were for last year

These two teams have been a world apart so far this season. New Orleans comes into tonight

Portland comes into tonight

The total on tonight

Both of these teams looked horrible in their season openers. Phoenix got rocked at Portland by 14 points (106-92) while the Jazz were embarrassed in Denver last night by 22 points (110-88). However, we see only one of those results as legitimate while we

Charlotte and Dallas may prove to be two of the best defensive teams in the NBA at season

Houston will be a much improved team this season. The Rockets went just 42-40 last year, but they played without their big man, Yao Ming. However, he

The anticipation for this game has been huge ever since the NBA schedule was announced. It

Boston was completely embarrassed in Game 6 on Tuesday night. The Celtics lost that game by 22 points (89-67), and they actually trailed by as many as 27 points. Boston was in a terrible situational spot after winning the previous two games; they knew the Lakers would fire their

After two high-scoring games to open up the NBA Finals, we

After two high-scoring games to open up the NBA Finals, we

Los Angeles played good enough to win Game 4, but they came up a bit short in the fourth quarter after taking a 62-60 lead over the first 36 minutes of play. The Lakers out-shot the Celtics 45.1% (32-71) to 44.6% (37-83) from the field and they also made 4 more three

We finally saw Game 3 officiated like normal on Tuesday night. The first two games of this series were heavily influenced by the way those games were called. Boston

Boston won Game 2 because their defense was able to play their game. The Celtics were much more aggressive on the defensive end as they forced the Lakers into doing things they didn

Boston had little chance in Game 1 on Thursday night because of the way the game was officiated. The Celtics rely a ton on their defense to win games, but they were unable to play their style of defense because the refs were not allowing much physical play. In the first quarter alone, there were 18 personal fouls called, and the majority of those were on the Celtics away from the ball. Boston was unable to establish any type of defensive rhythm which really prevented them from playing their game. Because of the way the game was called, the Celtics allowed Los Angeles to score 102 points on 48.7% (37-76) shooting from the field and 40% (4-10) from three-point land.

Prior to allowing those 102 points to the Lakers, the Celtics had allowed more than 100 points in just 4 of their 17 previous playoff games, and in fact, the Celtics held their opponents to less than 90 points in 10 of those 17 playoff games. The Lakers were also rewarded by the multitude of foul calls as they got to the free-throw line 31 times. They made 24 of those attempts which certainly aided their point total a bit. In the two regular season games, Boston held the Lakers offense to just 90 and 86 points so they are more than capable of shutting down Kobe Bryant and company.

Off their disappointing loss in Game 1, Boston will bounce back in a big way tonight. They were one of the best road teams in the NBA all season long going 26-15 on opponent

Boston comes into the Finals after beating the two teams who had the best regular season record in the NBA. The Celtics took care of Cleveland in six games in their second playoff series. The Celtics were terrific on offense in that series as they averaged over 100 points per game against the Cavaliers. Boston then man-handled Orlando and also won that series in six games. The Celtics have been constant in one area throughout the Playoffs; their defense has played fantastic basketball. They

We finally saw the scoring drop-off in Game 5 on Thursday night after the first four games in this series were high-scoring with point totals of 235 in Game 1, 236 in Game 2, 227 in Game 3, and 221 in Game 4. Los Angeles won by a bucket (103-101), but even the 204 points scored were more than the game should have had. The Lakers held an 18-point lead in the third quarter, and when up big, they usually take the air out of the ball and work the clock. But they couldn

Orlando got themselves back into this series after winning the last two games. The Magic were able to escape with an overtime win in Boston in Game 4, and they carried that momentum over to Game 5 which allowed them to win by 21 points (113-92). That was Orlando

Phoenix showed a lot of fight as they got back into this series after winning the last two games on their home court. The Suns used big fourth quarters to get both wins as they out-scored Los Angeles 62-47 in those two games. Both of those games were tight heading into the final 12 minutes of play, but the Lakers shot the ball dreadfully which allowed Phoenix to pull away to comfortable wins. Before those two wins, the Suns had all kinds of trouble playing against the Lakers, especially in games played in the Staples Center.

Los Angeles dominated the Suns in all four home meetings this season. The Lakers won the four homes games by 19 (121-102), 20 (108-88), 21 (128-107), and 12 (124-112) points. They controlled all of those games as they led by 27, 23, 28, and 16 points and they only trailed three times in those games combined. They also held 21-point and 14-point leads heading into the fourth quarter in those games. That

The first four games in this series have all been high-scoring with point totals of 235 in Game 1, 236 in Game 2, 227 in Game 3, and 221 in Game 4. Los Angeles won Game 1 by 21 points (128-107) after both teams shot the lights-out. The Lakers shot an incredible 58% (51-88) from the field and 47.1% (8-17) from three-point land. The Suns also shot the ball well, hitting 49.4% (39-79) from the field. In Game 2, we once again saw some hot shooting from both teams. Los Angeles shot 57.7% (45-78) from the field and 56.2% (9-16) from three-point land while Phoenix shot 49.4% (41-83) from the field and 41.7% (10-24) from three-point land. In Game 3, the shooting cooled off, but the teams shot a total of 62 free-throws with the Suns connecting on 37 of their 42 attempts. And in Game 4 on Tuesday night, both teams shot the ball well from the field and they also combined to hit 20 three

Orlando finally put together a competent offensive effort in Game 4 on Monday night. The Magic scored 96 points after shooting 44.6% (33-74) from the field and 35.7% (10-28) from three-point land, although they were once again terrible from the free-throw line hitting just 60.6% (20-33). Orlando was very aggressive in the first half and it was their best 24 minutes of this series as they had 51 points at the break. But the game really slowed down in the second half as only 74 points were scored (not counting overtime) by both teams. The lack of scoring was due to many missed layups and wide-open shots as well as the ugly free-throw line performance.

Boston

Los Angeles played good enough to win Game 3, but they came up a bit short because they were on the short end of the ref

The first three games in this series have been extremely high-scoring with point totals of 235 in Game 1, 236 in Game 2, and 227 in Game 3. Los Angeles won Game 1 by 21 points (128-107) after both teams shot the lights-out. The Lakers shot an incredible 58% (51-88) from the field and 47.1% (8-17) from three-point land. The Suns also shot the ball well, hitting 49.4% (39-79) from the field. In Game 2, we once again saw some hot shooting from both teams. Los Angeles shot 57.7% (45-78) from the field and 56.2% (9-16) from three-point land while Phoenix shot 49.4% (41-83) from the field and 41.7% (10-24) from three-point land. In Game 3 on Sunday night, the shooting cooled off, but there was another out of the ordinary occurrence in that game.

The teams shot a total of 62 free-throws with the Suns connecting on 37 of their 42 attempts. In fact, the teams have combined for a whopping 176 free-throw attempts in the first three games. They combined to hit 140 of those freebies, which is an amazing 140 points scored while the clock was not running. Despite all of the good shooting and the generous points from the free-throw line, none of the games were played at a fast enough pace to warrant the high scores. After re-scoring all three games based on my pace and percentage models, the games should have averaged only about 213 points scored, not the 232 points they are averaging.

And because of the extremely high-scoring three games, the oddsmakers have had to adjust their posted total once again for tonight. This total is 10.5 points higher than the series opener, 5 points higher than the second game, and 2 points higher than the last game. That

After losing the first two games of this series on their home court, Orlando was in a terrific situation to get back into the series in Game 3 on Saturday night. However, that never happened as the Magic were embarrassed in Game 3 by Boston in a 23-point loss (94-71). The Celtics won the first quarter 27-12 and they never trailed in the entire game while holding a 32-point at one point in the game. Orlando

Orlando

The first two games in this series have been extremely high-scoring with point totals of 235 in Game 1 and 236 in Game 2. Now with the offensive firepower possessed by Los Angeles and Phoenix, those numbers are not really much of a surprise, if those games came during the regular season. Playoff basketball isn

Orlando was completely embarrassed on their home court in the first two games of this series. Boston had their way with the Magic on both ends of the floor as the Celtics offense couldn

Phoenix was blasted in Game 1 by the Lakers 128-107. The Suns actually did not play as bad as the 21-point loss would indicate; they scored 107 points after shooting 49.4% (39-79) from the field. And they got to the free-throw line often, connecting on 75% (24-32) of their attempts. Their shooting troubles came from three-point land where they shot just 22.7% (5-22) which is well below their seasonal average of 41.1% from beyond the arc. With a return to normal long-range shooting by the Suns tonight, there

Orlando

Phoenix was highly impressive in their last series against San Antonio. The Suns swept the Spurs winning every game by at least 6 points after scoring 107 points or more in every one of those games as well. But the Suns are taking a big step-up in class here as the Lakers are a much better team than San Antonio and also a better all around team than Phoenix. The Suns have always had trouble playing against Los Angeles, and we expect more of the same here, especially in the opening game of this series.

Los Angeles dominated the Suns in three of the four meetings this season. The Lakers won the two homes games by 19 (121-102) and 20 (108-88) points. They controlled both of those games as they led by 27 and 23 points and they only trailed once in both games combined. They also held 21-point leads heading into the fourth quarter in both games. That

Boston comes into today

These two teams had alternated wins and losses in this series before Boston won Games 4 and 5. The Celtics were on the winning end of Tuesday night

The Celtics were embarrassed in Game 3 when they allowed Cleveland to score 124 points and shoot 59.5% from the field. Boston responded with a better defensive effort in Game 4 and held the Cavaliers to just 87 points and 40.3% FG. The series now returns to Cleveland and the Cavs should respond with a much better offensive performance this season as they average 102.7 points per game at home this season where they shoot 49.4% from the field.

Boston is also an efficient offensive team as the Celtics average 48.1% FG this season (versus opponents that allow just 45.9%) and the Over is 6-2 in the eight head-to-head meetings this season. Despite totaling just 184 points in Game 4, the pace was still fast with my re-scoring pace and percentage models totaling 199 and 204.5.

Overall, the past six head-to-head meetings have averaged 202.5 points per game with my mathematical re-scoring pace and percentage models averaging 200 and 206 points per game.

Play OVER the total.

Atlanta was embarrassed in Game 3 by Orlando for the second time in this series. The Hawks lost Game 1 by a whopping 43 points (114-71) in a performance that may go down as the worst loss in NBA Playoffs history. Atlanta lost Game 3 by 30 points (105-75) in a similarly dismal performance. However, Atlanta

This series is all but over with Phoenix holding a 3-0 lead coming into tonight

We

After opening the Playoffs at just 2-2, the Lakers have now won four straight games. But of their four wins, only one came easily. And that was their 111-87 win over Oklahoma City in Game 5 of that series. Their other three wins came by just 1, 5, and 8 points. Los Angeles held home court by winning the first two games over Utah, but again, neither win was easy. And, in fact, the Jazz were in position to steal either game and quite easily could

Phoenix played two tremendous basketball games to open up this series. The Suns were fantastic on the offensive end of the court scoring 111 and 110 points in those two games. They shot 47% (77-164) from the field and 41% (16-39) from three-point land in those games, and they also connected on 77% (51-66) of their free-throw attempts. Phoenix got back-to-back out of character offensive games from Steve Nash who scored 52 points on 62.5% (20-32) shooting from the field and 40% (2-5) from three-point land. Nash is not a consistent big-time scorer these days; he

Atlanta was embarrassed by Orlando in Game 1. The Hawks lost by a whopping 43 points (114-71) in a performance that may go down as the worst loss in NBA Playoffs history. However, Atlanta

San Antonio has one of the deepest rosters in the NBA. The Spurs played 9 different guys at least 10 minutes or more in their 111-102 Game 1 loss to Phoenix on Monday night. Nine of those ten guys scored points, and despite the big three of San Antonio (Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker) doing the bulk of the scoring with 20 points or more apiece, the Spurs are more than capable of getting other guys to contribute. San Antonio

Atlanta comes into tonight

Boston gave away a golden opportunity to steal Game 1 after they blew an 11-point third quarter lead. The Celtics controlled that game for three and a half quarters, especially on the defensive end of the court. Boston

The first two games in this series were extremely high-scoring with point totals of 239 in Game 1 and 225 in Game 2.  Denver won Game 1 by 13-points (126-113) after both teams shot the lights-out.  The Nuggets shot an incredible 57.1% (48-84) from the field and 42.3% (11-26) from three-point land.  The Jazz shot the ball just as well, hitting 54.7% (41-75) from the field and 41.2% (7-17) from three-point land.  In Game 2, we once again saw some hot shooting from the Jazz.  Utah shot 52.9% (36-68) from the field and 46.2% (6-13) from three-point land.  However, there was another out of the ordinary part of that game.  

The teams combined to shoot a whopping 91 free-throw attempts.  They combined to hit 73 of those freebies, which is an amazing 73 points scored while the clock was not running.  Despite that, Game 2 totaled ‘only’ 225 points.  That was a major misleading final score, and the second consecutive one of this series.  But in Game 3, the shooting cooled off and we saw just 198 points scored in a 103-95 Utah win.  Then, Games 4 and 5 reverted back to the first two games of the series with 223 and 218 points scored.  The Nuggets and Jazz combined to shoot 48% from the field in those two games and they also combined to attempt 144 free-throws while connecting on 75% (108-144).  But we’re expecting tonight’s game to play-out exactly the same as Game 3 did after both teams played much better defense and the shooting was back to normal percentages.   

And like Game 3, the oddsmakers had to adjust their posted total for tonight 4 points higher than Game 4.  That’s over-adjusted, but it creates a lot of value to play the Under tonight.  Denver’s season is on the line tonight and the Nuggets need to step-up their defensive intensity in order to have a shot at extending this series to Game 7.  Off the back-to-back high-scoring games and with Denver on the brink of elimination, we expect an offensive regression from Games 4 and 5 resulting in a low-scoring Game 6.

Play UNDER the total.

Milwaukee has taken control of this series by winning the last three games after losing the first two games in Atlanta.  The Bucks can closeout the series tonight with a win, and they’ll do that if they play like they have in the last three ballgames.  Milwaukee’s defense has been spectacular in those games; the Bucks have held Atlanta to 93 points per game which is a bit misleading since the hawks have scored just 89 and 87 in two of the three games.  Atlanta scored 104 points in a wild Game 4, but other than that game, the Hawks offense has been held in check by Milwaukee.  And if the Bucks want to win tonight, they once again need their defense to get it done for them.  

Game 5 was played at a slow pace as it was just 59-51 after three quarters of play.  After Milwaukee unexpectedly exploded offensively in Games 3 and 4, the last game was back to normal.  The Bucks offense scored just 92 and 86 points in the first two games of this series.  But they woke up on their home court as they scored 107 and 111 points in the next two games.  Milwaukee definitely played way above their offensive capabilities in those games since they averaged just 97 points per game on 43.8% shooting over the course of the regular season.  And with Milwaukee on the verge of winning the series tonight, the Bucks will go back their strength, defense, in order to give themselves the best chance of avoiding a Game 7 in Atlanta.  

Atlanta’s season is on the line, and because of that, they’ll come with a ton of intensity tonight, especially on the defensive end of the court.  Atlanta has held Milwaukee down in the past; the Bucks averaged just 93 points per game (not including abnormal Games 3 and 4) against Atlanta in the five previous games played.  The Hawks will need to win this game with their defense, and being down 3-2 in the series, tonight is when they’ll be focused on shutting down Milwaukee’s offense.  Despite some high-scoring games in this series, they are misleading as my pace and percentage models say the games should have averaged only 183 points per game.  So there’s some tremendous value in tonight’s total since it is still inflated.  And with the importance of this game to both teams, we expect more defensive intensity from both resulting in a low-scoring Game 6.

Play UNDER the total.

Dallas finally broke out of their offensive slump in Game 5 as the Mavericks scored 103 points in their 22-point win (103-81) over San Antonio on Tuesday night. The Mavericks didn

Utah once again showed a huge home/road dichotomy this season. At home, the Jazz went a fantastic 32-9 during the regular season. And they showed that dominance in the last two games as they beat Denver by 11 and 12 points. But on the road, they once again played mediocre basketball and went just 21-20. Their road weakness was evident in Game 1 when the Nuggets handed the Jazz a 13-point loss (126-113). That double-digit loss was no fluke because Utah hasn

Milwaukee got back into this series after winning both of their home games. The Bucks lost the first two games in Atlanta by 10 points each after their offense scored just 92 and 86 points in those games. But they woke up on their home court as they scored 107 and 111 points in the next two games. Milwaukee definitely played way above their offensive capabilities in those games since they averaged just 97 points per game on 43.8% shooting over the course of the regular season. Off back-to-back spectacular offensive games, there

Aside from their 23-point loss (121-98) in Game 4, Chicago hasn

Miami saved face in Game 4 as they avoided getting swept by Boston. The Heat came with a terrific offensive effort in that game, but after such a big performance, it

Atlanta played one of their worst games of the season in Game 3 on Saturday night. The Hawks scored just 89 points, but they actually needed a 32-point fourth quarter just to reach that mark. They only scored a total of 57 points over the first three quarters while scoring 21 points or less in all three of those quarters. Atlanta was ice cold from the floor; the Hawks shot just 39.1% (34-87) from the field and a dismal 20% (3-15) from three-point land. Atlanta

Utah played another inspired game on Friday night in their 105-93 win over Denver in Game 3. The Jazz did it once again without two starters (Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur) on the court which is certainly a credit to the team. In the series opener in Denver, Okur left after tearing his Achilles and that allowed the Nuggets to pull away to 126-113 win. In Game 2, Utah really stepped-up their performance and pulled off the upset as a 7-point underdog. Now we often see that in sports when a key guy goes out, the team rallies in the first game without him and more often than not win the game which happened in this case with the Jazz. The following game is where the team regresses, and most often lose because they can

Of all the NBA Playoffs series

The last two games in this series have been extremely high-scoring for these two teams with point totals of 214 in Game 2 and 214 in Game 3. But those scores were manufactured after both teams did some out of the ordinary things on the offensive end of the court. In Game 2, Chicago had five players score in double digits, and three of those five scored 20 points or more. In Game 3, the Bulls repeated that feat as once again five players scored in double digits with three of those five scoring 20 points or more. It was also just the third time in NBA Playoffs history that a starting backcourt (Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich) scored that many points combined in the same game.

Chicago

Los Angeles had this series in-hand after winning the first two games at home. And they looked liked they were going to have a strangle hold on it when they were leading by 9 points mid-way through the third quarter in Game 3. But the Thunder made an in-game defensive adjustment that took the Lakers by surprise and turned the whole game around. Oklahoma City put Kevin Durant on Kobe Bryant, and Durant did one heck of job forcing Kobe into a ton of bad, off-balance, forced shots. The Lakers weren

Charlotte is a young team that lacks much playoff experience together. In fact, the Bobcats are making their first appearance in the playoffs as a franchise. The Bobcats season took a positive turn when they traded for Stephen Jackson. Prior to his arrival, Charlotte

The first two games in this series have been extremely high-scoring with point totals of 239 in Game 1 and 225 in Game 2. Now with the offensive firepower possessed by Denver and Utah, those numbers are not really much of a surprise, if those games came during the regular season. Playoff basketball isn

The loss by Dallas in Game 2 was of no surprise to us as we played San Antonio in that game. The Spurs were in a terrific bounce back spot after out-playing Dallas in the series opener despite losing the game on the scoreboard. Game 1 was played with a very quick whistle that favored Dallas greatly as the Mavericks shot 20 more free-throws (34-14) than San Antonio. However, the last game was officiated fair and square with the Mavs attempting 22 free-throws and the Spurs attempting 20.

San Antonio

Cleveland

Of all the NBA Playoffs series

Charlotte is a young team that lacks much playoff experience together. In fact, the Bobcats are making their first appearance in the playoffs as a franchise. The Bobcats season took a positive turn when they traded for Stephen Jackson. Prior to his arrival, Charlotte

Oklahoma City is not your typical 8 seed. The Thunder won 50 games this season, and they should really be more of a 4 or 5 seed. However, the West was extremely strong this season and because of that, Oklahoma City was relegated to the bottom seed. This team has played fantastic basketball all season long, and there

Miami

Utah

Chicago was in a terrible scheduling spot on Saturday afternoon. The Bulls had just finished a frantic end to their regular in which they needed to win on the final day in order to just make the playoffs. They then had a quick turnaround with little time to get ready for Cleveland. There was reason to expect Chicago to have little in the tank, and that certainly was the case early in the ballgame. The Cavaliers jumped on the Bulls quick as they led by 14 points (32-18) at the end of the first quarter. But what Chicago did during the rest of the game was quite impressive.

Over the final three quarters of the game, the Bulls actually out-scored Cleveland 65-64. Chicago also made a big late run as they cut Cleveland

Charlotte is a young team that lacks any playoff experience together. In fact, the Bobcats are making their first appearance in the playoffs as a franchise. The Bobcats season took a positive turn when they traded for Stephen Jackson. Prior to his arrival, Charlotte

Utah once again showed a huge home/road dichotomy this season. At home, the Jazz went a fantastic 32-9. But on the road, they once again played mediocre basketball and went just 21-20. Now their road record was better than in year

Milwaukee was one of the hottest teams in the NBA after the All-Star break. The Bucks went 22-9 over that stretch and they did it without their best player Michael Redd who suffered a season-ending knee injury. And they were also without Andrew Bogut for their final seven games after he had season-ending surgery for a trio of injuries. However, things really caught-up to the Bucks over the final two weeks of the season, especially when they faced the better teams in the league.

The Bucks were able to beat Chicago in the first game after losing Bogut, but a 79-74 win wasn

Chicago needed a big run down the stretch just to make the playoffs, and in fact, they needed to win at Charlotte on the final day of the regular season to punch their ticket. The Bulls had to exert a ton of energy and emotion, and because of that, there

Both of these teams are in the playoffs; Boston is locked into the number 4 spot so they have nothing to gain in this game tonight. Milwaukee currently sits in the number 6 spot, but they can jump up to number 5 if they win here combined with Miami

This is a huge game for both teams tonight. If Denver wins, the Nuggets will win the Northwest Division title. More importantly, the Nuggets will secure the number 3 spot in the Western Conference playoffs. Denver can still achieve those two goals even if they lose (based on what Utah does in their final two games), but with their fate in their own hands, expect the Nuggets to play with purpose and passion tonight.

If Phoenix wins, the Suns can inch closer to securing home-court in the first round of the playoffs. The Suns can slide no lower than the fifth spot, but they certainly want to move up in order to get the home-court advantage in either the third or fourth playoff spot.

There was plenty of reason to expect Houston to play in a lower scoring game than expected last night in Phoenix. While it wasn

Houston is out of the playoffs, but the Rockets have not quit on the season. One of the main reasons why they failed to make the post-season was their terrible defensive play throughout the year. However, Houston made defense their number one priority down the stretch and the results have shown a nice improvement. The Rockets have held their last three opponents to 103, 96, and 90 points which is a big difference from the 119, 114, and 133 points they allowed in their previous three games.

The Rockets have lost all three of the previous meetings with Phoenix, and once again, it was because of their defense. They know they need to play stronger defense tonight if they want to have any shot at winning this game because they are unlikely to out-score the Suns if they want to play at a fast pace. The three losses have been close, all by 8 points or less, so if we get another competitive game, that means we

Boston was embarrassed at home last night by the Washington Wizards, 106-96. The game wasn

Chicago played in an extremely important game last night against Cleveland. The Bulls are fighting for their playoff lives, and once again, tonight is another huge game for them. But playing last night and now playing tonight on a back-to-back set is not an ideal situation for Chicago. The Bulls hung on to beat Cleveland 109-108 in a game that was played at a fast pace and a game that had multiple lead changes throughout. The game took a lot out of the Bulls, and since they won an emotional game over an elite team, that effort will leave them flat for tonight

Often times we

Utah played in a wild, high-scoring game last night against Oklahoma City. The Jazz held an 11-point lead with just over 2 minutes left to play, but the Thunder hit 4 three

Oklahoma City is not in a good scheduling spot for this game tonight. The Thunder will be playing their third game in four nights and it

There

Butler plays a slow, half-court game that frustrates opponents all game long. The Bulldogs also possess an outstanding defense that allows just 59 points per game on 41.5% shooting from the field and 31.8% from three-point land. They come into tonight

San Antonio comes into today

West Virginia doesn

West Virginia doesn