If this was ever a game that could set up a trap for Cleveland, this may be it. The Cavaliers will cord off their schedule tomorrow with a home match against the Indiana Pacers before the All-Star break and likely they are looking ahead to here to see how they can enter the break with an impressive road win and divisional win at that to build momentum for the second act of the regular season. Minnesota has already been a problem here in the Target Center recently when Toronto came to town and this team has overall orchestrated many upsets on their own floor against heavyweight teams, this season. Minnesota outright on the Money Line, may actually be worth a look here as the public is all over Cleveland in this one by virtue of their namesake alone. Nevertheless, the Timberwolves are a dangerous basketball team on their own court and Cleveland has shown they are quite human outside of the Quicken Loans Arena. Do not be surprised if the upset actually occurs but to play it conservative here with the points is an excellent value play.

The Pistons undoubtedly turned the NBA upside down last night with their win at Toronto. Yet, much of the public believes this is a fluke from their initial reaction. The recent Milwaukee trouncing of Indiana on the road in Indy is likely the compelling and fueling narrative of this market. The Deers had their way with the Pacers and seemingly this catalyzes the response from the public to ignore Detroit’s recent accolade. As stated, the Pistons have had notorious troubles on the road but they dismissed that notion last night, winning in one of the most hostile environments in all of the league. In the most recent meeting in Milwaukee, it was the Pistons not the Bucks who picked up the W. Look for Detroit to show no fear and holster heightened enthusiasm as they enter this contest. Milwaukee should be on upset alert and be prepared for a fight.

The good news for both teams here is that someone has to win. So far the emerging and popular philosophy is that the Pacers will be that team and do so against this number. Undoubtedly, the market and the consensus both emphasize the home court advantage for Indiana. When you couple this with the fact the Bucks have overall been in terrible form and more specifically beleaguered by perils on the road, the Bucks are a hard sell even with points. Nevertheless, this is a Milwaukee team that defeated San Antonio on their own court as a double-digit underdog. Writing off the Bucks here would be a reckless initiative. The fact remains, the Bucks have one of the best players in the NBA in Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak has earned all-star nod at Small Forward and this accolade doesn’t showcase how dominant he has been for this team this season. Look for Giannis to lead the charge and for Milwaukee to malinger in this one and take the Pacers distance.

If it isn’t broken, we won’t try to fix it. We have taken action on this Memphis team twice already this season against Golden State and each time we were able to cash in our ticket. The Grizzlies are too tough and physical for Golden State to handle. When you couple this with the home court advantage, it is without question that Golden State is giving away too many points here. The Warriors should enter the FedEx Forum on upset alert yet again as Memphis has the blueprints for success and overall has had Golden State’s number this entire season.

With the Hornets snapping their losing streak, who knows what can be expected in terms of momentum. Overall, Charlotte plays a better brand of basketball at home and thus this has been a reason why we have targeted them when they are on the road and why we have backed them at home in a plethora of occasions, this year. The fact remains, Houston is still prone to be spotting lofty numbers to any team they encounter, even if they have been economical as an option against the spread overall. Houston was giving away 12 points to Orlando at home, two days ago and they covered by double the requirement. In spite of this, the Rockets are giving away just a fraction of this here and the Hornets are evidently not that much of a greater team than Orlando on paper. The price for Houston seems too good to be true and given the recent dominance of the Rockets overall, their stock may soon balloon. The markets know this. This situation sets up perfectly for Houston to suffer a let-down against a revitalized Charlotte Hornets.

The Bulls have been playing better as of late, but they find themselves in a tough situation against a well-rested Golden State team coming off a bad loss. Things will only get tougher if Butler is unable to go. While I do have the Warriors coming away with the SU win on their home court, this game could remain closer than expected with Chicago back in form.

While the final betting lines for both the spread and the total will hinge on both Butler and Thompson’s availability for this game, I am pretty well set on the UNDER as my “best bet” play with both teams stepping things up on defense.

Toronto is known for a home court advantage but as their record showcases they are just a .500 basketball team on the road. We have seen this team lose to the likes of Phoenix and Orlando when they are away from the Air Canada Centre. The Raptors are calibrated and qualified to be a far superior team than either of these two franchises, yet when they are on the road they are prone for these let-downs against perceived inferior opponents. Given the fact they are going against a trigger-happy Minnesota bunch that love to take down the heavyweights at home, this situation sets up perfectly for Toronto to stumble.

It is very tempting to take Minnesota outright on the Money Line, but we will stay conservative and take back the points as this game can likely be settled by just one possession. Even if Toronto gets out of Minnesota with a win, they are likely set-up for a big scare given the fact many are still reveling in their home victory against the Clippers. This one has all the makings of a potential trap for Canada’s NBA team.

We targeted Portland before in a similar scenario when they took the road against Charlotte back in January. The Blazers play terribly outside of Rip City. When they are on the floor at the Moda Center in the Rose Quarter, they are as dangerous and potent as any team in the NBA. Of course Dallas had proven otherwise recently. Nevertheless, we have seen Portland give scares to Golden State on their own floor but when this same team took to the road, they were obliterated. When we laid Portland against Charlotte we came up on the winning end and given the fact that we have seen some early line movements materialize that suggest a heavy steam of action is coming in on the Blazers in this scenario, we can’t help but suspect the consensus is laying Dallas by virtue of last night’s troubles more than they are considering the poor road performances of Portland. Do not bite here, Dallas should be favored in this game, be that they beat this Portland team on their own court just days ago.

Likely as a result of a reaction to their recent dismantling of Orlando, 91% of the money is taking the Hawks against the spread. The Money Line offered in this affair is -101 for Utah as an outright and -107for Atlanta, once again emphasizing home court advantage in the Phillips Arena for the Hawks. The Over/Under remains idle at 197.5 signifying little action on either the Over or Under.

The game of sports betting is very much like the stock market. The principles are essentially the same…buy low and sell high. For the Hawks, their stock is through the ceiling after they smothered the Magic on their own court, Saturday night completely undermining the recent achievements of Utah on their road trip. The problem with Utah is that they have been an inefficient option in terms of profitability. The Jazz may win a lot of games but they don’t cover the spread when they do so. After the Hawks put the wood to the Magic covering by 20 points in a 27-point victory, buyers are gung-ho on Atlanta. The fact remains, Utah plays better defense than Atlanta does and that is how they typically win games. Utah has carved out a nice niche in the Western Conference, a seemingly explosive and offensive-oriented conference where the physical and robust style of basketball Utah plays serves as a great counter to the prevailing trend in this collective. Most significantly, this strategy has yielded dividends for the Jazz against teams such as Oklahoma City, Denver and Portland who have always been notoriously smitten with their offensive capabilities while leaving the defense at home. Look for the Jazz to achieve similar success here, we will fade the overreaction and give away the point.

This could be the ideal scenario to target Indiana as they are not a good basketball team on the road at 8-15 SU when away from Indianapolis. The Pacers have had some nasty hiccups on the road overall this season but their recent four game winning streak would suggest perhaps the bumps and bruises have healed and come to pass. The stock in this time is extremely high at the moment and conversely the Nets’ stock is pennies on the dollar if it were to be equated to the numbers. This sets up Brooklyn perfectly to come in off the radar and catch Indiana unsuspecting. One of Brooklyn’s seven wins this season came at home against this very Pacers team. In that scenario, Brooklyn was taking back a similar price tag and they defeated the Pacers 103-94. Since then as we have highlighted, Indiana has won their previous two and covered as a home favorite as well. On January 5th, as a 10.5-point favorite the Pacers won by 12 and yet the price here is back to where we saw it in November. Smells fishy to the say the least, take the Nets with the points.

This is a team that snags a lot of takers in zig-zags. Essentially, the Spurs come in big against a quality opponent to follow this up with a let-down against a weaker foe. Case and point, San Antonio has defeated teams like Toronto on the road and followed these results up with a loss against New Orleans. The Spurs would hang 134 on the Lakers and then lose to the Suns outright as a double-digit favorite. The Spurs cannot be trusted giving away points to anyone even at home, given the fact they are playing host to a basketball team that has a penchant for playing with reckless abandon and most notably has a passion to tussle with the NBA’s elite teams. The Sixers will show up here to give the Spurs a fight.

We are going to come in and fade a potential overreaction to the demolition job the Thunder suffered last night at San Antonio. Such a result can yield such a response and when you factor in laying lumber after the fact, most takes want nothing to do with this. The fact remains, Chicago has been a mediocre ball club on the road this year and Oklahoma City has been a different team on their own court. As we have highlighted previously, Oklahoma City is led by a strong candidate for MVP at this point in Russell Westbrook, whose play has been the catalyst in OKC being competitive this season. The Thunder are stronger in scoring, field goal efficiency and even bode a stronger bench (something the Bulls have prided themselves on). This makes the Thunder at home to be a true value play at a lower price than we can expect to normally pay.

Minnesota is playing some of its best ball of the season and you have no idea what kind of effort you are going to get from the defending champs from one night to the next, but I am still hesitant to go against the Cavaliers at home on Wednesday night.

The top play in this matchup as my “best bet” pick would be the OVER on the current 215.5-point total line. Both teams should be able to put up quite a few points in the absence of a strong defensive effort at either end of the court.

A popular perception here is that Charlotte rolled Portland last week in the Queen City and thus there is value in taking the Hornets with the points. However, we would urge takers to have a second look given the fact the Hornets have some documented road woes in the 2016-17 season. On the contrary, Portland has home court advantage working in their favor and they have won games this season against teams they were not supposed to beat in Rip City. The Trailblazers smashed the Cleveland Cavaliers to kick off 2017, a few weeks ago when they defeated the Cavs 102-86. One thing Portland does better than Golden State is not turn the ball over, which in turn actually gives them a chance to hang around in this game. They will likely use the Cleveland result as a source of motivation and offer tremendous upside against the spread given the fact we are now getting them at a reduced team with a proven history of falling short away from home.

Sacramento’s win at Charlotte was impressive and given the fact, the Kings won this game with their given credentials it’s bound to foster an overreaction given the fact they are going to Philly where the Sixers on paper are a far easier task to manage. However, as we have indicated previously, the Sixers are often undervalued and they have been riding a hot hand as of late overall, even if they have lost their previous two. Even with Philly losing their last two, the books wouldn’t give Philly any points because they are adept to the fact that the Sixers can be a dangerous team when they are off the radar, indicated by their overall record against the spread. We have seen Philly in this distinct scenario before and we have also seen this team win outright as a double-digit pooch on the road. The Sixers are certainly a volatile play but given the nature of this market and where the extraneous variables are rooted from, we have to suggest that the Kings are in great position to be faded off their eyebrow-raising road win. Philly outright is our call.

We have seen San Antonio in this exact situation against Milwaukee, Minnesota and Phoenix. The Spurs were spotting huge points to these three teams as they are perceived as a weaker foe and opponent compared to this blue-chip franchise. Nevertheless, the Spurs with much of the public all over them would go 1-2 SU and 0-3 ATS. The fact that the public will continue to swallow these points in abundance curates the narrative that takers do not care for the premium associated with taking back a pedigree team like San Antonio. With this being said, the number is likely inflated and given the fact this has been a continuous issue for the Spurs, we once again have an opportunity at a quality fade. The Spurs cannot be trusted spotted points even at home, given the fact they are playing host to an arch rival looking for a feather in their cap in what has been an otherwise disappointing season.

Last night we targeted Charlotte in a Pick-Em scenario when heavy action on the Hornets reduced the market overall by two and half points. Right now, the Hornets are currently riding a nasty skid and they are spotting points at home because they have won the last two against Sacramento along with the fact they have been strong at home overall this year at 15-9 SU. Such was our rationale for taking Charlotte in multitude of scenarios this season when they were situated to be undervalued (i.e. Golden State). However, the opposite may be true in this scenario and the Kings are a team that just managed to defeat the defending NBA Champions on their own court, which by many is known as a fortress across the league. The Cavs are very difficult to beat in Cleveland and yet Sacramento was able to do so as a heavy road dog. Now, we get a chance to buy in on the Kings with reduced juice and thus there is tremendous upside here as Sacramento won their previous two on the road before last night’s loss in Indy.

Obviously no one wants a part of the Knicks at this point given their woes as they have looked like one of the worst basketball teams in the league. The fact that these two teams met last night in New York and the Knicks won should indicate that the Hornets are a dog for a reason, especially when you consider the skid they are riding as well. We have targeted Charlotte numerous times this year when they are on the road because they play poorly outside of the Queen City. What this presents here is an opportunity to get the Knicks short-priced at Madison Square Garden, a rare but opportune time to step in and take advantage of a club that often imposes a premium for taking such action.

While it was rationale to lay the Suns by virtue of an overreaction against the Minnesota Timberwolves after they beat the Toronto Raptors, it is sound to mention that this Phoenix Suns teams has beaten premier teams such as San Antonio as well. However, these results all came when the heat was off the Suns and no one expected much of them. This situation typifies what we look for when we want to take action with the Suns. The bottom line is Denver has always been an offense-first basketball team. The Nuggets like to score in flurries and do not care if they fall behind by double-digit point totals be that they expect to make that difference up in an instance. Phoenix plays a similar style of basketball and thus we can have what football enthusiasts call a “shootout” in our midst. Academically it is always prudent to take points in a shootout situation in football betting and we can apply this stratagem to this contest in particular. Phoenix is being given way too many points against a Denver Nuggets team that also likes to leave the defense at home. Given the styles of both teams here, anything is possible. Take the points.

The Warriors remain a very tricky team to bet on given some of the large spreads they need to cover, especially when playing on the road. Bettors looking to ride the favorite in this one could catch a break with the league’s top team coming off a bad loss. Charlotte has been highly inconsistent from one game to the next so you never know what you are going to get coming off a disappointing loss.

My betting instinct tells me to go with Golden State in this one. The Warriors have the proven capability to rebound quickly and the added day off should do wonders to alleviate any lingering issues with road fatigue.