Bryan Power

10* Boston (8:40 ET): The Bulls didn’t just lose a game last night, they also lost Zach LaVine to a knee injury. LaVine did not travel with the team to Boston as he’s set to have a MRI. The belief is that the injury isn’t too serious, but obviously he isn’t playing Saturday. Chicago’s depth was already being tested with Alex Caruso, Derrick Jones Jr., Javonte Green and Tyler Cook all on the mend. Perhaps of greater concern is that the Bulls have now given up 138 points in B2B games, letting the Nets and Warriors both shoot 56% from the field.

Now the Celtics aren’t as prolific as either of those two squads, but they are capable of hanging a big number on the Bulls here. Boston was also in action Friday night and the result wasn’t good as they fell 111-99 at Philadelphia. They were down by as many as 28 thanks to a terrible first quarter. But the game prior saw the C’s shoot rather well as they got 30+ point games from both Tatum and Brown. This is a better team at home where their SU record is 13-8.

Chicago has lost its last two games by a combined 68 points, so they are reeling. That’s the first time since the NBA instituted the conference format (in 1970) that a first place team lost consecutive games by an average of 30 PPG. This is a big revenge spot for Boston, who blew a 14-point 4Q lead here at home and lost to Chicago back on Nov 1. Even before the LaVine injury, I was a bit skeptical of the Bulls’ ability to remain on top of the East. The Celtics, meanwhile, should be higher than they are in the standings. Lay the points. 10* Boston

10* Texas (2:00 ET): Still not sold on Iowa State’s #15 rating as they are outside the top 40 in my own power ratings. The Cyclones have won just ONE of their last 22 Big XII games and that was by four points over Texas Tech last week. They are coming off B2B road losses here, the first of which was at Oklahoma last Saturday. ISU was a six-point dog to an unranked team there, which should tell you all you need to know. They were double digit dogs at Kansas on Wednesday and lost by one, 62-61. 

Texas just beat Oklahoma, though in Austin, 66-52 and comes into this game ranked #22. I’ve got them higher at #15 in my own power ratings, so it’s not at all surprising to see the Longhorns favored here in Ames. What I really like about this team is the fact they lead in the country in scoring defense at 53.0 PPG allowed. Against Oklahoma, they allowed just 40% shooting, including 1 of 13 from three-point range. Only Gonzaga, all the way back in the second game of the season, has been able to crack 64 against UT. 

Iowa State trailed Kansas by nine late in the game Wednesday. They shot just 40.7%. That was after shooting 55% against Oklahoma, an effort negated by them allowing 61.7% shooting in the same game. It was a poor shooting effort in the victory over Texas Tech at 30%. I’m just going to stick with what I said last Saturday when taking OU minus the points. The Cyclones are due to tumble out of the Top 25. Their recent offensive showings tell me it could be an ugly day at that end here. 10* Texas

10* Under Raiders/Bengals (4:30 ET): When these teams met in the regular season, it was 32-13 Bengals, but that was a little bit misleading as both teams gained less than 300 total yards. I don’t see this rematch being higher scoring, so Under is a logical call here. It was only 13-6 going into the 4Q in Vegas back in Week 11. It was 16-13 with just over five minutes to go. After capping a 62-yard drive with a JaMar Chase TD, the Bengals piled on 10 more points due to two late Derek Carr interceptions. It was a somewhat misleading final.

Cincinnati QB Joe Burrow led the NFL in both completion percentage and yards per attempt. But he actually threw for a season-low 148 yards when he faced the Raiders. The Bengals’ offense had just one play of 20+ yards in that game and it was a Joe Mixon run. Burrow has been sacked a league-leading 51 times. The Raiders don’t send a ton of pressure, but as we saw last week against the Chargers, Maxx Crosby can certainly be a disrupting presence. 

I do think the Bengals will still win this game, however, and that’s mainly because I don’t expect a ton from a Las Vegas offense that is far too dependent on drawing PI calls to move the sticks. Even with a full overtime session last week, the Raiders still only gained 346 total yards. Even during their four-game win streak (four wins by a total of 12 points), their offense was just 18th in the league in yards per drive. Before last week, they had been held to 17 pts or less in five of the previous seven games. 10* Under Raiders/Bengals

8* Katlyn Chookagian (8:00 ET): This is a fight scheduled for three rounds in the UFC’s Women’s Flyweight Division (125 lbs). It will be the third fight on the main card, which can be watched (for free) on ESPN. Both Chookagian and Jennifer Maia are ranked in the top five, #2 and #4 respectively, and have been beaten by current champ Valentina Shevchenko. This is a rematch of a November 2019 fight, won by Chookagian by unanimous decision. I think she gets her hand raised yet again on Saturday. 

Since her loss to Shevchenko, Chookagian has gone 3-1 inside the Octagon. She’s coming off B2B wins here, both via decision. The first was over Cynthia Calvillo in Nov 2020 followed by beating Viviane Araujo last May. That leaves her with a 16-4 career record, including 9-4 in the UFC. While both women have improved since the last meeting, it’s Chookagian’s ability to dictate range and edge in speed that still give her the clear edge. She’s also improved her wrestling over the last two years. 

Maia is 19-7-1 overall in her professional career and 4-3 in the UFC. She got her shot at Shevchenko in November of 2020 and did win in a round on the scorecards, but ultimately lost by unanimous decision. She bounced back with a decision win of her own in July, beating Jessica Eye. But I’m just not sure there’s been enough improvement in her game to expect avenging the previous result against Chookagian. The smaller octagon at the Apex favors the rangier fighter as well. 8* Katlyn Chookagian

10* RB Leipzig (9:30 ET): This HAS to be the time. For those that are unaware (and I assume that’s most of you), Leipzig has yet to win an away game this entire Bundesliga season. It’s why they currently sit ninth in the table with only 25 points. But a +11 goal differential, stemming from last week’s 4-1 thrashing of Mainz, tells me Leipzig is set to ascend. They are third on xPts this season after finishing FIRST in that regard last season. Does anyone really dispute that Leipzig is going to finish top four? I certainly don’t. 

When you look at the goal differential column, you can see a chasm developing in the middle of the Bundesliga table. On the wrong side of that chasm is Stuttgart, who was promoted to the German top flight last season, and is currently sitting in 15th with 18 points. Die Roten is tied with Augsburg for the relegation playoff spot and only one point clear of safety. They have a -9 goal differential and despite the return of their leading goalscorer last week, it was a 0-0 draw with bottom of the table Greuther Furth.

There’s a seven-point gap between these two sides, but really it should be much larger than that. It’s a 14-point difference in xPts. I know that Leipzig really benefited from Mainz being down to 10 men (red card) last week, but they showed no mercy to their opponent. What makes things even worse here for the hosts (Stuttgart) is that they are going to be without at least three players and that number could double due to positive COVID-19 tests. Leipzig seems to be especially unlucky to have just four points (all draws) on the road this season as they have 11.06 xPts. 10* RB Leipzig