Will Rogers

The Astros lost their home opener yesterday, so will be all in to right the ship today. It is Lynn vs Javier, two very good pitchers with decent springs.  I'm wagering on Javier coming out on top.  His last star tin spring training was a 4 hit 5+ inning shutout.  This will be his year, and I think he will get it right, starting now.  Not to discount Lynn, but the Astros, are a formidable opponent, looking to repeat.  With superior pen and offense, they will bounce back today. 7 stars!

Charlotte has been a pesky spoiler over the last week, winning three times as an underdog of nine or more points. After beating Dallas twice, the Hornets put a dent in Oklahoma City’s playoff aspirations with a 137-134 win on Tuesday. 

Now they face the 10th place team in their own conference, Chicago, who has lost two in a row. The Bulls are still likely going to make the play-in tournament, but they haven’t helped themselves lately by allowing the Clippers and Lakers to both shoot over 50% from the floor. The Clippers shot it at a 59% clip against them on Monday.

I expect this to be another high-scoring contest. The Bulls have shot 51% or better in four straight, so offense hasn’t been the issue. They are averaging 116 points/game in that stretch. The team’s offensive rating has been way up this month.

Charlotte has been short-handed but that hasn’t seemed to matter. P.J. Washington had a career 43 points against OKC and the team shot 55% overall including 14 made threes. 

All three prior meetings between the teams this season have stayed Under. But we’re getting a great number here, IMO. Consider that the closing O/U lines for the last two meetings were 235 and 237. 10*

This is a likely first round playoff series as the 4th place Cavs (48-29) take on the 5th place Knicks (44-33). New York has won two of the three prior meetings, but all of those were at least two months ago. 

Cleveland has been an excellent home team all season (30-8 SU) not to mention they own the league’s second best overall point differential this season (trailing only Boston). They are #1 in defensive efficiency as well. It would be hard to argue the Cavs aren’t the favorite to win a first round series, against the Knicks or anyone outside the current top three in the East. 

The Knicks are just 5-6 SU/ATS over their previous 11 games, though they have won the last two, beating Houston and Miami. But both of those victories came at home. They’ve lost two in a row on the road, falling at Miami and Orlando.

The Cavs have already clinched a playoff berth and would lock up a top four seed with a win tonight. The Knicks would clinch a playoff spot with a win here, but unfortunately for them, they’ll be without Julius Randle. That is a significant loss as Randle is averaging 25.1 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game

Cleveland may be without some key pieces as well (Allen, Okoro), but being at home and wanting to wash away the bad taste of Wednesday’s loss in Atlanta should have them properly motivated in this one. The Cavs are 10-4-1 ATS L15 off a SU loss. 10*