8 Plays on Meaningless Games

Last day of the NBA regular season- one wouldn't think it would be a great time to place a lot of bets considering the uncertainty surrounding the effort some teams will put out, but I have been on a mini-roll lately so I gotta strike while the plate is hot or whatever the saying is. I also, hit a nice little 10-1 parlay in baseball that could end up being a very expensive win as I am most likely going to put up one of those each days. I like those Bobcats, and Ben Burns agrees: "They are also a perfect 5-0 SU/ATS the last five times they were listed as favorites and 12-4 SU/ATS for the season when facing a team with a losing record. Look for them to outwork their guests and improve to 5-0 ATS the last five games in the series." I couldn'’t have said it better myself. The Grizzles were pick'’em earlier at Minnesota but now it is off the board. If it comes back then I think I gotta play them. They want to win games even though they are now locked into the unenviable 5th position as a result of their relative success. The Twolves without the Big Ticket is a losing ticket. Rockets are on a roll with their one game winning streak. Without T-Mac or Yao the Rockets are depending on another big game from Juwan Howard. He can play but the Spurs are too good even when they don’t care. Their bench is a veteran bunch with Finley, Van Exel and Horry, so they aren’t going to play the entire game anyway- but if they did they still would be in the game. Give the 3.5. I don't think that going into the playoffs with a 2-game losing streak is Lawrence Frank'’s idea of good preparation and nobody wants to lose to the Knicks after losing to the Sixers sans Webber and AI. Also, 50 wins has a nice ring to it. Give the point. Thinking about a Hawks/Cavs over 197...Hawks have won two in a row and dropped 120 at Milwaukee the other day. Last night they won 103-100 over the Heat and with the Cavs not giving 110% on defense at home, this could be a shootout. The Cavs have actually won 10 straight at home straight up. On the down side there will probably be no LeBron James and the king of garbage time, Drew Gooden, strained his left groin (no word yet on his right groin). Astros -1.5 (+155) -Pettite is great at home and was 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA against the Brewers last year. Capuano has also strugged agains the Astros Devil Rays/Red Sox over 9 (-120) -Schilling is a big overish pitcher at Fenway. Giants (+129) GL- i will need it.    - nutlow