Cleveland -6 1/2 vs. Golden
Alternating wins and losses over their last four, the Cleveland Cavaliers have not been their usual juggernaut selves, however they have a great shot at turning around this trend by winning two straight against the 30-loss Golden State Warriors when the teams met up Friday night at Oracle Arena.
Cleveland (32-8) was defeated by the Los Angeles Lakers in the opening game of their western road trip 105-88, but they bounced back to defeat Portland 104-98. The victory over the Trail Blazers prevented Cleveland from losing two straight games for the first time all season. The Cavaliers are in close step with Boston and Orlando for the race for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
After being beaten up by the Lakers, the Cavs’ defense returned against the Blazers. Cleveland held Portland to 40.7 percent shooting one game after allowing their season worst 52.4 percent to Los Angeles.
Cleveland is leading the league in scoring defense by only allowing 89.6 points per contest. A matchup with Golden State may seem easy on paper, but the Warriors are averaging a little over 107 points per game and that is without their high-octane scoring guard Monta Ellis, who will return to the lineup for the first time this season on Friday.
The Warriors (13-30) will welcome back Ellis, who has been out while recovering from a sprained ankle from a scooter accident during the off-season. The relationship between the player and the team was strained when Golden State suspended him for 30 games without pay for the incident after the Warriors had signed him to a six-year $66 million dollar contract just prior to the accident. He was rewarded handsomely for his career year a season ago when he averaged 20.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists.
This will be the second and final meeting of the year between the clubs. Cleveland held Golden State’s potent offense in check in their first meeting November 28th in Cleveland. The Cavaliers won 112-97 and held the Warriors to 39.8 percent shooting. The Cavs have won four of the last five matchups and the last two at Oracle Arena.
Dallas +3 1/2 vs. Detroit
In his two seasons coaching the Detroit Pistons, Coach Rick Carlisle made his name with a stingy defense, with his current squad, the Dallas Mavericks—well not so much. Carlisle’s present team will travel to face his former team Friday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Dallas’ defense reached a new low in their last contest, Wednesday night in Milwaukee. They allowed the Bucks to score the most points they have given up in seven years en route to a 133-99 rout. It was also the Mavericks’ (24-18) worst loss since November 2001.
Giving up 99 points per game, Dallas has seen that stat bloom to 109.6 in their last seven contests, of which they have lost five. Dirk Nowitzki is trying his best to keep his teams in these games. Over the past five games, he has averaged 31.4 points and has shot 52 percent.
The Pistons (24-17) are looking for their third straight victory after dropping five in a row from January 10th-January 17th. Wednesday, they defeated Toronto 95-76 in a solid defensive effort which saw Detroit hold the Raptors to 42.5 percent shooting. Tayshaun Prince led the way with 25 points on 11-of-16 from the field.
Detroit has been solid on defense much of the season, ranking fourth in the NBA in field goal defense and fourth fewest points allowed per game with 92.7. Their recent slide has more to do with their offense than their defense as they have struggled to reach 100 points. The Pistons have hit the century mark only once in the last 15 games.
This will be the first meeting of the year between the teams. They have alternated wins and losses in each of their last eight meetings at the Palace of Auburn Hills, with the Pistons taking the most recent game played there 90-67 last February 3rd.
Phoenix -4 vs. Detroit
Two teams that were on different planes a few weeks ago have been streaking in opposite directions. The Phoenix Suns have had trouble winning consistently lately, while the Charlotte Bobcats have been winning more frequently lately. It could possibly be the growing pains for one team has persisted, while the other has grown out of it as these two teams were involved in a six-player swap on December 11th and will meet up for the first time since then Friday night in Charlotte.
Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley were sent to Phoenix in exchange for forward Boris Diaw, guard Raja Bell and guard Sean Singletary. With no clear victor in the trade the result on the court will have to stand as proof and it appears Charlotte (17-25) got the better of the deal as they have won four of their last five.
In their last game, on Wednesday, the Bobcats improved to 10-9 since the trade with a 101-86 home victory over Memphis. Diaw and Bell have been paying off in spades for Charlotte. Diaw is averaging 13.6 points along with Bell’s 12.1 since the trade.
Charlotte looks to continue their momentum, win two straight and defeat Phoenix for the first time in its five year history on Friday. As it stands right now, Charlotte is only 2 ½ games out of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
The Suns (23-17) have bested the Bobcats in each of their eight previous games, but have little confidence left after losing four of their last five overall. Phoenix is 10-7 since the trade and is tied with Dallas for the final playoff spot in the West. Many of those 10 victories came early on after the trade. Now the Suns have been struggling as was evidenced in their 114-109 loss to New York on Wednesday.
Jason Richardson, who came over in the trade, did his best to earn his team a victory by posting 27 points against 20 points for Shaquille O’Neal. Richardson has averaged 15.7 points since joining the Suns.
This will be the first matchup of the teams this season. Last year, with a lot of the components of each team’s current squad on the other team, Charlotte lost both games by an average of 23 points.
Tennessee -3 vs. Baltimore
Two one-time division rivals will meet up in the playoffs for the third time. If it is anything like the previous two, it will be quite a show. The red-hot Baltimore Ravens will meet up with the rested Tennessee Titans in Nashville Saturday afternoon in a matchup of two of the best defenses in the NFL.
For the Titans (13-3), this matchup is a painful déjà vu of 2000 when the team finished 13-3, just like this season; clinched home-field advantage, just like this season and faced the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round, just like this season. Baltimore won, just like this season? Tennessee certainly hopes not.
The teams also met in 2003, when the heavily-favored, AFC North champion Ravens went down in the first round to the wild-card Titans.
This game will be played in the present and the present squads did meet up on October 5th in Baltimore (12-5), with the Titans improving to 5-0 en route to a 10-0 start with a 13-10 victory. The game went down to 1:56 remaining for the game to be decided as Kerry Collins hooked up with Alge Crumpler for a game-winning 11-yard touchdown.
Most expect a game like that to repeat itself as the Titans and Ravens have two of the best defenses in the NFL and that was seen in their Week 5 game as both offenses combined for 495 yards and committed 21 penalties for 169 yards.
The suffocating defenses are near the tops in the NFL and not separated by much. Tennessee ranks second in scoring defense with 14.6 points per game. Not to far behind is Baltimore, ranked third with 15.3. In total yards, Baltimore was second with 277.1 and Tennessee was tied for fifth at 277.1.
The Titans could be even more dangerous if Albert Haynesworth can come back as planned. The All-Pro defensive tackle is day-to-day, but had targeted this game to come back after missing the final two regular season games and resting up through last week's bye week. Also on the mend is defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, who is recovering from an injured groin and could be back for the first time in a month.
Collins doesn't have to be outstanding given Tennessee's running game. The Titans averaged 137.4 yards per game led by Chris Johnson and LenDale White, who combined for 2,001 yards and 24 touchdowns. White rushed for a career-high 15 touchdowns this season.
While Tennessee rested, the Ravens hit on all cylinders when they beat the AFC-East champion Dolphins in Miami 27-9. They forced a usually steady Miami defense into four Chad Pennington interceptions en route to victory. Rookie Joe Flacco was not particularly sharp, but he did not have to be as he threw 9 of 23 for 135 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
The teams have split 18 meetings, with Tennessee winning three of the last four; however five of the last six have had a margin of victory of six points or less.
Carolina -9 1/2 vs. Arizona
After the joy of the first home playoff victory in their franchise since 1947 and two home cities ago, the Arizona Cardinals realized where the divisional round would take them: the dreaded Eastern time zone against a team who has not lost at home this season. Arizona will travel to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina for a second time this season when they take on the Panthers Saturday night.
The Cardinals (10-7) were 0-5 in the East this season. They lost to Washington, the Jets, Philadelphia and New England by an average of 24 points. Arizona has won 2 games in their last 22 trips into the Eastern time zone.
They played a bit better in their Week 8 trip to Carolina (12-4), but still lost 27-23. Arizona actually held a commanding 17-3 lead in the third quarter of that contest until Carolina rallied to take the lead. Arizona drove to Carolina's 15-yard line late in the fourth quarter in an attempt to regain the lead until Kurt Warner was intercepted by Jon Beason, the Panthers All-Pro linebacker.
The encouraging point for Arizona from that game was the fact that Warner was able to throw for 381 yards against Carolina's defense, which was the second highest total a quarterback achieved against the Panthers this season. Further, Carolina's secondary has struggled at times this season and will have their hands full with the second best offense in the NFL.
While the Panthers rested, the Cardinals flapped their wings and defeated Atlanta 30-24 to win their first postseason game in a decade. The home victory was actually considered a mild upset because Arizona did not fare well outside of beating up on its own weak division.
The Carolina Panthers have been phenomenal at home this season. They are hoping for the perfect storm of improving to 9-0 and have Philadelphia defeat New York, thus allowing the NFC championship game to be played at Bank of America Stadium. The undefeated home regular season is the Panthers first since they went to their first NFC championship game in 1996. They have won their eight home games by an average of 15.4 points.
While Arizona will rely heavily on their passing game, Carolina will be going up against the running back duo of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. Williams was the third best back in the league with 1515 yards and 18 touchdowns, 16 of which came in the last nine games. Stewart, a rookie out of Oregon, added 836 yards and 10 scores.
The teams have met eight times since Carolina was added as an expansion team in 1995 and the Panthers have won six of those. Arizona has not won since winning in back-to-back seasons in 2001 and 2002.
New York -4 vs. Philadelphia
The New York Giants have to be frightened with this Sunday's matchup with their division-rival Philadelphia Eagles. After all, no one knows you better than a team you face twice per year, but the Giants fright may be in the fact that the Eagles are looking eerily like the 2007 edition of the New York Giants.
The Giants foundered their way through the regular season a year ago and entered the playoffs as a wild-card team. In the divisional round, they face a Dallas Cowboys team that won the NFC East and dominated the league until the last quarter of the year. The Giants who rode a hot streak into postseason play surprisingly dominated the Cowboys and earned a berth in the NFC championship game, which would, of course, later result in a Super Bowl title over the heavily-favored New England Patriots.
The Eagles (10-6-1) have the same record the Giants had a year ago and are in the same fifth seeding which New York resided in. Philadelphia had to be red hot in the final month of the season following a season of ups and downs.
New York (12-4) rested last week after losing three of its final four regular season games. Meanwhile Philadelphia was able to handle the NFC North champion Minnesota Vikings, on the road, 26-14.
The Eagles won four of their last five games to get into the postseason. They seemed to respond after two weeks of negative attention was shown to Philadelphia and their quarterback Donovan McNabb. The veteran was criticized for not understanding the tie rule in the NFL after the Eagles and Bengals played to a Week 10 draw. The following week, the team was thrashed by Baltimore, which resulted in the benching of McNabb.
McNabb responded and so did the Eagles. Philadelphia was able to give New York their only home loss of the season on December 7th, 20-14. McNabb passed for 191 yards and was helped by running back Brian Westbrook's 131 yards rushing and 72 yards receiving, including a 40-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
That same week was the same week that may have turned the Giants season around for the negative. Plaxico Burress and Antonio Pierce were involved in a nightclub incident that left Burress with an accidental shotgun wound to his leg. Burress was dismissed from the team and the Giants offense has suffered since.
The offense also struggled in the second half because starting running back Brandon Jacobs was in and out of the lineup due to various injuries. He was forced out at halftime in the December game against Philadelphia but ran for 126 yards and two scores when the Giants dropped the Eagles in Philadelphia 36-31 on November 9th.
Despite the most recent nod going to Philly, New York has won six of the last nine meetings. This will be the fourth time that the rivals have met up in the postseason, with the Philadelphia Eagles winning the last matchup, 23-20 in a January 7, 2007 wild-card contest.
Hawkeyes vs. Golden Gophers
The number 22 Golden Gophers of Minnesota are no longer in the ranks of the nation's unbeaten masses, but they are still off to their best start in 12 years. Two games ago, Minnesota was beaten at home by, then-number 10, Michigan State, but rebounded to a victory against Ohio State 68-59 last Saturday. But now the Gophers will set off on an odyssey of which they are unfamiliar with: the road.
Unbelievably at this point in the season, Minnesota (13-1, 1-1) has played only one road game at Colorado State on November 22nd, a 72-71 victory. Thursday night they will travel to rival Iowa for their first road conference game and they will feature a team that has not lost at home in nine tries.
You would have to look hard in the Minnesota records to find a season when they started this well. That is because the last time that they did, 15-1 at the start of 1996-97, the records were expunged because of NCAA sanctions, which wiped a Final Four appearance off of the books.
The Gophers are residents of the Top 25 for the first time since 2002. They have done it with a balance offensive attack which scores 73.1 points per game, but the production is spread around because Minnesota has only one player in the top 25 scorers within the Big Ten. Lawrence Westbrook is the lone representative with 13 points per contest.
The Iowa Hawkeyes's promising start has been derailed by alternating wins and losses over their last five games. They will look to win two straight for the first time in about a month after beating Indiana 65-60 last Saturday. The Hawkeyes (11-4) remained perfect at home by defeating the Hoosiers. At home, Iowa is holding opponents to a mere 50.6 points and 37.7 percent shooting. On the season, both home and away, Iowa is holding opponents to 55.9 points per game, good for a place in the top 10 in the country.
Minnesota is technically 2-0 on the road this season, having also beaten, then-number nine, Louisville at the neutral site of Glendale, Arizona on December 20th. A season ago, the Gophers were 4-8 on the road last season and have dropped their last four and seven of eight at Iowa.
Dallas -8 vs. New York
A once promising season for the New York Knicks now resembles many of their seasons of the last decade. The NBA and fans of the Knicks hopeful of a renaissance in Madison Square Garden may have spoke to soon as New York has dropped eight out of their last ten.
Some hope was reborn with New York (13-20) defeated Boston on Sunday, but the fact that the Celtics have been losing to everyone lately and the Knicks followed that victory with a devastating loss to the doormat of the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder, 107-99, on Tuesday. Any hope was deflated.
Thursday the Knicks can attempt their next rise from the ashes as they travel to Dallas to take on the Mavericks. It will be quite the uphill battle for New York who has not won in eight trips to Dallas, their last road win was in 1999. The Mavericks (21-13) also look to wrap up the two-game season sweep, having beaten the Knicks at MSG 124-114 in overtime on November 16th. A victory Thursday will give the Mavericks nine straight victories over the Knicks and victories in 14 of the last 15 matchups between the teams.
Dallas continues their stretch against some of the weaker teams in the league and while they have been victorious in most games, they have struggled, including overcoming double-digit deficits in wins over Minnesota and Philadelphia and a 20 point loss to the cellar dwelling Memphis Grizzlies.
Tuesday the Dallas Mavericks rebounded with a 107-102 home victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Dirk Nowitzki blocked a shot and nailed the game winner with under a minute to play. Dallas has now 11-2 in their last 13 home games. Still Dallas had to go on an 11-1 run to come back and win.
Chicago -165 vs. Colorado
If it were not for the pesky Detroit Red Wings, the Chicago Blackhawks would be the talk of hockey. Before facing the defending Stanley Cup Champions two out of three days in a home-and-home series, including New Years Day's Winter Classic held in Wrigley Field, the Blackhawks had won nine straight games. Detroit handed them a two-game losing streak for the first time since the end of November and put some distance between them and the rising Hawks.
Chicago had been dominant since the beginning of December, going 12-3. All three losses were to, you guessed it, the Detroit Red Wings.
Since the home-and-home against the Wings, Chicago (22-8-7) has taken their frustration out on two teams, the first place Calgary Flames and the Phoenix Coyotes.
They especially took it to the Coyotes in their last game on Tuesday. The Blackhawks built up an insurmountable 4-0 lead five minutes into the first period. Jonathan Towes would then add two goals en route to a 6-0 decimation.
The victory gave the Blackhawks a positive start to their three game road trip, which will continue Thursday night in Denver when they face the Avalanche. Once again Chicago will be without leading scorer Patrick Kane who was injured in the December 30th loss at Joe Louis Arena. He is listed as day-to-day with an ankle injury, but is expected to sit out one more contest before returning in Nashville on Saturday.
Injuries are nothing new for Colorado (20-19-1). Joe Sakic has not played since November and looks to be out until March as he underwent surgery on Wednesday to repair a herniated disk. Another of their top centers, Paul Stastny, is out until the end of February because of a fractured forearm suffered on December 23rd.
The injuries have forced Coach Tony Granato into moving personnel around. Granato moved Wojtek Wolski to center from his usual spot on the wing in their last game at Nashville. The bold move paid off as the Colorado Avalanche snapped a three-game skid and won 2-1.
Chicago has won both meetings this season, 6-2 in the United Center on November 3rd and 4-3 at the Pepsi Center on December 12th. The Blackhawks have won five out of the last six over the Avalanche.
Detroit -260 vs. Dallas
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The second rematch of the season of last spring's Western Conference Final will take place in Joe Louis Arena Thursday night as the Detroit Red Wings look to avenge a loss earlier this season to the Dallas Stars.
The rematch is not what is seemed in May. While the Red Wings (27-7-5) are on their usual winning clip, the Stars (17-16-5) have sunk to the bottom of their division. The two rivals sit separated by twenty points in the conference standings.
Detroit is on pace for 124 points but have been winning games in much different ways than it was a year ago and in the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring. A year ago, the Wings have up the league's fewest goals, at 2.82 per game. But injuries and lackluster play from Chris Osgood has helped balloon that mark and pushed Detroit to the middle of the pack in GAA.
The bright spot in net for the Red Wings has been backup Ty Conklin who has gone 6-1-1 with a 1.86 GAA since December 18th. Conklin became the answer to the future trivia question of being a starting goalie in each of the first three regular-season outdoor hockey games. After beating Chicago 6-4 on New Years Day, the goaltender improved his record to 2-1 outdoors.
Currently the Stars are only one point above last place Los Angeles in the Pacific Division, but a big victory over a good team can turn around their season quite quickly. Despite their troubles this year, Dallas is only four points out of the eighth and final playoff spot.
They have played well of late, going 6-2-1 in their last nine contests, including a shootout victory in Vancouver in their last game Sunday night.
Marty Turco is quite familiar to Joe Louis Arena. He played college hockey just up the road in Ann Arbor for the University of Michigan and regularly took part in CCHA games in Detroit's hockey venue. Turco has not fared well at Joe Louis Arena since becoming a pro, winning only once, in Game 5 of the conference final. Overall Turco has posted a 3-10-0 record and a 2.78 GAA in his career against Detroit, including a 3-1 home victory on December 12th.
Detroit won the first three games of the Western Conference Final last spring before taking the series in six. The Red Wings took three of the four regular season matchups last year.
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