Thursday 2-game Single Bet Special?

Click here to read latest NBA news

2007-02-23

On Thursday night, I tried to make a comeback after whiffing on Wednesday on a pair of NBA games.

In college hoops, Memphis plays in a notoriously bad conference and has been blowing the doors off teams all season long. Matched up against a weak Rice team, I expected this to continue. In the

All good

NBA, the Mavericks are the hottest team in the league and were playing against a Heat team which had found out earlier in the day that Dwayne Wade would be out about 6 weeks. Both games had huge spreads but I fully expected the favorites, both playing at home mind you, to cover with ease.

So last night, my picks were as follows:

Memphis -22.5 vs. Rice
Mavs -12.5 vs Heat.

Memphis coach John Calipari wasn't focused on his team winning its second consecutive Conference USA title. It's just a minor step in the big picture for the No. 7 Tigers.

Willie Kemp scored 20 points to lead Memphis to its 16th consecutive win -- the longest in the nation. It was the third loss in a row for the Owls (13-13, 7-6).

Jeremy Hunt finished with 16 points for Memphis, while Anderson and Chris Douglas-Roberts added 14 each. Anderson, who had six assists, also covered Rice guard Morris Almond, the conference's leading scorer, and third-best in the nation. He is averaging 27.2 points, but was held to just 15. Almond was 5-for-14 from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds, but also had six turnovers. Cory Pflieger scored 10 for the Owls.

The Tigers carried a 52-34 lead at the half after Hunt came off the bench to pull them out of an offensive funk with 12 first-half points, all of his field goals coming from 3-point range. Anderson added 11 points, while Douglas-Roberts scored 10. Memphis struggled early when Rice went to a zone. The Tigers misfired from outside the defense, missing their first seven 3-pointers. That allowed Rice to put together a 14-2 run, erasing an early 9-0 Memphis lead. With Almond on the bench and Rice holding a 19-16 lead Memphis went on a run hitting eight 3-pointers and building the lead to 21. Memphis continued to maintain the lead in the second half as Kemp was the one who started connecting from 3-point range, assuring Memphis of repeating as the outright C-USA regular-season champions.

So on to game 2. The Mavs were up against a depleted and demoralized Miami team playing the 2nd night of a back to back. With Dwyane Wade out of the lineup, the Dallas Mavericks took all the suspense out of their NBA finals rematch with the Miami Heat.

Dirk Nowitzki had 31 points and 11 rebounds and the Mavericks took advantage of Wade's absence to blow the doors off early building a double digit lead in the 1st quarter.

Miami was playing in Dallas for the first time since winning the NBA title last June.

The Mavericks turned the game into an early rout as they jumped to a 23-point halftime lead and led by as much as 32 in the fourth quarter.

Jason Terry scored 16 points in the second quarter and all 21 of his points in the first half.

Dallas shot 60 percent through three quarters as it led 93-63. Up by 30 points going into the 4th quarter, I really liked my chances and made the dubious decision to go to sleep. Unbelievably, when I woke up in the morning, I was horrified to learn that the Heat rallied in the fourth as it got within 10 in the game's final two minutes.

Dallas' Jerry Stackhouse had 18 points and Devin Harris added 17.

Shaquille O'Neal, playing his 10th game since returning from a knee injury, had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Heat. James Posey also had 17 points, and Jason Williams added 13.

Ultimately, the Heat lost by 12 and I missed my cover by ½ point.

Till next time, may all your bets be winners.