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In Thursday evening action, three different NBA squads will look to squelch persistent rumors of their eminent demise, attempting to come back from 0-2 deficits in the NBA postseason. Both Washington and Toronto will be given an opportunity to succeed in part because noted NBA announcer, former player and Dr. Phil of TNT, Charles Barkley said for the 356, 813 time, “The playoffs series don’t begin until the home team losses.” With information to the contrary, as first round, first game victors win series just over 81 percent of the time, it might be best to give Chuckles a free meal card and watch what happens. Of the 0-2 starters, at least Toronto covered a game, which is more than you can say for either Washington or Houston. The Raptors outscored Orlando 25-21 in the fourth quarter and were on missed Chris Bosh 17-foot shot in the final seconds away from tying the series. They did cover the six point spread and will need to make one major adjustment and possibly another. In the first 12 minutes of the games in the playoffs, Toronto has been outscored 78-41, anything remotely close to those numbers again and it’s time to put away dinosaurs’ jersey and slap on Blue Jays hat. "The way we're starting games is just unacceptable," said Bosh. The Raptors are 17-6 ATS off a road cover where the team lost straight up as an underdog.
With best-of-seven series resuming north of the border, coach Sam Mitchell said he will trot out a new starting lineup. It will mark the second change in three games. Andrea Bargnani was inserted into the lineup for Game 1. Mitchell wouldn't say what lineup switches he was contemplating ("You watched the game, so use some common sense," was how he put it after Tuesday's game), but it's probably safe to speculate that Rasho Nesterovic, might find himself coming off the bench and that T.J. Ford might join him in a backup role. Whether Mitchell uses Jason Kapono or Carlos Delfino in Nesterovic's place is debatable, it could be that the coach decides to chuck the whole "big" approach and pull both Nesterovic and Andrea Bargnani, since Dwight Howard is doing whatever he wants anyway. The point guard situation is dicey as Jose Calderon sparked Toronto's late surge in Game two. No matter who starts for Raptors, they’ll have to do it against the league’s number three road team, who was 27-14 SU and ATS. Bookmaker.com has Toronto as four-point choice with total of 202, with Raptors 4-1 SU and ATS hosting Magic. Washington has played with all the brains of infamous movie filmmaker Uwe Boll, calling out his critics. DeShawn Stevenson (yea that DeShawn Stevenson) called LeBron James overrated before the series and then the Wizards tried to make King James a human ping-pong ball, bouncing off various Washington players. This just in, James is not Dirk Nowitzki, the rough stuff doesn’t bother him. In spite of their bombastic salutations, Washington has lost eight consecutive playoff games to Cleveland dating to 2006 (2-5-1 ATS), the third-longest such streak in league history. Now the question is do the Wizards believe it is possible to even beat the Cavs.
Washington is listed as five-point favorites, in spite of being 1-9 ATS in home games after three or more consecutive losses. The Wizards go to the basket like they are trying to gently balance a quarter on the rim, as opposed to James and other Cavs players who have been rattling the basket standard. The Wizards are an ordinary three point shooting team at just over 35 percent, however Cleveland has taken away that aspect of the Wizards game, as they have converted only nine of 40 attempts (22.5 percent). The Cavaliers are 16-7 ATS in road games versus teams who make six or more 3-point shots a game on the season.
For both Toronto and Washington, the best news might be home teams down 0-2 are 31-18-1 ATS in last 50 games of the opening round.
For the Rockets it’s a simple case of, “Houston, we have a problem.”
The 22-game winning streaked masked a number of issues for the Houston Rockets and the loss of point guard Rafer Alston only brought them to the surface. Tracy McGrady gave it everything he had in Game Two for three quarters, but was held to one point in the final stanza, visibly spent late in the game. Unfortunately, no Rocket-booster is available to come off the bench, leaving them on the launch pad, now 0-7 ATS in last seven first round playoff games. Utah has to feel ultra-confident and is 11-3 ATS in home games after having won four of their last five games this season. The Jazz own the best home record (37-4) in the NBA and best spread mark at 28-12-1 ATS. For Jerry Sloan’s squad, it’s about taking care of business and grounding the Rockets in four, earning valuable down time in the dastardly Western Conference.
Utah is a 8.5-point pick and is involved in winning system that suggest to Play Against road underdogs of 3.5 to 9.5 points, revenging a loss where team scored less than 85 points against opponent off two or more consecutive road wins. This system is 44 up and 16 down, 73.3 percent the last 12 seasons. Check TV listings for the time of televised games.
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