ASA – American Sports Analysts Handicapper

ASA play on: San Antonio Spurs +7 over Utah Jazz, 9PM ET

The Spurs are not out of the playoff hunt in the West but need to make a move now if they want to continue their 22-year streak of making the post season. Despite an 23-31 SU record on the season the Spurs have an average loss margin per game of just -1.3PPG. So, while they have a losing record, they tend to play close. In the Spurs last two games against similar teams to the Jazz they won at Oklahoma City by 8 and lost in Denver by 7 (both without DeRozan who is back here). In their last ten games overall, they’ve also faced the Blazers in Portland and lost by 8. At the Clippers they lost by 3-points. They suffered one blowout loss against the Lakers but that was the second night of a back to back. In other words, against other teams that are like the Jazz they’ve been very competitive. The Jazz had a great stretch of basketball going but are just 5-5 SU their last ten games. Utah did beat Miami by 15 before the break, but prior to that they had wins over Dallas, Houston and Portland by a total of just 8-points. That ties into their 1-6-1 ATS record their last eight as a favorite. The Dog has covered 5 of the last eight in the series and we’ll back the pooch here. Play on the Spurs and the points!

ASA NHL TOP PLAY 10* ON Nashville Predators money line (-) over Chicago Blackhawks, Friday at 8:35 PM ET

This is a classic case of hot versus not.  The Blackhawks have lost 7 of their past 8 games.  The Predators are off a loss but had won 7 of 10 games preceding that defeat.  Nashville was left for dead in terms of playoff picture as of a few weeks ago but they have battled all the way back and won't let one loss slow them down.  After a home loss to a desperate Carolina team, look for the Preds to bounce right back here.  Nashville has won 2 of 3 match-ups with the Blackhawks this season and those two wins came by a combined score of 8 to 2.  The Predators have won their last two visits to Chicago by a combined score of 9 to 5.  The Blackhawks have lost 5 of their last 7 home games.  The Preds have won 7 of their past 10 road games.  Per our computer math model, the home ice "edge" will play out as no "edge" in tonight's meeting so take advantage of the line value with the short road favorite.  Bet Nashville on the money line in late evening Friday hockey action.

ASA play on: OVER 229 Phoenix Suns @ Toronto Raptors, 7:30PM ET

Fresh players after the All-Star break led to a 5-1 Over trend last night in the NBA for teams playing their first game after the break. Tonight, the Suns and Raptors meet, and the situation warrants an Over wager on their game. These teams rank 12th and 13th in scoring this season with both averaging over 112PPG. The Raptors are 13th in offensive efficiency, Phoenix is 17th. The Suns prefer to play fast with the 9th fastest pace in the NBA, the Raptors are also in the top half of the league with the 13th fastest tempo. The Suns defense has allowed 116 or more points in half of their last ten games and Toronto has scored 115 plus in 7 of their last ten. The Raptors last game before the break was a horrible offensive showing as they managed just 91-points in a loss to the Nets so expect a focused effort here.   In their last five games these teams are both shooting over an average of 48% which is well above league average of 45.9%. Let’s not forget the league average total points scored per game is 223PPG so asking two of the higher scoring, faster paced teams to scored 229 or more shouldn’t be a problem.