| I don't know if any of you are as old as me (or FEEL | | | | the overnight line of Cleveland as a one-point favorite |
| as old) but about FOUR decades ago, Joe Garagiola (I | | | | didn't last long. The Cavs closed a four-point favorite |
| guess if remember him you're as old!) wrote a book | | | | and there were more than a few 4 1/2s around. Final |
| titled, "Baseball is a Funny Game." Well, the NBA can | | | | score? Cleveland by FOUR! |
| be pretty 'funny' too. Consider this. The Nuggets | | | | Artest made his debut for the Kings last night in |
| entered last night's home game with the Clippers on a | | | | Boston against the Celtics. The Celtics also had big |
| seven-game winning streak and had gone 11-2 in | | | | trade news, as a seven-player trade with Minnesota |
| January. Marcus Camby, the league's top rebounder | | | | had sent Davis and Blount to the T-wolves for |
| had missed the team's last 15 games (Nuggets were | | | | Szczerbiak and Olowokandi. Boston opened as a |
| 11-4 without him) but was set to return for last night's | | | | four-point choice in this one but the game 'closed' at |
| game. | | | | about 'pick', with the Kings even moving to a favorite in |
| So what happens? The Nuggets get | | | | some spots. Final score? Boston wins 84-74. Artest |
| OUTREBOUNDED 45-32 and lose, 105-87! Kobe | | | | scored 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting. |
| should have been well-rested after his 81-point game | | | | Seemingly, the Pistons are ONE team you can count |
| on Sunday, as the Lakers had a four-day layoff | | | | on these days, although Detroit bettors lost yesterday |
| before last night's game with Golden State. However, | | | | when the Pistons moved to 36-5 with a 95-89 win |
| the man who "never saw a shot he didn't like or think | | | | over the Grizzlies. Detroit became just the THIRD |
| he couldn't make", took just 12 shots through the | | | | team in the last 20 years to start the same five |
| game's first three quarters last night! He made just | | | | players in EACH of its first 41 games. The 1999-2000 |
| TWO and entered the final quarter with a total of just | | | | Pacers did it and so did the 2002-03 Golden State |
| FIVE points! Luckily for the Lakers (but NOT for LA | | | | Warriors. |
| bettors), someone must have reminded Kobe who he | | | | An interesting contrast of those two teams shows |
| was, as he scored 25 points in the 4th quarter and | | | | this. The Pacers went 56-26 in the regular season that |
| overtime, as the Lakers escaped with a non-covering | | | | year, making it all the way to the NBA finals where |
| 106-105 win. | | | | they lost to the Lakers (first title for Shaq and Kobe). |
| My free play for Saturday is in college hoops. Take | | | | As for the Warriors, they finished 38-44 in '03, once |
| Va Tech over Wake Forest at 3:00 ET. I have three | | | | again missing the postseason (last made the playoffs |
| HUGE CBB plays on Saturday, my first LEGEND Play | | | | in 1993-94 season). |
| in BKB since January 7 (LEGEND Plays went 14-4 in | | | | College basketball dominates the Saturday sports |
| the FB season and are 3-1 so far in the BKB season!) | | | | landscape. ESPN and ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine |
| plus two 20* plays. Since Jan 20, my 20* plays or | | | | to televise NINE games on Saturday, beginning with |
| higher in CBB have gone 5-1 or 83% ATS, so don't | | | | Cincinnati at Georgetown (ESPN2) and Kansas at |
| miss my 20* Big-10 GOY or my 20* Big-12 Total of | | | | Iowa State (ESPN) at noon ET. Saturday's coverage |
| the Year. NBA fans check back at 9:00 ET. | | | | ends with Texas at Oklahoma on ESPN2 at 9:00 ET. |
| The Artest/Peja deal caused two big line 'moves' on | | | | CBS gets in on the action with Arizona visiting North |
| Friday night. The Cavs were in Indiana last night to | | | | Carolina at 1:00 ET (Tar Heels are favored by 3 1/2 |
| take on the Pacers. With Artest gone for Peja (who | | | | points with a total of 150). |
| wouldn't play) and O'Neal out for up to eight weeks, | | | | |