NBA Sunday Picks – Something Other Than Football

BetOnline NBA Basketball Sports Betting Matchup:

Cleveland Cavaliers (35-9 SU, 29-15 ATS) at Detroit Pistons (25-19 SU, 19-25 ATS)

The Palace, Auburn Hills, MI — 2:30 PM ET

(Records good through Thursday games)

Here are some of the NBA basketball head-to-head sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* DET has won and covered four of the last five meetings SU

* CLEV has covered 10 of the last 14 meetings

* The last five meetings have gone UNDER the total

* DET has won seven of the last eight meetings SU as the home team

* Six of the last seven meetings in Auburn Hills have gone UNDER the total

* DET has had the shooting edge in four of the last five meetings

* CLEV has made more three-pointers in seven of the last nine meetings

Detroit isn’t playing defense like it used to, and that is probably due to Chauncey Billups having departed and Allen Iverson having arrived. These East rivals have met just once this season, and the Pistons came away with a 96-89 win. These games have been notoriously low-scoring, so the "under" may be worth a serious look, but speaking of "looks," remember that Detroit has a different one, with guys like Rodney Stuckey and Amir Johnson logging more time as starters. Johnson hardly scores at all, and now Richard Hamilton is coming off the bench, with decent results. Mo Williams has had some torrid moments for the Cavs of late, with outbursts of 33, 26 and 43 points in the last eleven days. That’s just what Cleveland needed to take some pressure off LeBron James. I’m not sure we’re buying what Detroit is selling these days. Remember that Pistons are 7-15 ATS at the Palace this season.

JAY’S PREDICTION: CLEVELAND BY 8 (cover)

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BetOnline NBA Basketball Sports Betting Matchup:

Oklahoma City Thunder (11-35 SU, 30-16 ATS) at Sacramento Kings (10-37 SU, 21-26 ATS)

ARCO Arena, Sacramento — 3 PM ET

(Records good through Thursday games)

Here are some of the NBA basketball head-to-head sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* SAC has won eight of the last ten meetings SU

* Four of the last six meetings have gone UNDER the total

* SAC has covered five of the last six meetings as the home team

* Six of the last nine meetings in Sacramento have gone OVER the total

Sacramento has not been a strong host this season; as of the end of Thursday’s play the Kings had a 7-15 ATS home record and had covered just one of the last eight at ARCO Arena. I’m not sure everybody is happy to see Kenny Natt aboard as the interim coach, inasmuch as he promised they would play harder than before, but hasn’t produced a lot of evidence for it. Meanwhile, playing hard is exactly what the Thunder has done under Scott Brooks, who replaced P.J. Carlesimo and has transformed this transplanted to an extent, as the his troops have been simply thunder-ous against the spread, covering 16 of their last 20 and 11 of 14 on the road. Indeed, going into the weekend, Oklahoma City was the league’s only team with 30 pointspread wins. The scoring matchup between Kevin Durant and Kevin Martin, big point producers who were passed up for All-Star recognition, should be entertaining to watch, but we just don’t trust the Kings.

JAY’S PREDICTION: OKLAHOMA CITY BY 6 (cover)

(Charles Jay makes his share of shots from downtown as a contributor to the BetOnline Locker Room)