Matt Rivers free pick Thursday is on the Cleveland Cavaliers +6 at home to Miami.
Why not?
To write a whole lot here would be overkill as we all know the situation like the back of our hand. Lebron comes home as the villain as the Cleveland fans are going to be out in full force going absolutely ballistic against him. The emotions are going to be high and more so on the Cavs side as that is where the venom is. You can see from soundbites and quotes over the last few days that King James sort of feels bad for the way he handled everything and to be honest with you will probably be a little psychologically down in the dumps. I really do not see him having a killer instinct and the way he and his mates have fared thus far in the early going has not been very good to begin with.
Miami did win easily yesterday over Detroit making this a back-to-back with travel situation and that alone is never easy. Throw in all of the drama and James was right when he said he is going to be drained in this thing. You know the fans are going to boo him every time he has the ball and Byron Scott’s players are going to go balls to the wall in order to win this game for the city of Cleveland and this thing truly is the franchise’ Super Bowl.
The Heat are clearly the far superior team but things have not been so great thus far and in the end I’ll take the fresher and more emotional squad plus a handful of points. Again I say, why not?
The pick: Cleveland Cavaliers at SportsBook
For more information: A tough Wednesday as Virginia Tech lost in overtime as the slight home dog and Butler blew a 10-point halftime lead laying 3 ½ in winning by 2. It’s gambling and it happens. The high quality handicapper that continues to believe in himself and go out producing more winners than losers is the one you need to listen to and I can tell you that is 100% without a doubt me and will be me once again tonight.
Both football winners are here led by a 400,000* on the NFL gridiron involving the Texans and Eagles along with a college 200,000* in this rivalry game between the schools from Arizona. My head is held high and I’m ready to go at it. Trust me and you’ll be very happy! Click now to purchase
Courtesy of OddsShark.com: Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The city of Cleveland gets set to greet their former star player, while the Texans take on the Eagles, and Arizona hosts rival Arizona State.
Colliding on the gridiron . . .
The NFL’s Thursday night matchup this week has Houston at Philadelphia. The Texans (5-6 SU, 4-6-1 ATS) got back into the win column last time out, blanking the Titans in a 20-0 home victory. Matt Schaub threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns for Houston in that contest, and Arian Foster ran for 143 yards that day. The Eagles (7-4 SU, 5-6 ATS) fell 31-26 in Chicago over the weekend, as Michael Vick passed for 333 yards with two touchdowns and one interception while also rushing for 44 yards. Oddsmakers have the Eagles set as 8.5-point home favorites for Thursday, with the contest’s total at 51 points.
As well, there’s one college football game on tap for Thursday, with Arizona State at Arizona. The Sun Devils (5-6 SU, 6-2-1 ATS) beat UCLA 55-34 last week behind 380 passing yards and four touchdowns from Brock Osweiler. Cameron Marshall ran for 147 yards and a score for Arizona State in that victory. The Wildcats (7-4 SU, 3-7 ATS) have lost three straight games, falling 48-29 in Oregon to the top-ranked Ducks last week. Nick Foles still managed to throw for 448 yards with three touchdowns for Arizona that day. Arizona is listed as a 6-point home favorite for Thursday, with that total at 55 points.
It was yet another winning night for the Center of the Handicapping Universe to move to a 16-9 overall run.
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Tipping off on the hardwood . . .
The NBA has two games on tap for Thursday, with Phoenix at Golden State and Miami at Cleveland. The Heat/Cavaliers matchup will mark the return of LeBron James to Cleveland, where he’ll take on a Cavs team that sits at 7-10 SU and 8-8-1 ATS without him so far this season. The Cavaliers lost their tuneup for this game on Tuesday, falling 106-87 at home to the Celtics. Anderson Varejao and Daniel Gibson each scored 16 points for Cleveland in that defeat, while Varejao also picked up 12 rebounds in the losing cause. The Heat, who haven’t played up to expectations so far this year, will be coming off a home game against Detroit on Wednesday night. The Cavaliers and Heat met three times last year, and with LeBron in tow the Cavs won all three of those games.
There are also three games involving ranked teams on the college basketball schedule for Thursday, with Arizona State at No. 11 Baylor, No. 9 Missouri at Oregon, and UCLA at No. 4 Kansas. The fourth-ranked Jayhawks (6-0 SU, 3-1 ATS) bounced Arizona 87-79 last time out behind a 16-point performance from Marcus Morris. The Bruins (3-2 SU, 1-3 ATS) were beaten 89-85 by VCU in the third-place game at the Preseason NIT tournament in their most recent matchup, with Malcolm Lee tossing in 23 points that day.
Taking a trip around the rink . . .
Finally, there are eight games on the NHL’s schedule for Thursday, with Tampa Bay at Boston, the Rangers at the Islanders, Atlanta at Pittsburgh, Montreal at New Jersey, Edmonton at Toronto, Washington at Dallas, Florida at Los Angeles, and San Jose at Ottawa. The 11-8-4 Sharks fell 5-3 at home to the Red Wings in their last game on Tuesday night, and they’ll be expecting a rude welcome in Ottawa on Thursday as forward Dany Heatley returns to face the team he forced a trade from last season. The 11-13-1 Senators were upended 4-1 at home by Edmonton in their last game on Monday. Nick Foligno had Ottawa’s lone goal that day, and Brian Elliott made 21 saves.