Senior Writer Vegas Matty previews San Antonio Spurs at Miami Heat from a betting standpoint.

After suffering through a season-high five-game losing streak, the Miami Heat (45-21) appear to be back on track in hopes of finishing the season strong and securing one of the top seeds in the Eastern Conference playoff race.  A rematch with the San Antonio Spurs (54-12) on Monday though will give them another measuring stick to find out how good they really are.

The Heat (-4) were crushed 125-95 at San Antonio in the midst of their skid, one of seven consecutive games in which they failed to cover the spread.  They have since rebounded by winning two in a row both straight-up and against the spread, including an impressive home win against the Lakers last Thursday followed by a 33-point victory against Memphis on Saturday.  Despite that win, Miami remains 15-18 against teams with a winning record this season.

New addition Mike Bibby finally came alive for the Heat in the rout of the Grizzlies, connecting on all five of his 3-point attempts en route to 17 points in 25 minutes off the bench. Bibby’s previous high with Miami was six points after he asked to be bought out from his contract with Washington.  He played nearly 29 minutes in the last meeting with the Spurs on March 4, scoring four points on 2 of 6 shooting (0 for 3 on 3-pointers) to go along with five assists.

San Antonio hit a franchise-record 17 of 28 attempts from 3-point range in that game, including six from Matt Bonner.  Eight Spurs scored in double figures in the blowout and six different players made a 3-pointer.  Manu Ginobili scored a team-high 20 points and dished out seven assists while Tony Parker had 15 and eight in a surprise return from a calf injury.  Parker was supposed to miss two to four weeks of action but came back after missing just two games.

The lone loss for San Antonio in the last six games came against the Lakers, which is also the only time the team was held under 108 points over that span.  The Spurs fell at home to LA 99-83 on March 6 but have since averaged over 111 points during a three-game winning streak.  However, they have covered just one of their last four games along with eight of their past 11.

The OVER has cashed in nine of San Antonio’s last 11 games, including three straight.  The OVER is also 10-2 in the Heat’s last 12 games against Western Conference opponents, although the UNDER is 7-1 in the last eight meetings with the Spurs, who have won the last four both SU and ATS.

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The sports handicappers breakdown of the 2011 NCAA Tournament Round of 64. All records are against the spread.

Belmont vs. Wisconsin

Belmont 5-0 is non-conference game. Wisconsin is 1-6 neutral site game.

Utah State vs. Kansas State

Utah State 14-6 on neutral courts. Kansas State is 6-13 to teams with a winning record.

Kansas State has gone under 12-2 in non-conference games.

Penn State vs. Temple

Penn State is 9-3 versus an opponent with a winning percentage of .600 or above. Temple 21-8 off loss and 23-11 to teams with a winning record. Temple has gone under 10-2 on neutral courts.

Northern Colorado vs. San Diego State

Northern Colorado 2-12 off spread win. San Diego State 15-5 to teams with a winning record. Northern Colorado over six straight.

Gonzaga vs. St. John’s

Gonzaga 1-6 last seven in NCAA Tournament. They’ve gone under 17-4 versus an opponent with winning percentage of .600 or above.

Wofford vs. BYU

Wofford 7-1 on neutral courts. BYU 34-16 off spread loss.

Morehead vs. Louisville

Morehead under 9-1 on neutral courts.

Richmond vs. Vanderbilt

Richmond 7-0 overall run. Spiders under 8-0 off straight up win.

Old Dominion vs. Butler

Old Dominion 7-1 overall run. Butler 10-1 on neutral courts and 52-23 in non-conference games, but 1-6 off straight up win.

Missouri vs. Cincinnati

Cincinnati 5-17 off straight up loss. Missouri has gone over 11-2 in NCAA Tournament.

Bucknell vs. UConn

Connecticut 7-0 in non-conference games, 16-5 on neutral courts, 23-8 off straight up wins. Connecticut over 8-1 in NCAA Tournament.

Michigan State vs. UCLA

UCLA 7-0 to teams with a winning record. Michigan State under 10-1 to Pac 10.

UC Santa Barbara vs. Florida

Santa Barbara 8-1 on neutral courts. Florida 9-19 off straight up loss. UC Santa Barbara under 17-5 neutral courts.

Princeton vs. Kentucky

Princeton 16-5 versus an opponent with a winning percentage of .600 or above. Kentucky 1-6 off straight up win.

For more information: Top sports picks, March Madness odds, and betting analysis are all part of the OffshoreInsiders.com Network.

The NCAA Tournament has been expanded to 68 teams. Now here is the 2011 Big Dance opening round odds for Tuesday and Wednesday games from top sportsbooks.

Sports handicappers picks for the NCAA Tournament are on the OffshoreInsiders.com Network.

The NCAA Tournament 2011 point spreads for Thursday are already up. Now here are Friday’s Big Dance March Madness 2011 Vegas lines for sports handicappers

For all the best point spread picks for the NCAA Tournament 2011, it’s the OffshoreInsiders.com Network.

Sportsbooks have posted the odds for the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Here are the Big Dance 2011 point spreads for first day of the Round of 64.

The top sports handicapper picks against the spread are on the OffshoreInsiders.com Network which includes Power of 620 sports services behind every selection, the MasterLockLine.

OffshoreInsiders.com Senior Sports Handicapper Matt Rivers has a winning pick on Penn State (+10) to Ohio State.

Why not back the Nittany Lions today? Of course they are outmanned in a major way but Talor Battle is a star and Penn State has been playing some great defense of late. Ed DeChellis knows that his team can’t go up and down with big bad Ohio State if they are to have a chance but that was the case against both Wisconsin and Michigan State and they passed those tests with flying colors.

Jared Sullinger is an amazing freshman and the Buckeyes are ridiculously loaded with Lighty, Diebler, Lauderdale, Craft and others forming what probably is the best team in the nation. In this spot Thad Matta’s team is certainly Goliath but it’s not like the Bucks have been all that of late at all.

Yesterday State let Michigan back in it late for the backdoor cover and the day before they were outplayed by Northwestern in a game that they probably deserved to lose before getting bailed out in overtime in the end. If OSU comes to play all guns ablaze then they are clearly the far superior team and could win going away. But Penn State’s defense has been extremely stifling of late as they allowed only 33 points against Bo Ryan’s Badgers and yesterday gave up a meager 48 to Tom Izzo’s Spartans. The Nittany’s have now won four straight games and five of their last six and let’s not forget how they only lost by three in the middle of the season on the road at Ohio State.

It’s asking a lot for Penn State to compete but they are peaking at the exact right time and are a legitimate good ballclub right now. If that’s not good enough to stay within single digits then so be it but my money’s on the surging Nittany Lions plus the handsome number.

The pick: Penn State

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Free pick for Saturday comes from OffshoreInsiders.com Senior Sports Handicapper Matt Rivers. It is on the Denver Nuggets (-9) to Detroit.

Is this post Carmelo Anthony Denver team really almost double digits better talent-wise than Detroit? No they’re not but we have seen it over and over and over again where a team is on a back-to-back and on that second night has to go into the rarified air of the Pepsi Center and things just unravel. It was this exact spot a few weeks back with the Hawks and I will give Atlanta credit as they competed for the first three quarters of the game but then the legs became extremely heavy and in the end it turned out to be an easy Nuggets cover.

The Pistons are a team that I don’t mind backing when getting a lot of points because they do have some experienced players with an upside in Stuckey, Villaneuva, Gordon, Hamilton and Prince. There are certain situations where they are a far better team than the poor 23-43 record would indicate. But this is most definitely not one of those spots.

The Pistons just fell in Oklahoma City last night and will come limping into the Mile High City. Carmelo may be gone but amazingly George Karl has not only kept the ship afloat but once can even make a case that the team has overall been better without the newest Knickerbocker. Denver has won four of their last five games and seven of nine. They have played literally one game in the past week and that was on Wednesday night when they smacked around the surging Suns on the road in Phoenix.

I expect Denver to be the far fresher team on the floor and in the end they will take care of business once again.

Top expert pick on this game: Denver Nuggets from Matt Rivers.

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OffshoreInsiders.com Senior Sports Handicapper Matt Rivers has a Friday NBA lock is on the Boston Celtics (-2) at Philadelphia.

Things have been a ton better of late for the 76ers as Doug Collins has done a great job after the terrible 3-13 start to the season but if I can get the Celtics at such a cheap price like this than I’m all for it. Yes that last loss to the Clippers on Wednesday night was shocking and yes Glen Davis is banged up which doesn’t help the lack of bigs now on this Boston team after trading away Kendrick Perkins but come on with this price.

When push comes to shove whether in Philadelphia, in Boston or on the moon the C’s are just the flat out better team. If anything, I like the fact that Doc Rivers’ squad was just embarrassed as home by the Clippers because that could fuel their fire tonight and provide some motivation. Plus it’s not like the Celtics didn’t win their previous five and eight of 9 so this team is just fine. The big four is still around and playing pretty well with Pierce, Rondo, Garnett and Allen and no matter how improved Andre Iguodala and the gang from the City of Brotherly Love is they are still not as good as the men in green.

Philly is pretty good right now, I admit that, but their stock is also fairly overvalued unlike Boston who despite the far better record at 46-16 seems to be undervalued due to that one bad last game and possibly because they are somewhat lacking in height.

Nobody is more impressed with Iguodala, Jrue Holiday, Thaddeus Young, Elton Brand and the 6ers than I am but this is too good of a value on the Celtics to pass up, period.

Top expert pick on this game: Matt Rivers with Boston.

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Things have really started to heat up after another solid winning Thursday. It’s now a 6-2 overall run and 1.5 million* of profit over the past five days. I’m not going to say that either Arkansas or Syracuse covered by a ton but in the end they both cashed and without a doubt more winning today. A trio of fire hot locks including the 500,000* between Miami and North Carolina. A pair of bonus 200,000* with Colorado-Kansas and St. Joseph’s-Duquesne. I feel great and you will as well shortly! Rivers historic winner up

Senior Writer Vegas Matty previews Boston Celtics at Philadelphia 76ers.

The Philadelphia 76ers (33-31) have been playing as well as any team in the Eastern Conference over the last couple months, but the Boston Celtics (46-16) have still owned them since Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce have been playing together.  The 76ers will try to beat that trio at home for the first time in eight meetings when they square off against the Celtics (-2) in an Atlantic Division clash on Friday.

Despite the team’s hot play recently, Philadelphia still sits 14 games behind Boston in the Atlantic.  If the playoffs started today, the 76ers would be matched up with Chicago, the only team with a better record than them in the last seven weeks.  They are 16-6 over that span and 14-8 against the spread after losing at home to Oklahoma City on Tuesday in overtime, 110-105.

The Celtics are also coming off a home loss on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Clippers, who built a 60-42 halftime lead and then held on for a 108-103 victory.  Allen led Boston with a team-high 23 points while new addition Nenad Krstic scored a season-high 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds.  Krstic was dealt to the team along with Jeff Green for starting center Kendrick Perkins.

With the loss, the Celtics saw their lead for the top seed in the East drop to 1.5 games over the Bulls and 3.5 over Miami after the Heat beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, ending their five-game losing streak.  They are 12-2 vs. Philly since Garnett and Allen joined Pierce in Beantown, although the Sixers have gone 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings.

The two games between the teams this season were decided by a combined five points, including a 102-101 road win for Boston back on December 9.  Allen scored a game-high 23 points, making 7 of his 10 shots from the field and all seven of his free-throw attempts.  Philadelphia had seven players score in double figures and was led by Jodie Meeks with 19 points while Thaddeus Young and Louis Williams each added 16.

The rematch a couple weeks later was a much different game as the Celtics won a defensive battle at home, 84-80.  The 76ers actually led 44-38 at halftime but saw Allen again step up with a game-high 22 points for Boston.  The OVER is 8-2 in Philly’s last 10 games overall and 5-1 in the past six for the Celtics.  The OVER is also 5-3-1 in the last nine games between the teams.

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Things have really started to heat up after another solid winning Thursday. It’s now a 6-2 overall run and 1.5 million* of profit over the past five days. I’m not going to say that either Arkansas or Syracuse covered by a ton but in the end they both cashed and without a doubt more winning today. A trio of fire hot locks including the 500,000* between Miami and North Carolina. A pair of bonus 200,000* with Colorado-Kansas and St. Joseph’s-Duquesne. I feel great and you will as well shortly. Rivers lock is up

OffshoreInsiders.com Senior Sports Handicapper Matt Rivers has an NBA odds pick on the Los Angeles Lakers (-2) at Miami.

Reasoning: I’m sure everybody and their brother is going to be on the red hot Lakers against the ice cold Heat but I just don’t see that being the losing side and I’ll therefore play the role of what I expect to be the square side here.

The game may be down in South Beach but the way things have gone recently so what? This Miami team has obviously been horrific over the past few weeks and that has included the recent four game home losing streak. I do believe that Erik Spoelstra will turn this thing around as there is just too much talent for that to not happen with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade but I’m not so sure that this is the night for it to happen.

We all know how Miami doesn’t have an inside game and Los Angeles may be the worst matchup for them with their bigs. Gasol, Odom and Bynum are a huge frontcourt and an absolute mismatch for whomever the Heat throw out there. Yes Miami did win the first meeting a few months back at Staples and I really have no definitive answer as to how they did that but I can say that they were clearly a better team back then compared to what they have become right now.

The Heat are lacking a ton of confidence and cannot make any shots late. Now they face a team that hasn’t lost since the All-Star break, literally, led by the superstar of all superstars in Kobe Bryant.

Lebron and company will right the ship at some point. They just have to as the talent level is too high. But with Chris Bosh becoming more lost by the day I will clearly give the edge to the champions who are playing much much better right now.

Tonight could potentially be rock bottom for the Heat if they haven’t hit that already as LeBron has said.

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