Rockets Leads Batum For Home

Basketball Betting Lines

James Harden dropped in 19 points off the bench as Oklahoma City lost its fourth straight game in the Alamo City.

 

Right behind the Spurs, who are a gaudy 13-1 at home, are the Blazers, who improved to 11-1 at the Rose Garden with a 117-97 rout of Denver on Saturday. Nicolas Batum returned from a brief two-game absence due to a balky knee to bury a franchise record nine three-pointers en route to a career-high 33 points against the Nuggets.

 

"With us dropping some games on the road, [we need to] continue to try and defend home court, especially during this stretch of games," Portland coach Nate McMillan told the Blazers' website. "We've got some top teams coming in here and another division game coming up, so all games are important."

 

OKC, which leads Portland by 4 1/2 games in the Northwest Division, is 9-4 on the road this season and will finish its trek with visits to Golden State, Sacramento and Utah.

 

The Blazers have won two straight over the Thunder, including a 103-93 triumph on the road back on Jan. 3.

 

Denver, which is 7-4 in the Rockies this season, will also host Dallas and Golden State on its residency.

 

Luis Scola and Kyle Lowry scored 24 points apiece for the Rockets and Patrick Patterson had 14 off the bench in that one as the Timberwolves snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Rockets at home and won for only the third time in the last 18 meetings overall.

 

"We just started out with no defensive intensity," Houston coach Kevin McHale told the team's website. "We can't be a pretty team, we can't be a team that just goes out there and plays easy; we've got to be a team that's going to go out there and fight like we did when we got mad."

 

These two teams split four meetings a season ago, with Houston winning the last two.

 

Things might be a little tougher this time around, however, since San Antonio is just 3-8 as the visitor so far.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

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