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Wednesday’s Tip Sheet

VegasInsider Staff
VegasInsider Staff Sports Betting Expert
4 minute read
ATS Rankings | Totals Report | Injuries

Game of the Night: Celtics at Jazz (-7, 194) – 9:30 PM EST

Boston (51-23 SU, 45-27-2 ATS) looks to finish off its four-game Western Conference road swing undefeated following victories at Portland, Sacramento, and Phoenix. The Celtics rallied to beat the Blazers and Kings after trailing at halftime, while holding off the Suns on Sunday night, 102-94. Boston failed to cash as 10-point favorites, while rookie forward Jayson Tatum paced the Celtics with 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting.

The Jazz (42-32 SU, 39-35 ATS) have posted an incredible run since late January by winning 23 of their last 27 games. Three losses have come to upper-tier Western Conference competition (Portland, Houston, and San Antonio), while slipping up last week against Atlanta as 14-point home favorites. Utah crushed a short-handed Golden State squad on Sunday, 110-91 as 8 ½-point road favorites, led by Donovan Mitchell’s 21 points as all five Jazz starters put up double-figures.

In their first matchup this season at TD Garden, the Jazz ripped the Celtics, 107-95 as 4 ½-point underdogs in mid-December. Utah knocked down 13 three-pointers, while guard Ricky Rubio scored 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting to give the Jazz their first victory at Boston since March 2008.

These teams are going in different directions from a totals standpoint, as the Celtics have cashed the UNDER in five of the past six games, while the Jazz are currently on a 4-1 OVER run. Since late December, Brad Stevens’ club owns a 9-2 ATS record as an underdog, while Utah is 4-7 ATS in the last 11 home contests.

Cleveland Clunker

For some reason, the Cavaliers (44-30 SU, 26-47-1 ATS) can’t win in Miami. Cleveland’s losing streak at American Airlines Arena reached 14 straight in Tuesday’s 98-79 setback to Miami, while the Cavaliers are 0-7 SU and 1-6 ATS in south Florida since LeBron James returned to Cleveland in 2014. Kevin Love suffered a concussion after getting elbowed in the first quarter on Tuesday, as the Cavs had their four-game winning streak snapped.

Cleveland travels to Charlotte with no rest to take on a streaking Hornets’ (34-41 SU, 32-39-4 ATS) squad. Even though the effort seems too little, too late for Charlotte, Steve Clifford’s team has won four straight games, coming off Monday’s overtime triumph over New York. Granted, the Hornets have beaten four lottery teams in this stretch, but Charlotte has compiled a 6-2 record in its last eight home contests.

The Cavaliers have owned the Hornets through the years by capturing eight consecutive meetings, including a pair of wins earlier this season in November. The number to keep an eye on is the 10-1 mark to the UNDER the Cavaliers possess when playing with no rest, as tonight’s total opened at 227 ½.

Minnesota Mess

Things aren’t going right at the worst possible time for the Timberwolves (42-33 SU, 33-40-2 ATS), who have dropped four of their last six games. Minnesota has slipped to the eighth seed in the Western Conference, which would pit them against Houston in the opening round of the playoffs (Wolves are 0-4 vs. the Rockets this season).

The Wolves suffered probably their most humiliating loss of the season on Monday by dropping a 101-93 decision to the Grizzlies as 13 ½-point favorites. Memphis entered that contest on a dreadful 1-23 run in its previous 24 games, while limiting Minnesota to below 100 points at home for the first time since December 10.

The Hawks (21-53 SU, 35-37-2 ATS) finish up their six-game road swing following three straight double-digit defeats at Sacramento, Golden State, and Houston. Leading scorer Dennis Schroder sat out two of those losses with an ankle injury and is unlikely to play tonight. Atlanta upset Minnesota at Philips Arena in late January, 105-100 as six-point home underdogs, while seeking its second road win in the last 12 tries.

Continue to Blaze

Portland (46-28 SU, 42-27-5 ATS) remained red-hot by rallying past New Orleans on Tuesday, 107-103 to cash as 1 ½-point road favorites. Damian Lillard led the Blazers with 41 points, while Portland limited New Orleans to 4-of-24 shooting from three-point range. The Blazers improved to 15-2 SU/ATS the last 17 games, to go along with a 7-0 SU and 6-1 ATS mark in the past seven games away from the Moda Center.

Lillard is unavailable tonight at Memphis as he returns home for the birth of his child. The Grizzlies (20-54 SU, 30-42-2 ATS) seek consecutive wins for the first time since mid-January following Monday’s upset of Minnesota. The road team has won each of the first two meetings this season, as the Blazers knocked off the Grizzlies, 100-92 at FedEx Forum in late November.

You can reach Kevin Rogers via e-mail at rogers@vegasinsider.com

Kevin Rogers can be followed on Twitter at virogers.

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