Parlays

Purdue is set to take on Ohio State on Sunday, and both teams have plenty at stake in this matchup. Purdue is coming off a loss to then-No.13 Michigan State despite shooting 49% from the floor. However, their defense struggled, allowing the Spartans to shoot 53%, and nine turnovers proved costly as Michigan State converted them into 19 points. Ohio State is coming off a tough loss against Iowa, where they shot just 42% from the floor, and things won’t get any easier against this Boilermaker team. 

Purdue still has a chance to climb the Big Ten standings, and they’ll need to slow down Bruce Thornton in this matchup if they want to win. Thornton has been playing exceptionally well as of late, averaging 23.6 points per game in his last five, but Iowa’s defense was able to limit him to just 10 points, and I expect the Boilermakers to do the same thing in this matchup. Purdue has the slightly better offense in this matchup, averaging 82.6 points per game compared to Ohio State’s 79.5. Defensively, Purdue is holding opponents to 69.5 points per game compared to the Buckeyes 73.1. Ultimately, this should be an exciting game to watch, but the Boilermakers have the depth and talent to squeak out a win, making them my best bet of the day.  

Purdue vs Ohio State prediction: Purdue -6  (-115) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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It is the final day of the Missouri Valley schedule as the Drake Bulldogs host the Northern Iowa Panthers. This conference has been dominated by Belmont, who has a 4-game lead. Everyone else is jammed up and looking for a chance to take down Belmont for the automatic bid next week. Drake does not seem like that team, having lost 8 games in a row in a disastrous season. UNI is doing a bit better, although they are riding a 2-game skid of their own. This game is at Drake, but it is hard to back the Bulldogs in this spot.

Drake ranks outside the top 200 according to both KenPom and Torvik. They have struggled to find an identity all season, something they can really build around. The Bulldogs have stayed close in most games, even during a lengthy losing streak, but morale has to be running low. As for the Panthers, this team plays at a snail’s pace, 364th out of 365 in terms of tempo. But their specialty is that they absolutely do not allow made 3s, and they rebound everything. Their defense overall is 25th, as per KenPom, and it just doesn’t seem like a spot where Drake is likely to succeed. I’ll take the Panthers to cover on the road.

Northern Iowa vs Drake Prediction: Northern Iowa -4 (-115) available at the time of publishing. Playable to -6.

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The Rutgers Scarlet Knights make the quick jaunt down to College Park to battle the Maryland Terrapins. Each of these teams have 11-17 records, and each are currently projected to be No. 15 seed or lower in the Big Ten Tournament, which would mean both teams would play in the first round, needing six consecutive victories to make a miracle run to a tourney title and automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament. That’s the only path to the postseason for either team. Both teams could still win a couple of games and move up the standings, and it starts with a win on Sunday.

The Terps are 5-1 ATS in the past 6 games, although that lone non-cover was in a 68-57 loss at Rutgers on Feb. 15. The Under cashed in the first meeting with the Scarlet Knights, and the total has gone low at a 5-2 clip in the past 7 games for Maryland. For Rutgers, the Over has cashed in three in a row, and 7 of the past 8 games overall. UMD is 3-2 ATS in the past 5 games at home, and Rutgers is 4-2 ATS in the past 6 games on the road. With two bad teams, there is a lot of uncertainty. We’ll go with the Over, as that has been a dominant trend for Rutgers lately, cashing in 4 in a row on the road, and 5 of the past 6 away from home.

Rutgers vs Maryland prediction: Over 141.5 (-115) at time of publishing. Playable to 142.

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The Denver Nuggets hope their trend of alternating wins and losses continues when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday afternoon. Denver has gone back-and-forth over its past 9 games dating all the way back to February 4 and it most recently lost at Oklahoma City 127-121 in overtime on Friday, so you could say it is due for a win. The Nuggets should be able to get it, too, so my Timberwolves vs Nuggets pick is for the home team to win and cover. This marks the fourth meeting between these 2 Western Conference rivals, with Denver sweeping the regular-season head-to-head series 3-0. It got the job done 127-114 at Minnesota in October, 123-112 at Minnesota in November and 142-138 in overtime at home on Christmas Day.

Minnesota is in solid form right now, but not to the extent that you would expect the visitors to suddenly get over the hump in what is clearly a bad matchup for this club. Although the Timberwolves are 5-1 SU in their last 6 contests, they got blown out at home by Philadelphia 135-108 last weekend. Moreover, Julius Randle (21.7 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 5.3 apg) is questionable for Sunday due to back spasms. That would obviously be a huge loss down low against Nikola Jokic and company. Speaking of Jokic, he has scored at least 30 points in 3 of the last 4 games and is coming off a triple-double (23 points, 17 rebounds, 14 assists) against OKC. Give me Denver — and that’s even if Randle ends up taking the floor.

Timberwolves vs Nuggets prediction: Denver -2.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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The news coming out of Philadelphia once again isn’t good, Joel Embiid just got ruled out for the next 3 games with an oblique injury. That’s just the latest in line of a variety of injuries that have slowed down the Philly big man, he will be dearly missed in Sunday’s affair with the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Following a slow start out of the break and a 4-game losing streak, the Sixers have turned things around with 3 wins on the bounce vs Minnesota, Indiana and Miami. This team’s form has been very erratic and unpredictable this season, I would go as far as saying they are the Minnesota Timberwolves of the Eastern Conference with the way they’ve performed this season.

Meanwhile, the Celtics have been a lot more stable despite their best player not playing a single game this season and their coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for that. Jaylen Brown’s breakout season hasn’t gone unnoticed, he is very much a top 4 NBA MVP candidate this season along with SGA, Joker and Cade. Boston’s only slip up after the break happened in Denver where they got beat by 19 points at the hands of the Nuggets, in a 2nd night of a back-to-back scenario. Things returned to normal with a dominant 148-111 win over the Nets the other day, Boston went off for 22 threes made in that game and a field goal percentage of over 66%. Doing that against a tanking Nets team is hardly a measuring stick, but it’s always nice to get a big win in preparation for a big game.

Philadelphia does lead the regular season series 2-1, they also stole a game at TD Garden on opening night by a point back in late October. The fact that they can lose by 8 points here and still cover is very tempting, the 3 meetings this season so far have been decided by just a combined 4 points. I guess it makes more sense to back the underdogs here, so let’s give Philadelphia the benefit of the doubt and back the Sixers plus the points.

 Philadelphia 76ers vs Boston Celtics Predictions: 76ers +9 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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The Thunder played their hearts out on Thursday, spending a ton of energy by beating their number one competitor in the Western Conference the Denver Nuggets in OT. SGA returned triumphantly following a long absence due to injury, he will look to lead his team to an easy win on Sunday in Dallas. The Thunder still have a few notable players out injury, including Ajay Mitchell and Jalen Williams. Their last trip to Dallas saw them win by just 7 points back in late October, they do lead the regular season series 2-0 ahead of Sunday’s 3rd and final meeting.

Dallas has split their last 4 games coming into this one, despite a tough injury situation which has seen their rookie and leader Cooper Flagg miss multiple games. The foot injury has kept him out for over 2 weeks of play now, and his ROY award is in jeopardy with Kon Knueppel playing extremely well for the Charlotte Hornets. We probably won’t see Flagg return on Sunday, but I would imagine it’s happening this upcoming week at some point. Despite all their troubles this season the Mavs are still 16-16 ATS in home games this season, playing hard on the defensive end as they don’t really have a consistent three-ball.

A blowout is expected here, the oddsmakers have favored the road team by 15.5 points. I don’t believe the Mavs will go away without a fight here though, the last 6 meetings have seen them cover 4 times. OKC’s 31-30 ATS record is far from convincing from a bettors’ perspective, so I’ll take the Mavericks plus the points here.

OKC Thunder vs Dallas Mavericks Predictions: Mavericks +15.5 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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The Florida Panthers and New York Islanders meet for a Sunday evening showdown in the NHL. These teams have met once this season, in a dominant 4-1 win by the Panthers on home ice in December. Can they repeat that result as the road team? Here is our Panthers vs. Lightning to get you set for the action.

In their one meeting this season, we saw a total of 5 goals scored, which is a total I expect to see in this one. Neither team has shown to be an extremely-high goal scorer, as the Islanders (2.88) and Panthers (3.00) rank 22nd and 19th respectively in NHL goals per game average. On the other side of the puck, New York owns the 4th-best goals against average (2.72) and third-best save percentage (.909). On home ice riding a 2-game winning streak, I think New York will give the Florida offense issues in their efforts to score. Florida has been strong defensively in a short time span, giving up just 4 goals in their two games. This will be a hard-fought and gritty contest, one where I don’t expect a ton of goals. With that in mind, take the under 5.5 for our Panthers vs. Islanders prediction.

Panthers vs. Islanders prediction: Under 5.5 (+105) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number to (-110).

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The St. Louis Blues are starting a four-game road trip with a stop in Minnesota to face the Wild. This game is the tail end of a back-to-back, marking their third game in four nights. The Blues have struggled to generate offense, averaging just over 25 shots and 2.58 goals per game. Additionally, they have had difficulty keeping the puck out of their own net, and their penalty-killing has been equally ineffective. Overall, there isn’t much positivity in their performance this season.

On the other hand, the Wild are competing fiercely for the top spot in the Central Division. They are looking to bounce back from a recent 5-2 loss to the Utah Mammoth and return to their winning ways. The Wild’s offense has been consistent, largely thanks to their power play, which is converting at a 25.8% rate. If the Blues find themselves in penalty trouble, it could turn into a very challenging night for them. With their depth and superior overall roster, we can expect Minnesota to play at a fast pace and score goals consistently.

Blues vs Wild Prediction: Wild -1.5 (+100) available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number or better.

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The Calgary Flames conclude their California trip with a matchup against the Anaheim Ducks. This season, the Flames have struggled to score, a problem evident in their recent game, where they were significantly outshot by the Los Angeles Kings, another team not known for generating scoring chances. The Flames were unable to score a goal, and if it weren’t for the outstanding performance of goaltender Dustin Wolf, the final score could have been much worse than 2-0.

Now, they face a Ducks team that has no trouble finding the back of the net. Anaheim is averaging just over 30 shots on goal and scoring 3.28 goals per game. While their defensive struggles have been well-documented throughout the season, they have proven to be formidable in creating scoring chances. Despite injuries to some key players, they have managed to score 11 goals in two games since returning from the Olympic break. The Ducks are currently just three points behind the top team in the Pacific Division, so a victory tonight could significantly enhance their standings. Expect Anaheim to come out strong and make it very difficult for the Flames on Sunday.

Flames vs Ducks Prediction: Ducks 3-Way ML (-115) available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number or better.

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