NBA Thursday Hoops

With the New York Yankees champions of baseball for a 27th time and college basketball and NFL Thursday games starting next week, the NBA has a rather uncluttered sports marketplace for its televised doubleheader on TNT. Take a gander at tonight’s matchups and key betting information.

Chicago at Cleveland 8:00E

The idea behind bring in Shaquille O’Neal was to have greater inside presence and be able to contain Orlando’s Dwight Howard and Boston’s big men once the playoffs started. Cleveland coach Mike Brown new it would take time for all the pieces to mesh together, but Cavaliers fans expected everything to work from day one. After the Cavs (3-2, 2-3 ATS) lost first two games, Cleveland talk radio was alive, wondering what was wrong. Since then, cooler heads have prevailed and the Cavaliers will be going after fourth straight win this season. Coach Brown is defensive-minded and while the offense has not sorted out completely, his club is 11-2 ATS after three or more consecutive Under’s.

Chicago (2-2, 1-3 ATS) is a .500 team, in spite of horrible offensive start. The Bulls are shooting 40.9 percent from the field (27th), making only 22.2 percent from behind the arc (29th) and are dreadful 69.9 percent (27th) from the charity stripe. Despite all iron clanging, they trailed Milwaukee at home by 18 points in the third quarter and roared back to win 83-81. Chicago is integrating Luol Deng back into the lineup after missing the last quarter of the season and playoffs with leg stress fracture.

Bookmaker.com has Cleveland as 10.5-point favorite, with total of 187.5. The Cavs are 9-2 SU and ATS against Chicago in last 11 meetings and they are 15-5 ATS after a cover as a double digit favorite. The Bulls will look to be a pesky underdog and they are 7-2-1 ATS when catching 5 to 10.5 points as visiting pooch.

San Antonio at Utah 10:30 E

The San Antonio Spurs (2-1 SU&ATS) in the offseason set out to get younger and more athletic up and down the roster, without altering its three core players. The too early to tell results have the Spurs scoring 113 points twice in three games, which is a dramatic shift. The most important acquisition was Richard Jefferson, giving San Antonio a wing player that adds versatility. Keeping Manu Ginobili as healthy as possible is imperative, since he’s a great scoring option off the bench and clutch fourth quarter scorer. The 19-point victory over Sacramento on Halloween means the Spurs are rested, however just 3-13-1 ATS after a double digit triumph.

Utah (1-3 SU&ATS) will try to avoid its slowest start in seven seasons. The Jazz appeared set to be .500, but were outscored 44-18 at Dallas in the fourth quarter, as they had no answer for Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 29 of his 40 points in the last 12 minutes, handing Utah a 96-85 avalanche-like loss.

Utah’s resolve will be tested as 1.5-point home underdogs with total of 199.5. The Jazz are 15-4 ATS in home games after failing to cover three of their last four against the spread, but are just 5-18 ATS as underdogs. The Spurs are 2-5 ATS at Utah in last seven tries; however the favorite covers 75 percent of the time (21-7) when these two Western Conference squads collide.