Hi Pregame community!

Today's NBA Card is big and I've just inserted one play on my pacakge for today.

I'm currently working on the rest of the card right now. For now, here are some previews for some of today's games:

New Jersey @ Dallas

The Nets lost yesterday against the Rockets by 26 points and this was the third consecutive big loss for them (remember that they lost by 17 points in Orlando and by 15 points against the Spurs). The Rockets outmuscled the Nets in every stat, my attention goes to the boards where the Nets were outrebounded by 30-56 and they only had 2 offensive rebounds, with no starter being able to grab a single offensive rebound! This will be a back to back game for the Nets, a spot where they are 8-3 ATS in this season while being road underdogs. The Mavericks meanwhile are playing better lately by winning 7 of the last 10 games, the three losses was against Boston twice and in Utah against the Jazz and some of the wins were against quality teams like Orlando, Miami or Portland. This is a big revenge game for them, as in December the Nets spanked them by121-97 at home with former Mavs player Devin Harris scoring 41 points! Harris had a tough night yesterday, but he will be looking to make a bounce back game tonight. The Mavs haven't been a great team at home this season (8-17 ATS), but this game is special for them.


Denver @ Philadelphia

The Sixers lost yesterday against the Pacers, in a game that we expected them to be more competitive; they trailed by many as 20 points and missed 56 field goals. Today they will return at home and face the red hot Denver Nuggets' team. The Sixers are 14-5 L19 games and most of the wins of that run were at home where they defeated innumerous top teams like the Spurs, Blazers, Heat or the Suns. Naturally they will play better today, but the Nuggets impressed anyone just before the all star break with the back to back wins in Miami and in Orlando. The most amazing fact is that they only allowed 82 and 73 points in those games! This is the second game between these teams and in the first one, the Nuggets trailed as many as 17 points just to rallied back in the fourth quarter.


Orlando @ New Orleans

Dwight Howard made the best game of his career last night against the Bobcats with 45 points, 19 rebounds and 8 blocks, wow! The Magic are struggling right now in the perimeter and Howard was the reliable option in that game, clearly it wasn't a bad idea, as Howard can dominate the paint. The Magic had a much needed win after an awful exhibition in the previous contest against Denver and they will travel today to New Orleans to face the Hornets. I have to remember that the Magic are 5-0 ATS in back to back games played on the road this season. Meanwhile the Hornets won a tough game in Oklahoma City in a game that they had an early lead. Tyson Chandler is gone as the Hornets traded him to OKC for Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox. The Hornets are a tough team to beat at home, but lately they had some tough losses at home: Boston, Chicago, Portland and Golden State.


Minnesota @ Miami

For this game, we will see the new look of the Miami Heat after the trade with the Raptors that send Jermaine O'Neal and Jamario Moon to Miami. The first look of the trade is that it is great for the Heat, after all the Heat lacked one big man down the post to do the job that Joel Anthony and Jamaal Magloire can't do: rebounding, blocking and be an offensive threat. The key question is to find how much time this team will need to be working properly? Tonight they will face the Wolves who are coming from a loss in Washington last night. Without Al Jefferson, everything looks tough for this team and they lost their last 5 games (0-5 ATS as well) and 8 of the last 9 games. They are a young team without confidence and the Heat can take advantage from it.


Chicago @ Milwaukee

Can somebody explain me why in the hell the Bulls are favorites on the road against a red hot Milwaukee team? We are talking about a team that just beat the Rockets, the Pacers and the Pistons in the last 3 games and even though they won against a not so good team of the Pistons, the fact is that they won the game with authority. I know this is a back to back game for the Bucks, but they have the momentum on their side. The Bulls once again are involved with some trade rumors and this can hurt the team focus and chemistry. Recently they finished a strong west road trip, but they were underdogs.


Cleveland @ Toronto

Despite having one of the best records in the league, the Cavs are linked to several trade rumors involving Stoudemire, Bosh, Jamison or Camby. Can this be a distraction for the team? They went to the all star break in a good mood after spanking the Suns at home, but on the road they aren't consistent lately: 4-9 ATS L13 road games. Shawn Marion will play the first game with a Raptors uniform and it will be interesting to watch the Raptors new version, remember that Chris Bosh is questionable and he could be the key for this game, as the Raptors without Jermaine O'Neal need a big man down the post to compete against the powerful frontcourt of the Cavs. The Raptors won back to back games just before the all star break and their last win against the Spurs was really impressive!


Indiana @ Charlotte

The Pacers had a quality win against a quality team; the problem is their next game! Already in this season, we saw the Pacers won games against top teams just to fall short in the next game against beatable teams. The last time this happened the Pacers beat at home the Magic just to lose the next game in Washington, so what will happen today? The Bobcats had a mad loss last night in Orlando. If Raja Bell didn't miss one late free throw we would be taking in here about a huge upset win for them. They are a hungry team tonight, looking for a bounce back. Gerald Wallace and Raja Bell returned in that game and the Bobcats have the material to make a good run in this second half of the season.

FREE PICK:

Orlando Magic @ New Orleans Hornets

This is the biggest game of the night and a good matchup in perspective. Both teams played yesterday and despite winning their games, both teams had a tough night: Orlando beat the Bobcats only after overtime and they needed a late trey of J.J Redick to send the game to overtime and the Hornets needed a late shot from Chris Paul to beat the Thunder.

Without Tyson Chandler, the Hornets will have some problems down the post and this isn't a good time to face the Magic, as Dwight Howard had a monster game last night. However I think this is not the key for this game and I'll explain why. The Magic are struggling right now from the perimeter, in the last 3 games they shoot 6-20, 9-31 and 9-24 behind the arc. We are talking about 30%, 29% and 37 % from a team who need badly to make a huge number of treys to be competitive. Because they are failing right now they went to Dwight Howard yesterday and the Superman finished the game with 45 points for a 16-23 FG and 19 rebounds. Despite the big night from Howard, the Magic almost lost the game against the?.Bobcats! Now the challenge will be very different, probable Howard will have big numbers, but this isn't enough for the Magic to beat top teams.

Meanwhile the Hornets aren't the same dominant team like they were last season. However Chris Paul continues to dominate down the stretch and the biggest mismatch for this game will be CP3 vs Anthony Johnson. Johnson granted don't have the speed to stop Chris Paul and the Magic will be torched tonight. Even Raymond Felton who isn't a good shooter managed to finish last game with 22 points (10-21 from the field), 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Imagine what Chris Paul can do tonight?

This is a big revenge game for the Hornets. I remember that the Magic spanked the Hornets at home on Christmas in a National TV game. The Magic already led 61-31 at  halftime in that game and the Hornets have some business to handle tonight. Remember that they are 15-4 ATS in home games revenging a same season loss against an opponent over the last 2 seasons and they have great chances to win this game against a top team like the Magic who aren't playing at their best lately.

SINGLE DIME PLAY on New Orleans Hornets (-1,5) 

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