darrell,

2-2 last night. Three picks tonight.

My NBA Power Rankings are here.

Good luck , darrell!

**Houston +12 over DALLAS (8:05 Eastern)

Oddsmakers like the Mavericks in this one, opening the line at 11 in favor of Dallas. The line has moved even further and while the T-Mac-less Rockets may be in for a tough night, I think this is a generous amount of points. Houston is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 away games against Dallas plus they look for same season revenge as the Mavericks beat the Rockets 95-81 earlier this year. Last time out at Toyota Center against Los Angeles, the Rockets lost to the Clippers 99-91. The Mavericks will try to forget a 100-89 loss at the hands of the Nets. Dallas is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 home games. Underdogs of 10 or more points revenging a loss where team scored less than 85 points are 37-12 (76%) ATS the last five seasons when coming off a home loss. Two stars on the Rockets plus the points.

**NEW ORLEANS +3 over LA Clippers (8:05 Eastern)

With an 0-8 SU/ATS record in their last eight games, the Hornets need a victory in a very big way. Despite that skid, the playoffs are still within striking distance for New Orleans. Tonight, they'll host a Clippers against whom the Hornets are 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games. We catch the Clippers off a win at Houston last night and I find them to be 8-12 SU on the back end of back-to-back games. I expect the revenge-minded Hornets to give them everything they can handle tonight as they are a healthy 28-16 ATS (including 8-3 ATS this season) when playing with two day's rest. Let's take the points with the motivated and rested home dog for two stars.

 **UTAH +5.5 over Phoenix (10:35 Eastern)

The Phoenix Suns haven't lost consecutive games in nearly 2 months, but there's a great chance it happens tonight as they go on the road to Utah. The Jazz have lost 4 of 5 and are due for a breakout game. Utah's physical players will give Phoenix problems. Boozer and Okur will both have success and rookie Deron Williams will eat Phoenix alive as he is a big, physical guard. Jerry Sloan teams are great at dictating tempo, which is what Phoenix does better than anyone in the league but need to run to win and  the Jazz defense won't let Phoenix's offense run as smoothly as they like here. I see this one going down to the wire with Utah having a decent chance to win outright. Two stars on the Jazz.