darrell,

Two picks tonight in the NBA.

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Good luck , darrell!

Game: Memphis at Minnesotta (8:05 PM Eastern)
Pick: 2 stars on Memphis +1

We learned a lot about Memphis last night. Despite the fact that it would hurt them to win the game against the Clippers as they would have to play the Mavs on the road as compared to hosting a team at home, they still chose to play hard and won the game. They remained very professional and showed their desire to win. Members of the team have said that they do not care who they play as they feel they have the talent to matchup with anyone in the post season. Memphis will rest starters tonight and that's why we get them as a dog against a bad Minnesota team. Memphis beat the T-Wolves by 16 at home recently. Ricky Davis and Kevin Garnett are still questionable for this game as their appearance is unlikely given that the Timberwolves have nothing to gain from this game besides risking even more injury to their talented duo. Regarless of who starts, Memphis is simply playing better ball and they still have the better talent out on the floor that is in sync. In addition, Memphis is a stellar 7-0 ATS in their last 7 while the Timberwolves are 2-8 ATS over their last 10 games. The icing on the cake is that the Grizzlies are 5-1 ATS in the head to head matchup between these two teams and they are 7-1 SU and ATS in late season play coming into this game.

Utah and Golden State have had an interesting series this year that has gone largely unnoticed. The road team has won each of their 3 games, as Utah has taken 2/3 including the last game in OT at Golden State. Yes, Golden State has revenge, but it will be quite hard to defeat the Jazz today without Baron Davis. Furthermore, this is the final impression the Jazz will make on their home crowd as this team was riddled with injuries throughout the season and attempts to go .500 as they are currently 40-41. This is a key game in some respects, as Coach Sloan in a bit of a morale booster can tell his troops that even with injuries at one point to their stars including Kirilenko or Okur, this team still managed to finish .500 and who only knows if everyone stayed healthy how well they could have done. The Warriors are 0-6 in their last 6 as an underdog of 0-5 points on the road, where as the Jazz return home and are 5-2 of late after a SU loss. Let's take the Jazz here trying to reach the .500 mark in front of the home crowd against a team that they have shown that they can beat twice on the opposing court.