BOSTON at CHARLOTTE
(Online Sports Line: Celtics -7.5 , Total 181.5) — For what it’s worth, the Celtics are 10-2 ATS playing on Sundays, but maybe the more important pointspread trend is that Charlotte is just 7-21 ATS when playing a team with a winning record. This has been an outright disaster for Michael Jordan and the team he owns in Charlotte, as the Bobcats have not won since March 17. In six of the last ten games, they have allowed better than 51% from the field, while failing to cover any of the last five, losing by an average of close to 22 points a game. On an overall basis they have been outscored by 13 points on average, and even though they shot 45% in both meetings with Boston this season, they have lost those games by double digits. Even if they have to go without Ray Allen and/or Paul Pierce in this one, the effort at both ends of the floor that can be generated by Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo & Co. should be enough to make things comfortable. The Celtics had an awful outing against Toronto a few nights ago, but bounced back nicely with a 12-point win over New Jersey. Only one opponent in the last thirteen has shot better than 42% against these Celts.

JAY’S ONLINE SPORTS PLAY: BOSTON -7.5 **

(All information is for news matter only; All games are graded on a scale of 1-4 stars. Lines are subject to change)

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DETROIT at MIAMI
(Online Sports - Line: Heat -12.5 , Total 190) — The good news for the Pistons is that Rodney Stuckey will most likely to play in this game, and he supplies some of the offensive explosiveness this club sometimes lacks. Detroit’s been covering numbers - 21 of their last 31, in fact - and the Pistons are getting good shooting of late, following four efforts of less than 39% in a five-game period with three 51%-plus games out of four. So will the real Pistons stand up? And what will the Heat be able to do to subdue them? Miami followed its intense win over Oklahoma City with a flat effort against Memphis, where the Heat scored just 32 points in the first half. The sunny side is that they came back with 50 points in the second half, and one might expect something more intense here. Miami is one of the better defensive teams, so we won’t look for red-hot Detroit shooting, which has been a major reason this team has gone over the total in four straight games. And the Heat has played at a much slower pace than they were earlier in the season, which has resulted in eight unders in the last dozen.

ONLINE SPORTS PLAY: UNDER 190 **

(All information is for news matter only; All games are graded on a scale of 1-4 stars. Lines are subject to change)

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NIT Tournament
MINNESOTA at MIDDLE TENNESSEE
(Online Sports Line: Middle Tennessee -3.5, Total 134.5) — This is obviously a big game for the MTSU program, as it would be moving to Madison Square Garden for the NIT Final Four, and that would certainly help to cool the sting of not making it to the NCAA’s, as the Blue Raiders were clearly the best team in the Sun Belt Conference this season. Coming off the big win against Tennessee, MTSU is working on momentum.

What could handicap the Blue Raiders is if they falter at the free throw line, because this is one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country. LaRon Dendy, the Sun Belt player of the year, was held to ten points against the Vols, but 6′3″ guard Bruce Massey came out of nowhere to score 20 points and pull down ten rebounds. Both of those were season highs, and we won’t count on him to duplicate that. Tubby Smith’s style is that he likes to shut down the big scorers, so MTSU will have to find alternative sources of offense. Minnesota went into its season finale with a six-game losing streak, but has come on, with four wins in its last five games, and after wins at LaSalle and Miami, may be peaking at the right time. Ralph Sampson III may be back, and that would be great, though he may not be 100%, but Rodney Williams has become the legitimate go-to guy for this squad, with 20 or more points in each of the last three games.

JAY’S ONLINE SPORTS PLAY: MINNESOTA +3.5 **

(All information is for news matter only; All games are graded on a scale of 1-4 stars. Lines are subject to change)

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CBI Tournament
DELAWARE at BUTLER
(Online Sports Betting: Butler -10, Total 136) — Listen, whichever way you slice it, this is a come-down for Butler, in light of the fact that the Bulldogs have been the national runner-up the last two seasons. At the same time, you have to realize that this team did not have what it took to get to the Big Dance this season, because they sorely missed the leadership of people like Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard. So now what? Well, we are not expecting that the Bulldogs are going to roll over and play dead, but with just 28% beyond the arc, we don’t know if they have what it takes to extend a margin against this Delaware team, which not only defends well (just 39% shooting allowed), but did so in the tough Colonial Athletic Association, which sent VCU to the Final Four last season. The Blue Hens had a hot streak going down the stretch, with nine straight wins (including victories over capable teams like George Mason and Georgia State) before losing in the conference tourney. In six of the last seven games they have held the opponent to less than 40%, so they will have some defensive puzzles that Butler might find very difficult to solve.

JAY’S PLAY: DELAWARE +10 ***

(All information is for news matter only; All games are graded on a scale of 1-4 stars. Lines are subject to change)

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SAN DIEGO STATE at AIR FORCE
(Online Sports Odds: San Diego State -4.5, Total 120.5) — There’s a lot less faith in the Aztecs than there had been previously, a result of three losses in the last five games. If you break these down, however, you’ll see that one of them, against Colorado State, came after exhaustive travel, and the other two were to teams that will be going to the Big Dance (UNLV, New Mexico).

Michael Lyons gave the Falcons a boost the other night with 24 points against a Wyoming that tries to slow the pace (not a bad thing for Air Force) but couldn’t slow Lyons. Such a thing isn’t very likely against SDSU, as Steve Fisher’s defense will be designed to gang up on Lyons, and the Aztecs will make sure Air Force does not hit a lot from the perimeter (allowed one trey in EIGHTEEN attempts in last meeting). The Falcons had lost seven in a row AND gone through a coaching change before the victory at Laramie.

JAY’S ONLINE SPORTS PLAY: SAN DIEGO STATE -4.5 **

(All information is for news matter only; All games are graded on a scale of 1-4 stars. Lines are subject to change)

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