STEPHEN NOVER
40-Dime Air Force Falcons
San Diego State is a young, talented and athletic team. These are also reasons why the Aztecs are overpriced in this matchup.
Air Force plays a slow-paced, half-court game employing a Princeton-type of offense consisting of frequent passes while milking the shot clock down. Defensively the Falcons employ a zone defense.
San Diego State is not a good shooting team, especially from long-range. The Aztecs rank 284th in 3-point shooting hitting 31.2 percent of their shots from beyond the arc. They have struggled against zone defenses all season.
Air Force is playing its finest ball of the season. The Falcons hung in at UNLV two games ago easily covering an 18 1/2-point spread and then ended a 22-game regular-season Mountain West conference losing streak this past Saturday with a 70-63 victory against Wyoming.
The Falcons had turned the ball over 78 times while recording just 55 assists during their first six Mountain West games. But against Wyoming, the Falcons had 19 assists and only nine turnovers. The victory against Wyoming is a big confidence boost for Air Force.
One reason for Air Force playing better is a return to health of senior Grant Parker, who has played in the last three games after missing 10 games because of a pelvis injury. He was averaging a team-high 17.1 points and 7.1 rebounds before he was injured.
Air Force is the worst team in the Mountain West. But the Falcons can be hard to prepare against because of their Princeton offense and boring style. San Diego State doesn't have the patience and discipline to properly prepare.
The Aztecs are extremely young and have a much more important game on Saturday versus New Mexico on the road. That's the game the Aztecs are pointing to not this matchup.
20-Dime Cleveland Cavaliers
Memo to any non-believer: The Memphis Grizzlies are good. They proved it again last night holding off the Lakers in the final seconds to win, 95-93, at home.
The Grizzlies' reward? They now get to fly to Cleveland to take on a Cavaliers squad playing the second of a season-high eight straight home games. Memphis, on the other hand, will be playing for the fourth time in five days.
The Cavaliers are riding a season-best eight-game winning streak. They are 19-3 at home. The Cavs have also defeated Memphis five consecutive times at home.
The Grizzlies, though, edged the Cavaliers, 111-109, in overtime when the teams last met on Dec. 8 in Memphis. Mike Conley scored the winning basket on a layup with three seconds left. Cleveland blew an 11-point halftime lead.
It's payback time for the Cavaliers and the situation couldn't be more ripe. The Grizzlies are off perhaps their most satisfying victory of the season knocking off the defending world champions, proving they are indeed a playoff contender.
But that game was physically and mentally exhausting for the Grizzlies. Rudy Gay went 44 minutes and Zach Randolph logged 42 minutes.
The Cavaliers are going to take care of business here. They are 15-7-1 ATS versus teams with a winning record. They are not going to overlook Memphis.
Shaquille O'Neal has been playing well lately averaging 17.5 points during his last six games. He should overpower Marc Gasol. The Cavaliers haven't missed a beat despite injuries to guards Mo Williams and Delonte West thanks to the versatility of LeBron James, the best basketball player in the world.
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Originally Posted by robertroemer254
