Sports Handicapper ASA's Picks & Predictions

ASA NBA play on Minnesota Timberwolves -12.5 at Indiana Pacers, 7:10pm ET - The T’Wolves have incentive to win here as they would lock up a top 6 seed in the Western Conference and avoid the play in tournament. The Pacers are by far the easiest win on the remaining schedule so expect the Wolves to go all out here so they can rest after tonight. Indiana had a slight bump in their play recently, but injuries have taken a massive toll on their roster as they’ll dress just 9 players tonight and are missing their top 5 scorers. We also like the fact that Minnesota is off 3 straight losses, including a home defeat most recently to the Hornets. Looking back at Minnesota’s schedule they are just 14-11 SU in their last 25 games BUT the eleven losses all came against current playoff bound teams. In their last two games against non-playoff teams or teams on the Pacers level, they have a 30-point win in Dallas and a 36-point win over the Jazz. As we mentioned, the Pacers had some of their regulars back in the lineup in recent weeks and played well, but in their last two games they’ve suffered two double-digit defeats. Indiana has the second worst record in the NBA at 18-60, just one more win than the Wizards who have 17. Minnesota should take advantage of the Pacers porous defense that allows opponents to hit 49% of their field goal attempts overall and 35.7% of their 3PT attempts. The Wolves are the 9th best shooting team in the league overall and 6th best in 3PT%. Lay it here with Minnesota.

#915 ASA PLAY ON Baltimore Orioles -140 over Chicago White Sox, Tuesday at 3:10 PM ET - This looks like a complete pitching mismatch. The Orioles Trevor Rogers is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA this season and this is on the heels of a 9-3 season with a 1.81 ERA last season with Baltimore! It has been a much different story for Shane Smith. The White Sox right-hander could not make it out of the 2nd inning versus the Brewers and then only completed 3 innings versus the Marlins. Smith is 0-2 with a 19.29 ERA so far this season. The Orioles have the better bullpen too plus they are hitting .247 versus righties this season while the White Sox are hitting .216 against lefties and face a red hot southpaw (Rogers) in this one. Lay the moderate, yet reasonable, money line price Tuesday with Baltimore

#911/912 ASA PLAY ON Under 7 Runs (-115) – Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Guardians, Tuesday at 1:10 PM ET - The weather would be better for the Kansas City Chiefs to be visiting the Cleveland Browns today rather than the Royals visiting the Guardians.  Indeed it is Football Weather in Cleveland today with high temperatures expected to only be around freezing.  In fact this was supposed to be an evening game today but got moved to 1 pm et to try and at least have slightly better weather.  The fact is that the frigidly cold temperatures (wind making it worse) and a solid pitching match-up here mean an under is quite likely.  The Royals Noah Cameron is off of a solid start to begin his new season and he has a solid 2.95 ERA in his 25 career starts.  The Guardians Gavin Williams has been practically unhittable in his first two starts this season and also has piled up 17 strikeouts in 12 innings.  Kansas City has played 4 road games this season and 3 have totaled 6 or less runs.  Cleveland has had only 1 over in their last 7 games and the 6 unders all totaled 6 or less runs.  Our computer math model projects a total of only 5 runs here and even if it gets to 6 that is still a winning ticket for us. Bet the Under in this one. 

ASA NHL TOP PLAY ON Vegas Golden Knights Puck Line (-1.5 goals +105) over Vancouver Canucks, Tuesday at 10:05 PM ET - Vegas is rolling since they made the move to veteran head coach John Tortorella.  The Golden Knights have won 3 straight games and those victories were by a combined score of 15 to 6 and all 3 wins covered the puck line of -1.5 goals.  Vegas will do it again here as they take advantage of facing a very bad Canucks team that they also already beat 4-2 in Tortorella's debut.  Vancouver has not only lost 8 of its last 9 games, each of its last 10 losses have been by a multi-goal margin.  There certainly are no signs of that changing here and this should be another ugly loss for a Canucks team that simply can not wait for this rough season to come to an end.  Road team in a blowout per our computer math model.  Laying the 1.5 goals with road favorite Vegas is the value play here.  

Champions League Quarter Finals: #224201 ASA TOP PLAY ON Arsenal Money Line -120 over Sporting Lisbon, Tuesday at 3 ET - The First Leg of this tie is in Portugal and that is why we are able to get a reasonable price on Arsenal and we love them in this spot. Arsenal is off B2B losses but this included a loss to Manchester City in the EFL Cup followed by a 2-1 loss to Southampton in the FA Cup. Neither of those matches carry the importance of Champions League of course and now Arsenal is ready to blowout Sporting Lisbon here. The last time these clubs met the Gunners did win 5 to 1 here in Portugal in a blowout and we expect another solid win here. The set up is perfect here as Sporting Lisbon is off of 3 straight wins but Arsenal enters off B2B losses for the first time this season. Arsenal had key guys back in training yesterday and those guys have been pronounced as good to go for Tuesday per manager Mike Arteta. Also, Arsenal's last two important matches, one in Premier League and one in Champions League, were both 2-0 wins. When this Arsenal side is focused and healthier (like they are now) they are tough to beat. The last 3 wins for Sporting Lisbon were against much weaker foes and now they face the leaders of the Premier League which is the best league in the world. Take advantage of the line value here and look for Arteta to put on one of his masterclass performances in terms of the game plan for this match! We will lay the small price with Arsenal for a Top Game in this one.