February 16, 2021 Results:

What we got right:

College Basketball:

Florida at #24 Arkansas - Arkansas won its seventh straight conference game with a 75-64 victory over the Florida Gators on Tuesday night. The Razorbacks improved to 17-5 this season and moved into second place in the SEC by themselves. Arkansas is playing its best basketball of the season, and is a team no one wants to see come the NCAA Tournament.

NBA:

Portland at Oklahoma City - Damian Lillard scored 31 points, including 12 in the final four minutes of the game to lead the Blazers to the 115-104 win over the Thunder. That is now five straight wins for Portland, who improve to 17-10 this season. The fact they are doing this with 3/5 of their opening day starters injured is a testament to the leadership that Lillard shows.

What we got wrong:

College Basketball:

#20 Missouri at Georgia - Make that three straight losses for Missouri. The Tigers had a four point lead at halftime, but were outscored 47-33 in the second half in the 80-70 loss to Georgia. The Tigers were ranked tenth just last week. Now they are in danger of falling out of the rankings completely. All of our concerns about Missouri are showing up.

Northwestern at #5 Illinois - Illinois had a 12 point lead at the break. All they had to do was win the second half and we would have gotten this game right. They let Northwestern back in the game and held on for a 73-66 win, which didn’t cover the spread. This was the theme for us yesterday. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

NBA:

Denver at Boston - The Celtics won this game by holding the Nuggets to 9-34 shooting from beyond the arc and out rebounding them 51-40. Jaylen Brown led the way for the Celtics with 27 points, while Nikola Jokic had 43 points in the 112-99 victory for the Celtics. Boston improved to 14-13 this season, while Denver fell to 15-12.

New Orleans at Memphis- The defense was non existent for the Grizzlies in this one. The Pelicans shot 61% from the field, and had 32 fast break points in the 144-113 win. This is what we have been talking about with the Pelicans. Run every time you can, and good things will happen. This team was made for fast breaks, so why not use it.

Toronto at Milwaukee - That is now four straight losses for the Bucks, and the Raptors are starting to frustrate us with how they play from game to game. If they play like they did last night consistently, we would have a lot more confidence in picking them. Unfortunately you just don’t know what Toronto team is going to show up from game to game.

Los Angeles Lakers at Minnesota - Even without Anthony Davis, the Lakers found a way to cover the 6.5 points spread. In the 112-104 win, Lebron James had 30 points and 13 rebounds. Anthony Edwards had 28 points in the loss for Minnesota, who let this game slip away in the fourth quarter.

Brooklyn at Phoenix - This game is so frustrating to us. Phoenix led the whole way, taking a 12 point lead into the fourth quarter. The Nets were without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Phoenix should not have lost this game. They were outscored 40-24 in the fourth quarter and the Nets walked away with the 128-124 victory.