February 4, 2021 Picks:

College Basketball:

#8 Iowa (-5.5) at #7 Ohio State - Their are only two games involving ranked teams today, but one of them features a top ten showdown in the Big Ten. This is the first of two matchups in February for the Hawkeyes and Buckeyes, and we think that that 5.5 points is too much. This will be a close game that Iowa wins. Pick: Iowa 77 Ohio State 75

#1 Gonzaga (-23) at Pacific - Gonzaga has had a wild ride this week. Both of their games were postponed due to Covid, so they tried to schedule another non-conference marquee game. When that didn’t materialize they moved their game against Pacific up a week. These two teams already played and Gonzaga won by 46 points, so we are going to take them to cover here. Pick: Gonzaga 92 Pacific 54

NBA:

Utah (-7.5) at Atlanta - Utah puts the best record in the NBA on the line when they face a Hawks team coming off a tough loss to the Mavericks last night. We like the Jazz to cover this if both teams had the same amount of rest, but with the extra rest we feel like this is a big win for the Jazz. Pick: Utah 123 Atlanta 106

Golden State at Dallas (-2.5) - Dallas finally snapped its six game losing streak with a win over the Hawks last night, and now get to face a Warriors team that has won three out of its last five games. Another situation where we are going with the team that has had extra rest, as Golden State didn’t play last night while Dallas did. Pick: Golden State 124 Dallas 120

Portland at Philadelphia (-8.5) - We hate picking the 76ers in second games of back to backs. We don’t know who is going to play. Even if they don’t have Embiid, they will have too much for the Trail Blazers to keep up with. Give us the 76ers to defend their home court with a double digit win. Pick: Philadelphia 125 Portland 111

Houston at Memphis (-2.5) - We know Victor Oladipo won’t play in this game for the Rockets. Houston is holding him out of back to backs this season. Memphis is the more rested team and they like to run. We think that Houston will run out of gas and the Grizzlies will hand them their second straight loss. Pick: Memphis 116 Houston 107

Denver at Los Angeles Lakers (-5) - The Lakers are back in Staples Center for the first time since January 18th, and now that they have their home cooking, will cover this spread. We like the way Denver is playing, but the Lakers are well rested and will come out ready to go. Pick: Los Angeles Lakers 126 Denver 117

Happy picking everyone!