Betting Picks

No matter how you slice it, when the Houston Rockets meet up with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Rockets slice and dice the T-Wolves. Houston has won three in a row from Minnesota. They have also taken 11 of the last 12 games between the two teams and 15 of the last 17. You have to go all the way back to the 2011-12 season to find Minnesota beating Houston more than once.

The UFC comes to Australia for the 11th time, but UFC 221 will be the first card ever to be contested in Perth. The main event for the tilt Down Under has gone under a couple of times. Originally slated as a middleweight title unification bout between Georges St-Pierre and David Whittaker, both fighters eventually pulled out, ultimately leaving Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero to contest the main event.

When it comes time to talk about the hottest team in the NHL, lately the talk starts and stops with the Boston Bruins. The Bruins have points in 22 of their last 23 games, going 18-1-4. You won't hear any such talk regarding the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres have points in two straight games (1-0-1) but in just 11 of their last 23 (7-12-4).

There's only one Kentucky Derby qualifying race on the schedule for Saturday, but it should be a good one. The (G3) Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs goes 1 1/16 miles on the dirt and offers a purse of $250,000, while the field includes two runners currently in the Top 20 in Derby qualifying.

No contender needed a shakeup more than the moribund Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Cavaliers definitely got shook up, surrounding LeBron James with a new cast of characters, bringing in four new faces and jettisoning five players from the roster. One of them, Dwayne Wade, returned to Miami and will make his reappearance for the Heat against Milwaukee. Meanwhile, the Detroit Pistons and L.A. Clippers clash just days after making a six-player blockbuster.

Until the launch of the Pegasus World Cup in the United States two years ago, the $10 million Dubai World Cup was by far the richest horse race in the world. Despite it's second-place status in purse money, it's still a major event, and Bovada has future bet options on the March 31 race.

When the NHL season got underway, not many would have touted the Calgary Flames and New Jersey Devils as contenders, but both teams find themselves situated in playoff positions today as they clash at the the Prudential Center. On the other hand, the vast majority would have pegged the Chicago Blackhawks as postseason certainties, but as they face the Dallas Stars, the Blackhawks are seven points of a playoff position.

With the Feb. 8 NBA trade deadline fast approaching, teams must determine quickly whether they are buyers, sellers, or that they are satisfied with the chemistry of their club and find no reason to alter the team. But deadline deals can create a domino effect. The Detroit Pistons are 4-0 since acquiring Blake Griffin, which may cause other teams on the Eastern playoff bubble to make a counter move.

Two games behind the Boston Celtics, if the Toronto Raptors don't beat Boston at home, hopes of winning the East grow dim. We like this tilt as part of a four-game NBA parlay on Tuesday that also sees Milwaukee and New York square off for the second time in five days, and two rivalry games, as Golden State goes up against Oklahoma City, while Philadelphia tangles with Washington.