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Watch as Zack Cimini and Kellyinvegas take a look at a few key games in week ten of the NFL season.
Follow@cimini
Watch as Zack Cimini and Kellyinvegas take a look at a few key games in week ten of the NFL season.
Follow@cimini
The Cleveland Cavaliers are 1-3 to start the season. People that jumped on the Cavaliers to win the NBA title at favorite odds are turning queasy. Lets not jump the gun on proclaiming the Cavaliers are going to struggle the entire season. The NBA is a labyrinth sport like baseball that will be full of team momentum swings. Just take a look at the Indiana Pacers of a season ago.
LeBron James has been through this before in Miami. Superstar talent did not blend and mesh right away and took almost a full season to transpire. That team was molded similarly to the Cavaliers except for one area. Cleveland already had three top draft picks on their roster garnering starters minutes; Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson, and Kyrie Irving.
Through the first four games you’re seeing a clash of on court balance and consistency with the Cavs young draft picks and veterans in LeBron James, Kevin Love, Shawn Marion, etc.
For the Cavaliers to excel forward they need day in and day out consistency from Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters. The two have clashed before and it appeared one or the other would exit Cleveland. Obviously they both rose above their issues for the benefit of winning on the court.
Still, both have huge gaps of inconsistencies in their games. Defensively neither has shown growth to be a premier starter in the NBA. Their bread and butter relies on the offensive end. When either is on their A-game on the offensive side of the floor it’s going to be a long night for the opposing team. That style of play worked for their first few NBA seasons in the league when winning was put on the back burner. Teammates than could care less about receiving enough shots or being involved in the offense.
For Kyrie Irving to not have an assist against the Utah Jazz is troubling. He is a point guard first with the luxury of playing with premier forwards in the league. He cannot be the Duke and young Cleveland Cavalier point guard anymore. He needs to transform his game and be the facilitator that he is capable of being.
The street ball mentality with Dion Waiters is what got him in trouble at Syracuse. He was a me-first player that ultimately almost led to his departure at Syracuse. His pure talent alone should have garnered him more minutes as a freshman at Syracuse. But his attitude kept his minutes reduced and in Jim Boeheim’s dog house. It was a move that bit Syracuse in the NCAA tournament when they lost in the round of 32 to Marquette.
Waiters, was clearly Syracuse’s best player on the court but his growth happened so late in the season that Syracuse couldn’t use him to his full potential. He was the only player that could score against Marquette in a low-scoring loss.
His sophomore season he came in with a new-attitude and accepted his role coming off the bench. Coming off the bench four minutes into a game and playing starter’s minutes obviously didn’t classify him as a true bench warmer.
In the NBA his minutes have always fluctuated as he consistently takes bad shots. Like Irving he needs to put aside his college basketball score, score, score mentality and realize he has the chance to be a part of something great.
This may take some time like LeBron penned in his coming home letter to Cleveland. Rest assured Dion and Kyrie hold the key to the Cavaliers on court growth or lack thereof.
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TV ratings are a high indicator of where there true money is at. Just a few weeks ago Las Vegas finished in the top three on Monday Night football. Obviously with no major sports franchise residing in Las Vegas there is a main reason for this; finality in watching a legal sports wager fail or win.
Thursday ratings squarely will primarily be on tonight’s NFL Network broadcast of the NFC North matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals. But lets not forget about tonight’s action on the court in the NBA.
There are two games in the Houston Rockets vs the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks vs the Portland Trailblazers.
Houston returns home after extending their undefeated win streak to five games. If you followed me on twitter you would have seen I said to play the over on the Rockets win total of 49.5 and the under on the Cavs of 58.5.
San Antonio meanwhile is out the gate a bit slow. They lost to the Suns a few nights ago and barely defeated the Atlanta Hawks last night. Tonight marks just the fourth game for San Antonio and will be on consecutive nights. Oddmakers always adjust the Spurs line because of Coach Poppovich’s penchant to rest his key players. Hence the Rockets are 4.5 point favorites tonight.
I think the Rockets are out to make a statement on this season and tonight. The loss of Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin has actually helped the Rockets. Young and rising star Terrence Jones has been able to move better without the basketball and is getting more shots as well. Trevor Arizona has been able to get open shots which he is capable of making with proper floor spacing.
In the night cap the Portland Trailblazers are coming off a resounding home win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. After a tied first quarter things unraveled quickly for the Cavaliers. Backcourt play was awful in that game from Dion Waiters and Kyrie Irving, while the Trailblazers could not miss on the offensive end. Several players scored in double digits as things got out of hand in the fourth quarter.
The line on this game favors the Trailblazers by just two points and has a total of 207.5. Portland is a team that typically does not put away teams which is tough betting for or against them on a consistent basis. But on a totals side of things you can find high value on the first half with them. They are one of the stronger teams at scoring a high amount of points in the first quarter.
Tonight I expect them to have their shots falling again and to feed off of Tuesday’s performance against the Cavaliers.
Play the Rockets -4 and the over first half on Dallas and the Portland Trailblazers, which is 104.5.
Interested in getting on board with Zack Cimini’s plays, call or text, 1-480-776-4478. A representative will answer and touch base with you on steps to get on board. Or email directly at notjustagame23@gmail.com
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Grab Week 10 NFL Handicapping plays from Zack Cimini. He is the #1 documented NFL handicapper in the country, and boasts a 60% college football ATS record as well.
Handicapping NFL games is tough in itself but Thursday’s have proven even trickier than usual. The AFC North boasts all four teams above .500 and will showcase the Browns at the Bengals. Cincinnati was the team in the AFC North that many thought would be the clear leader in the division. That is proving to be not the case, and the Bengals have been one of the more inconsistent teams in the division.
At the beginning of the season and last year the Bengals were considered a dynamite home field team. With the way they’ve played you’d figure they were poor at home. That is not the case as they are undefeated at 4-0-1. In fact each team in the division is 3-1 or greater at home.
Over their last three home games the Bengals are just 1-2 against the number. Depending on where you grabbed the line last week against Jacksonville they could be 1-1-1. The underlying problem is Cincinnati is not playing a complete four quarters of football. Against Carolina their defense self destructed, against Baltimore the play of Andy Dalton almost lost Cincinnati backers their money and then last week against Jacksonville the offense and defense were lackluster in the fourth quarter.
It seems that Andy Dalton is struggling to get on the same page for four quarters with his offense. Maybe it had to due with missing AJ Green or adjusting to Jeremy Hill at running back. Whatever the case may be he needs to showcase he can lead a team for four quarters. The Bengals should feel very fortunate their record is 5-2-1 with the way they’ve played.
Defensively, Cincinnati is showcasing they have too many holes to be more than a first round playoff team. They’re ranked 31st in the NFL against the run and that includes monster rushing games from a quarterback in Cam Newton and former quarterback turned running back, DeNard Robinson.
On the Cleveland Brown’s side of things one has to feel that wave of averages coming down on them. Not all four teams in the AFC North can continue at their pace of winning. Brian Hoyer has done a sound job but would be near the bottom five to ten in football based on his play over the last month.
They’ve also had three wins over very poor teams in the Raiders, Titans, and Buccaneers. Scheduling starts to tighten up a little bit more for them over the final half of the season.
Just like the Bengals their defense has been getting carved against the run. That’s shocking to say as the three teams that I just mentioned in the Raiders, Titans, and Buccaneers hardly have a running game as it is.
We’ve seen large point spread blowouts this season on Thursday Night Football. This is a divisional game and could provide a slow start for the Bengals, but I’d expect them to rise to the occasion and finally shake the ugly wins they’ve been tallying.
Grab the Bengals in a spot that should finally produce an ATS win.
Interested in getting on board with Zack Cimini’s plays, call or text, 1-480-776-4478. A representative will answer and touch base with you on steps to get on board. Or email directly at notjustagame23@gmail.com
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Watch as Hollis Barnhart, Zack Cimini, and John Cranton discuss NFL value on futures post week nine.
Updated NFL Handicapping Team Rankings
We’re nine weeks into the NFL season. NFL team handicapping rankings are a good gauge to find value as a bettor and to also see where slight favoritism is from oddsmakers. They can change rapidly but here are my NFL handicapping team rankings after nine weeks of football. Disagree or agree feel free to tweet me at the handle @cimini.
1. Arizona Cardinals– Arizona has covered four straight games and have been fantastic ATS all season. It helps facing team young quarterbacks and team backups, as they have with Derek Carr, Kirk Cousins, Brandon Weeden, and now this week with Austin Davis.
2. New England Patriots– The Patriots are clobbering teams. Those that ignored the media criticism after the Kansas City Chiefs loss are smiling well right now.
3. Indianapolis– The Colts have covered games handily and each game that they have won. Wins against the Ravens, Jaguars, Giants, Texans, Bengals, and Titans. Oh, and lets not forget their half point cover as an underdog week one against the Broncos.
4. Denver Broncos- They haven’t been the best ATS but with the talent the Broncos have there is no way they can’t be in my top five.
5. Philadelphia Eagles- At points this season they looked like a strong college basketball team; having big leads and letting them slip away to blow a cover. Lately though they’ve been on the winning side of the number.
6. Dallas Cowboys- The team may be in a conundrum right now but there is no denying that the Cowboys had the sharps and public fooled the first half of the season.
7. Miami Dolphins- Miami is on a three game ATS win-streak. They’re doing so with ease in beat downs over the Chargers, Jaguars, Raiders and Bears. Before that streak they had a narrow loss to the Packers at home that was aided by a fourth and long conversion by Aaron Rodgers.
8. Cleveland Browns- No one in their right mind thought the Cleveland Browns would have five wins and Johnny Manziel would still be on the bench. Early in the season the Browns were losing games but still covering (Ravens and Steelers games). The Browns may have just five covers ATS but they’ve won two key games outright–against the Steelers and against the Saints.
9. Pittsburgh– Oddsmakers sided against the Steelers at home the past two weeks and paid the price. It’ll be interesting to see how the shift in odds on a week to week basis works out with Pittsburgh.
10. Buffalo– Buffalo has quietly been a solid team in general and ATS. Their move to Kyle Orton likely saved Doug Marrone another season.
The Rest
11. Kansas City
12. Baltimore
13. Green Bay Packers
14. Cincinnati Bengals
15. San Francisco
16. Seattle Seahawks
17. Detroit Lions
18. Houston Texans
19. San Diego Chargers
20. Minnesota Vikings
21. New Orleans Saints
22. Washington Redskins
23. Carolina Panthers
24. Chicago Bears
25. St. Louis Rams
26. NY Giants
27. Tennessee Titans
28. Atlanta Falcons
29. Jacksonville Jaguars
30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
31. NY Jets
32. Oakland Raiders