Cavs closing in on Central title; visit Pistons

Basketball Betting Lines

03/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NBA's best road team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, will pay a visit to the Detroit Pistons Tuesday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

The playoff-bound Cavs have won 14 of their last 19 road games and are 23-11 away from Quicken Loans Arena this season. They have won three in a row overall and recently handed the Boston Celtics a 104-93 defeat on Sunday in Cleveland, as NBA leading scorer LeBron James contributed 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

James, who is averaging 29.9 points this season, scored 24 of his points in the second half and also collected three blocks and two steals. Antawn Jamison returned from a one-game absence (knee) to register 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who never trailed in the second half en route to their ninth win in 10 games overall.

"I thought that we played the right way. Usually when you play a team like Boston, the most aggressive team is going to win, (not just) offensively, but defensively too," Cavs head coach Mike Brown said. "I thought that we were aggressive on both ends of the floor throughout most of the game."

Anderson Varejao added 17 points and 10 boards in the win. Cleveland's magic number to clinch its second straight Central Division crown is two.

The Pistons have dropped two straight, three of four and nine of their last 11 games, including Monday's 119-93 decision against the Celtics in Beantown. Will Bynum had 16 points and seven assists for banged-up Detroit, which is winless in its last seven road games.

Jason Maxiell had 11 points and 10 rebounds in a losing effort.

"They did a great job of exploiting and we didn't react tonight," Pistons coach John Kuester said. "It was one of the few games that our energy wasn't the way it should be and I'm disappointed with the way we played."

Detroit center Ben Wallace missed his seventh straight game due to a sore right knee. The team, which is also playing without Rodney Stuckey, lost forward Tayshaun Prince to a back injury in the first quarter. Prince is listed as questionable for Tuesday's game versus the Cavs.

Cleveland has won the first two meetings with the Pistons this season and five in a row overall. Detroit is 13-4 in the last 17 matchups as the host.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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