Portland Trail Blazers at New Jersey Nets (-4 ½, 187)
Portland coach Nate McMillian has a backup plan if starting point guard Steve Blake is forced to the bench with a bruised left calf. He’ll use a guard rotation of Brandon Roy, Sergio Rodriguez and Jarrett Jack, with Jack seeing most of the minutes.
Blake, who averages 4.7 assists per game, has been a big part of Portland’s strong run. The Blazers have won 17 of their last 18 games and own the league’s second best record against the spread at 23-12.
Pick: (Blazers +4 ½)
Philadelphia 76ers at San Antonio Spurs (-12, 188)
San Antonio needed a huge second half to cover the 15 ½ points in Saturday’s 105-88 win over the Timberwolves. The win snapped the Spurs’ five-game losing streak against the number.
"We are not playing that great," Manu Ginobili told reporters following the game. "It was important for us to keep the game close and keep bringing the best effort possible. Today we made some shots but we are still not playing the way we should be at this point in the season. We look frustrated and sometimes things look like they are going bad and they are not going bad at all. I guess it's just a mental block and hopefully we are going to come back to play the way we were playing in November."
Things could be worse for the 24-11 Spurs. Philadelphia has lost six straight and dropped the cash in its last five.
Pick: Spurs (-12)
Milwaukee Bucks at Utah Jazz (-9 ½)
The Utah Jazz have taken each of the last five meetings between these teams and have covered the number in 10 straight games against the Bucks. The Jazz have also gone 5-1 straight up since bringing in Kyle Korver last month.
"When we're all hitting and we're all playing well, everyone out there is really, really dangerous," Korver told reporters.
"If we can just sharpen up our defense a little bit and get everyone clicking on the same page. I think we can be really tough.”
Pick: Utah (-9 ½)
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