Five Warriors were in double digits in scoring with many knocking down the threes. Denver was about getting Iverson the rock and letting him score. Passing to Iverson is like getting sucked into a black hole, what is gone is gone.

This bet wasn't sexy either, but remember, it is what the portfolio looks like moving into the playoffs. Also a win is a win, and I will be the first to tell you that winnings are always good regardless of amount.

So Wednesdays ML added another $32.26 of winnings to our portfolio. Now if I were to tell you that if you gave me 1K and that in less than two weeks, I would give you 11% interest, would you say no? Neither would I. That my friends is too sexy. Now if I were to say that I would be betting on the hard games. Not the easy ones where their outcome is not in doubt. That makes that same 11% even more sexy.

Just to give you some perspective on what that means. Let us say that I could consistently make 11% every ten days. In one season of 190 days that would on $1000 gross (1000 x 1.11^19= 7263.34) almost $7300.00 or an increase of almost 630%. In a word...SEXY...VERY SEXY!

Remember, anyone can win a huge bet. It doesn't take much skill, and it more clearly doesn't tell you how well that "anyone" protects their betting capital. I'll take my 11% every ten days over hitting the long shot every time.

Well tonight's action sees two hard games and one borderline hard game added to the portfolio:

Memphis @ Atlanta
Minnesota @ Miami
LA Clippers @ Golden State

Memphis playing away is pretty much a guaranteed loss. With only 4 victories on the road all season, it is hard to consider them as a threat in someone else's house. However, Atlanta isn't that hot at home only having won 11 times out of 29.

The main reason I added this game is because the West is considerably stronger than the East this year. The Eastern Leading Detroit Pistons would be the fifth place team in the West right now, and that is saying something. Having mentioned that, The scoring factor is barely in the Hawks favor at -1.9. The RR differential looms large at 1.7268 that gives Atlanta the win, which is who I pick: ( Current ML is -105 which means a $100 bet gives $195.24 )

Now I know that I stated that the West was stronger than the East, but as a fundamentalist, I tend to stick with trends which is why I have to pick Miami over Minnesota. The scoring factor is -12.3 which is way to much for a home team to disregard. Sure it is an intra conference game, but the RR differential is too big to ignore at .8717 in favor of Miami who should win this one: (Current ML is -265 which means a $100 bet gives $137.74 )

The tightest game tonight belongs to the Clippers vs. Golden State. I wish the Clips would move back to San Diego. It bothers me having two LA teams for some reason, however I digress. Golden State is hitting on all cylinders right now, and they look the best to replace Denver in the last one or two spots available for the playoffs. If they can keep up with their recent performance, they should make it. The Warriors scoring factor over Los Angeles is -6.8 which is solid for the home team. LA however has the advantage in RR differential at .3. For those of you who have read my columns previously, you know that I prefer to see a differential of .5 or greater before giving the nod to the road team, unless the scoring factor is so grossly overrepresented (which can happen if a team gets really hot and knocks down everything they throw up). That isn't the case here, which is why I pick Golden State to win: ( Current ML is -250 which means a $100 bet gives $140.00 )

Ross Rankings Hard game Portfolio
Starting Capital: $1000.00
Current Portfolio value: $1110.74
Total Tickets: 4
Winning percentage: (.750)

*all positions taken are strictly virtually based. No real money transactions have occurred. This mock portfolio is for educational purposes in helping money line bettors with portfolio based strategies.