The Sacramento Kings are trying to stay competitive despite the loss of their three best players. Point guard Mike Bibby, shooting guard Kevin Martin and small forward Ron Artest are all languishing on the sidelines in street clothes, leaving the Kings without any of their primary offensive threats. But, as is often the case when teams suffer from multiple injuries, first year head coach Reggie Theus has seen his role players step up repeatedly in recent games, bringing great defensive intensity along with the ability to put up some points. Francisco Garcia, John Salmons, Beno Udrih and Mikki Moore certainly aren’t household names, but they are all contributing on a nightly basis for a team that continues to play hard, despite their losing record. In particular, the Kings have shown great pointspread prowess on the highway; 6-1 ATS catching points on the road since their dismal 0-9 start. With recent losses at Cleveland and Chicago by a combined five points, Sacramento isn’t likely to lose their ATS value anytime soon.

The numbers don’t lie: The Cleveland Cavaliers are a truly woeful 3-12 ATS as a favorite; just 5-11 ATS playing at home. Even after climbing back to the .500 mark with three consecutive victories, the Cavs are a long way from the team that reached the NBA Finals last June. While Cleveland continues to struggle on the offensive end, their defense has been nothing short of stellar in recent weeks. The Cavs have held each of their last six opponents under 95 points. Only one of those foes managed to shoot 50% from the floor against Mike Brown’s squad. No surprise, then, that the Cavs are 7-1 to the Under in their last eight games. With an offense that struggles to score every time LeBron James doesn’t have the ball in his hands and a defense that makes things very tough for their opponents on a nightly basis, we can expect the Cavs to continue their struggles as a favorite while cashing on the Under in the weeks to come.

Past perceptions take a long time to shake when it comes to the NBA betting marketplace, and longtime loser, the Atlanta Hawks are a tremendous value team these days. The Hawks are surging with confidence right now, bouncing back and forth above .500 this late in the season for the first time since their last playoff year, the strike shortened 1999 campaign. The Hawks have recent road wins at Washington, Orlando, Philadelphia, Minnesota and Miami. Hawks leading scorer Joe Johnson: “We're all on a high right now, playing with a lot of confidence.” Head coach Mike Woodson: “We've got to keep improving from this point on. We talked about playing .500 basketball, and anything above it would be icing on the cake….So we have to continue to keep climbing. That's what it's all about, take it a game at a time.” While the Hawks have dropped from 15-12 to a game below .500 during their current four game losing streak, don’t expect an extended slide from this competitive ballclub.

The Boston Celtics are truly in the midst of a special season. After all, we are talking about a team with a 29-3 record that has been cashing tickets repeatedly from Day 1 this season, despite their public nature: 22-9 ATS for the season. But the single most impressive thing about the Celtics might be their ability to play extremely well in what we normally consider ‘bad spots’ for most NBA teams to succeed. Last week, the Celtics looked noticeably fatigued in a battle at Utah, playing their third game on the road in four nights. The Celtics, as usual, made all the big plays down the stretch, winning and covering as 5.5 point favorites. The next night, against a surging Lakers team that had won four straight and ten of their last twelve, the tired Celtics still put on a clinic, destroying LA in a 19 point blowout. The rare team that can dominate the final game of a four game in five nights stretch, all on the road, is truly a team to be reckoned with.

Phil Jackson is in the midst of one of his most impressive coaching jobs ever. The LA Lakers were a mess in preseason. Kobe Bryant was ripping his teammates publicly, demanding a trade. Bryant’s supporting cast looked limited at best, and a group of nagging injuries kept key role players on the sidelines. LA started the season with a 9-8 mark, playing uninspired basketball. Since that time, LA is 12-3, losing by two at Golden State, by four at Cleveland and by 19 at home to the Celtics in their lone non-competitive affair. The key to LA’s success has been the play of their role players and the development of young center Andrew Bynum. Bynum has been an absolute monster of late: 40 points, 29 rebounds and seven blocked shots in his first two games of 2008. But let’s not understate the consistent performance of Phil Jackson’s bench. Jordan Farmar, Trevor Ariza, Kwame Brown, Sasha Vujacic and Ronnie Turiaf have all been productive off the pine. Starter Luke Walton: “The bench has pulled us out of a lot of jams this year…They've got our backs and we've got their backs.”