Lang Thursday

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BRANDON LANG

Thursday's Selection...


25 DIME - ORLANDO MAGIC - All is not well with the Utah Jazz.

When you face your arch-rival on the road the night before, and score a total of 6 points in the 4th quarter and get routed by 24, I don't care who you are, it is going to leave a mark both mental and emotional.Now you have to get right back after it and face a surging Magic squad that not only won 6 in a row, and 11 of their last 12, but how about 7 straight road wins.They took care of the Warriors and Clippers on this road trip so far, and what makes this even a tougher spot for the Jazz is the Magic are well rested.They played the Knicks on the 2nd, the Warriors on the 5th and the Clippers on the 8th. Talk about a cake walk of a road trip. Most people roll into Utah on back- to-back nights but not Orlando.It is very rare that an East Coast team gets this much time off between games on a west coast road trip, and because of this and Orlando being red hot, I have to make them my biggest NBA play of the entire year. In a game that sees the Magic being the small favorite, I just can't see the Jazz getting over what happened last night in LA.



15 DIME - PITTSBURGH STEELERS - The Browns are just what the doctored ordered for an ailing Pittsburgh Steelers team.
When you have beaten a team 12 in a row and covered 10 of those, I've learned over the years that when these two meet, you lose with the Steelers simple as that. In the first meeting the Steelers dominated this Browns team to the tune of 543 yards of total offense in a 27-14 win but didn't cover the 14 point number courtesy of a Joshua Cribbs kickoff return for a TD.
Big Ben threw for over 400 yards on this Browns defense and he had guys open all night long and I don't see the Browns doing anything to stop him again tonight. Cleveland got the miracle cover last Sunday putting up 2 fourth quarter TD's on the Chargers after trailing 30-7 and even in that game Rivers threw for almost 400 yards on them. Don't be fooled by anything Brady Quinn and this Browns offense has done the last few weeks. Yes, he was good against the Lions but remember folks, we are still talking about the Detroit Lions.
How soon we forget 2 weeks ago at Cincinnati the Browns had 169 yards total offense, 58 on the ground and 111 in the air.
I fully expect the Steelers to get their swagger back against a team they flat out own, and if you think the defending Super Bowl champs are going to lay an egg here then you don't know their head coach very well.
Tonight the Steelers do what they always do against the Browns and that is beat them by 2 touchdowns or more and keep their playoff hopes alive.

FREE SELECTION - SYRACUSE ORANGEMEN