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1. NBA: L.A. Lakers at San Antonio (Sunday, 3:30 p.m.)
We appear destined to see these two teams meet once again in the Western Conference Finals. The Spurs still have the best record in the NBA at 49-10 (34-23-2 ATS), although they’ve failed to beat the NBA odds in their last four straight. All of San Antonio’s profit has come on the road; at the AT&T Center, the Spurs are 15-14-1 ATS with the UNDER at 18-12. The Lakers (42-19 SU, 29-31-1 ATS) are 4-0 SU and ATS in their last four, and valuable reserve forward Matt Barnes (14.1 points, 9.2 rebounds per 40 minutes) is on the verge of returning after missing over 20 games with a torn meniscus.

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2. NCAAB: Duke at North Carolina (Saturday, 8:00 p.m.)
The ACC regular season title is going down to the wire. The Blue Devils (26-3 SU, 16-12 ATS) had it all sewn up until Saturday’s 64-60 loss at Virginia Tech (+4). All three of Duke’s defeats this year were on the road, but the Devils are also 7-3 ATS away from Durham, and they went on a nice 7-0 SU and 6-1 ATS after their previous loss at St. John’s (+8). The Tar Heels (22-6 SU, 13-11 ATS) are tied with Duke at 12-2 in ACC action, and they’re looking for sweet revenge after falling 79-73 at Cameron Indoor Stadium, although the Heels did cash in as 10.5-point puppies.

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3. NBA: Orlando at Miami (Thursday, 8:00 p.m.)
Time for a Heat check. Miami (43-17 SU, 29-30-1 ATS) got a rude awakening on Sunday, losing 91-86 to the visiting New York Knicks (+10), who at one point were down by 15. The Heat have dropped the cash in their last three games to fall to 4-3 SU and 2-5 ATS in their last seven. Elsewhere in Florida, the Magic (38-22 SU, 28-31-1 ATS) have found their defensive rhythm, sending the UNDER to the pay window in nine of their last 10 games. But the last time these two teams met, LeBron James scored 51 points for Miami (+1) in a 104-100 victory at the Amway Arena.

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Could this be happening? Have the New York Knicks actually put together a championship team? Long-suffering fans in the Big Apple are jumping for joy after the Knicks went to South Beach on Sunday and left with a 91-86 victory over the Miami Heat (–10). That’s two wins in three games for New York since picking up Carmelo Anthony at the trade deadline. Tell Michael Bloomberg to cue the ticker-tape parade.

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If you’re a handicapper, on the other hand, New York might end up having more appeal as a fade candidate. Impressive as the comeback win over Miami was, the Knicks still dropped the cash in their first two games with Anthony in their starting five. Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets are 2-1 SU and 3-0 ATS since unloading their top scorer on New York.

Welcome to life at the trade deadline. This is one of the best times of year to bet on basketball; with about 10 percent of the league’s players changing uniforms this past week, NBA teams are volatile commodities right now. This is when you can step in with some sharp analysis and take advantage of the difference between a team’s actual value and its perceived value in the marketplace.

Let’s start with the Knicks. Here are the specifics of the three-way trade (the Minnesota Timberwolves were also involved) that brought Anthony to the Big Apple:

New York loses: Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, Anthony Randolph, Eddy Curry, three picks and cash

New York gains: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Corey Brewer, Anthony Carter, Renaldo Balkman and Shelden Williams

Anthony (28.3 points, 8.6 rebounds per 40 minutes) is easily the best player of the bunch at this point in their careers, and Billups (20.8 points, 6.7 assists) is an immediate upgrade over Felton (17.5 points, 9.4 assists). However, the Knicks sacrificed a lot of depth to land these two. Bill Walker (14.8 points, 5.5 rebounds) is being asked to play a prominent role off the bench, something he’s yet to handle on a consistent basis in his three years as a pro. How many people betting on the Knicks are even aware Walker exists?

As for the Nuggets, they lose Anthony and Billups, but they gain four of New York’s best young players (Felton, Chandler, Gallinari and Mozgov), plus all those picks and cash. The decision to hang onto Felton rather than flip him to another team means that Denver still has two quality point guards on the roster, with fellow North Carolina alumnus Ty Lawson (17.1 points, 6.5 assists) elevated to the starting job in his second season. With all this talent on board, simply writing the Nuggets off as a rebuilding project is entirely premature.

Not every trade can be neatly judged this way.

In theory, the Utah Jazz should also have value after sending point guard Deron Williams (22.2 points, 10.4 assists) to the New Jersey Nets for a package that included point guard Devin Harris (18.9 points, 9.6 assists). We haven’t seen it yet, though. Utah is 1-2 SU and ATS since making the deal, or 1-5 SU and 2-4 ATS since longtime coach Jerry Sloan’s shocking retirement. The Jazz might be in too much disarray to fulfill their betting value. The Nets, no strangers to front-office drama themselves, are 0-2 SU and 1-1 ATS since the Williams trade, so the jury is still out in Newark.

The highest-profile of the remaining deadline deals saw the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder shake things up before the playoff drive. Boston arguably took the bigger gamble by sending center Kendrick Perkins and little-used guard Nate Robinson to the Thunder for forward Jeff Green, center Nenad Krstic and a draft pick. Perkins (11.1 points, 12.4 rebounds) is often injured, but he was also a popular figure in the Boston dressing room and a much better defender than Krstic (14.1 points, 8.2 rebounds). The Celtics are 1-1 SU and 0-2 ATS since the deal went down; Oklahoma City is 0-2 SU and ATS while Perkins sits with a sprained knee.

The market will continue to adjust to these deadline deals as the new-look teams play more minutes and prove their worth. The championship odds on the NBA futures market are being updated as we go to press, so enjoy this window of opportunity while you can.

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4. NHL: Pittsburgh at New Jersey (Friday, 7:00 p.m.)
The Penguins (37-21-6 SU, 31-33 ATS, 7.08 units) have lost 11 players to injury, including their top three scorers: Sidney Crosby (32 goals), Chris Kunitz (18 goals) and Evgeni Malkin (15 goals). The Pens have shuffled their assets around in advance of Monday’s trade deadline, picking up James Neal (21 goals) from the Dallas Stars and Alexei Kovalev (15 goals) from the Ottawa Senators. New Jersey (27-31-4 SU, 24-38 ATS, –24.73 units) has won nine of its last 10 games and 15 of the past 18, with goaltender Johan Hedberg (.913 save percentage) filling in more than admirably for the recently returned Martin Brodeur (.898 SV%).

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5. Soccer: Manchester United at Chelsea (Tuesday, 2:45 p.m.)
There are still 10 English Premiership matches left to go for most teams, so there’s still time for fifth-place Chelsea (13 wins, seven losses, six draws) to make a run toward the league title. And United (17 wins, one loss, nine draws) are not in their best form of late, losing at Wolverhampton (+650) on February 5 and playing to a dull goalless draw against Marseille (+225) in last week’s Champions League action. But the wayward Blues have lost their last two games at Stamford Bridge, including on penalties to Everton (cashing in the draw at +320) during the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Honorable Mentions
NBA: Phoenix at Boston (Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.)
NCAAB: Wisconsin at Ohio State (Sunday, 4:00 p.m.)
NHL: Buffalo at N.Y. Rangers (Tuesday, 7:00 p.m.)
Soccer: Sunderland at Arsenal (Saturday, 10:00 a.m.)
MMA: Martin Kampmann vs. Diego Sanchez (Card Begins Thursday, 9:00 p.m.)

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