Rating: 1 Unit NBA Free Pick

The last three wins for the Detroit Pistons have come on the road, a trend they'll try to keep alive with a visit to the Atlanta Hawks today. After recent wins at Golden State and Cleveland, the Pistons picked up an impressive 116-103 victory at the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. Rookie Sekou Doumbouya continued his solid stretch with a season-high 24 points and three others scored at least 21 as Detroit shot a season-high 60.3 percent from the floor. The Hawks are 6-18 on the road this season. The clincher:  Hawks are 4-12 ATS in their last 16 games following a ATS win.

Rating: 2 Units

After putting forth spirited efforts in wins over Washington, Boston and St. Louis in the span of eight days, Philadelphia brought little to the party on Thursday and dropped a 4-1 decision to Montreal. Philadelphia looks to rebound from that loss and carries a 15-4-4 record at home into its tilt versus Los Angeles, which has lost three in a row on its five-game trek to fall to 7-16-4 on the road this season.

Rating: 2 Units

The first-place Calgary Flames conclude their three-game trip through Quebec and Ontario when they play the Ottawa Senators today afternoon. Calgary, which is in a virtual tie with Arizona in a Pacific Division that features the top five teams separated by two points, bounced back from a 2-0 loss to Montreal on Monday with a 2-1 shootout victory over Toronto on Thursday as goaltender David Rittich stole the show with 35 saves.Ottawa has lost nine straight (0-5-4) after a 4-2 setback to Vegas on Thursday. Calgary has won four straight meetings after a 3-1 victory Nov. 30 behind a pair of goals from Elias Lindholm.

Rating: 2 Units

Montreal signed Kovalchuk earlier this month in what smacked of a desperation move after he was waived by Los Angeles, but the former No. 1 overall pick is providing an offensive jolt. Kovalchuk had three goals and nine points in 17 games with the Kings but he has three tallies and four assists in seven games with the Canadiens after scoring twice in Thursday's 4-1 victory at Philadelphia. Montreal needs to get its power play untracked, as it has converted on 3 of 32 opportunities. The Canadiens have a renewed confidence and are trying to enter the All-Star break on a high note, rebounding from an eight-game slide (0-7-1) by winning three of their last four.

Rating: 2 Units

Houston is 6-2 ATS when playing with two day's worth of rest in between games. The Rockets are also 4-1 ATS when off a double-digit loss in a game where they were favored, 6-1 ATS off a double-digit loss overall. Davis has been out since 1/7 and remains questionable for LA. The Rockets are 73-52 ATS against winning teams the past 2+ years, 10-4 ATS this season.

Rating: 2 Units

When Furkan Korkmaz finds his shooting touch the Philadelphia 76ers reap the rewards, and he will try to follow up a career night and lead his team to a third straight win in a visit to the New York Knicks today. The third-year pro from Turkey hit 6-of-9 3-pointers en route to a career-high 24 points in Friday's 100-89 win over the Chicago Bulls. Korkmaz is 22-of-39 from long range while averaging 13 points over Philadelphia's last seven victories, compared to 5-of-23 and a 5.7 average in six losses during the same stretch, and his performance against the Bulls turned plenty of heads. The Knicks are back in another tailspin after dropping a 121-98 decision to the Phoenix Suns at home Thursday night. Julius Randle scored 26 points for New York, which was outscored by 30 points over the final three quarters to lose for the seventh time in its last eight games. Philadelphia won the first two meetings to extend its winning streak in the series to 10.

Rating: 2 Units

The Brooklyn Nets haven't exactly taken off since All-Star guard Kyrie Irving returned from a 26-game absence, and he is already pointing out things that need to change. Irving and the Nets will try to avoid a three-game slide when they host the NBA-best Milwaukee Bucks today. Irving managed 14 points on 6-of-21 shooting in a 117-106 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday before talking about all the help he needs. The Milwaukee Bucks seem to have all the pieces they need to make a run at an NBA title and a 70-win regular season and pushed their latest winning streak to five in a row with a 128-123 triumph over Boston on Thursday but were unhappy with allowing a 27-point lead to slip away.  Milwaukee took three of the four meetings last season and eight of the last 10 in the series.

Rating: 3 Units

San Diego State's 18-0 start is the second best in school history behind the 2010-11 squad which began 20-0 en route to a share of the Mountain West regular-season title and a Sweet 16 berth where they lost to eventual national champion Connecticut, 74-67. The Aztecs improved to 7-0 in conference play on Tuesday night when they grinded out a 64-55 win at Fresno State and former assistant Justin Hutson, holding the Bulldogs to just 36-percent shooting in the process. Nevada squad needed a driving layup by guard Jalen Harris with nine seconds remaining to pull out a 68-67 home win over 5-14 Wyoming on Saturday that also snapped a two-game losing streak.

Rating: 2 Units

Hofstra is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games following a ATS loss, 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games overall,  20-6-1 ATS in their last 27 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record, and 20-8 ATS in their last 28 road games.

Rating: 4 Unit Play of the Day

Colorado State is off an amazing shooting performance in its Thursday win over New Mexico. The Rams were incredible from beyond the arc in the rout over the Lobos. They knocked down a remarkable 19/28 on those treys. This sets up a bounce situation as teams off abberational performances generally regress to their norm pretty quickly. I expect CSU to cool off today. Air Force is proving to be deadly from long range themselves, especially at home.