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The Charlotte Bobcats and Boston Celtics are potential postseason partners this year, but both have some work in NBA betting action to do to get where they want to be.

The two will duke it out on the Parquet Court in Beantown on Friday night at 4:30 (PT).

The Bobcats are three back of a postseason slot with just 10 games to play, and they probably need to finish at least 6-4 over the course of the last 10 to have even a remote chance of getting into the playoffs for just the second time in team history. This team has lately been a wreck, as four straight have gone into the loss column and only once in those four games did Charlotte cover the NBA odds.

It's almost like the Bobcats have been searching for an identity since trading away Gerald Wallace at the deadline to the Portland Trail Blazers. Stephen Jackson, the team's leading scorer at 18.8 PPG, has a hamstring injury that leaves him questionable for this one, while the big man that came back from Portland in the Wallace deal, Joel Pryzbilla, has only suited in five games due to a knee injury that will likely once again leave him out of the lineup.

Tyrus Thomas and Boris Diaw are the top rebounding performers, and that just doesn't scare us against the Boston front line, especially since Thomas might not be in the fold for the 31st time this season. Instead, men like DJ Augustin are going to have to step up and shoot the lights out in Beantown to have any chance of pulling off this upset.

We never really like to hear a coach basically admit that he is giving up on the season, but that's what it sounds like head coach Doc Rivers is going to do for these last handful of games on the campaign. He is far more interested in keeping his team healthy and getting the likes of Shaquille O'Neal and Jermaine O'Neal back on the court for the postseason than he is nailing down the No. 1 seed in the conference, and the end result might be some ugly, ugly losses down the stretch.

Case in point: Boston lost to the Memphis Grizzlies at home 90-87 on Wednesday night and has been dropped by the Houston Rockets, New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Clippers over the course of the last two weeks and change.

The one thing that we do know about the C's is that they are going to play some ridiculously hard-nosed defense for the full 48 minutes regardless of who is on the court. Teams are only averaging 90.9 PPG against Boston this year, which ranks No. 1 in the league.

Charlotte already has one win and another cover in the series this year. The 'Cats won 94-89 on Tobacco Road back in February, and challenged in a 99-94 loss here at the TD Garden in January. Of course, in the other meeting this year, the Bobcats were absolutely blown out of the water, 93-62.

Still, Charlotte is 8-2 ATS over the course of its last 10 visits to Beantown, and the underdog in this series is 15-4 ATS over the course of the last 19.

The last time the 49ers had to draft a quarterback, they missed. As we all know Alex Smith was taken first overall in the 2005. To say the team missed, doesn't necessarily impugn the ability of Smith, who could have possibly excelled with a more stable offense.Whatever the reason, the 49ers are back in the quarterback market, and according to Matt Barrows, they are doing their due diligence. Their best scout, Matt Malaspina, was present at Florida State's workout on Wednesday to watch Christian Ponder. Daftnicks have Ponder possibly being the third quarterback taken after Missouri's Blaine Gabbert and Auburn's Cam Newton. The 49ers, however, seem more enamored with TCU's Andy Dalton and Nevada's Colin Kaepernick. According to Barrows, the workouts for those quarterbacks are the only two coach Jim Harbaugh has attended. But that might have to do with proximity more than anything else. Reno, for example, is a lot closer than Florida.

Kaepernick, with his movement ability and whip-like arm strength, was not high on the 49ers' list directly after the season. But Kaepernick might have jumped on everyone's draft board with his strong performances at the Senior Bowl and the combine. The issue is, do the 49ers want to go with another raw player from a spread-like attack from a lesser conference? With Harbaugh and his staff, maybe they feel they can develop Kaepernick just like they groomed Josh Johnson at San Diego University and Andrew Luck at Stanford.

The 49ers would be best served by drafting two quarterbacks, one project like Kaepernick and possibly another safer choice such as Ponder or Iowa's Ricky Stanzi. Ponder and Stanzi come from traditional offenses. No one would argue if the 49ers traded back and/or took quarterbacks with their first two picks, because there's certainly room on the roster for two young quarterbacks. It would be interesting to see if Gabbert or Newton or maybe even Ryan Mallet was there at no. 7, what the team would do.

Personally, I'm not a Mallet fan, and it's not anything he did off the field, it's his lack of mobility. As a 49er, he's going to get pressured.

Please chime in with your thoughts about draft-eligible quarterbacks.

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Tim Bresnan is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a calf injury - but is not about to take any undue chances before his first World Cup.

The seam-bowling all-rounder, a mainstay of     Cheap NFL Jerseys    England's ICC World Twenty20 victory last year and then a secret weapon as they clinched the Ashes this winter, missed the last five matches in a 6-1 one-day international defeat against Australia.

That finished only eight days ago, but Bresnan was back home by then after hurting himself in Hobart.

Contrasting reports soon emerged about the seriousness of the Yorkshireman's injury, and he admits he was concerned at first that it might scupper his World Cup hopes.

"Yes, I think it was a little bit like that," he said.

"There were doubts whether it was a grade two, grade one (tear). I think the fact that it bled so much probably led to the grey area.

"But I think we are slightly ahead of schedule now."

That does not mean Bresnan will be fit in time for Wednesday's opening World Cup warm-up match against Canada in Fatullah, or even probably the second at the same venue against Pakistan on Friday.

"It's feeling pretty good. I hope I can get a warm-up game, but will definitely be targeting the start of the tournament," he confirmed.

"I've not bowled 100% since I did it. But I'm definitely back bowling 80 to 85%, and then will probably go to 100 on Tuesday.

"I want to get in a few sessions at 100% before I take the field for a competitive game."

Bresnan's initial fears about the severity of his injury soon subsided, and he is content now that he had a little more time than many of his team-mates to rest following the first part of an arduous and high-profile winter.

"It probably wasn't the ideal time to get injured. But the saving grace, silver lining, is that I have had a bit of time at home to relax and recharge my mind as well as my body."http://delsignore.blog.hr/

England's collective wear and tear, before such an important campaign, brought publicly-voiced concerns from coach Andy Flower about their busy schedule.

Bresnan has mixed feelings on that subject, and knows in any case it is out of his hands.

"It is pretty tight, but I want to play as much international cricket as I can," said the 25-year-old.

"The coaches and medical staff are definitely concerned. But it's up to the boards to decide."

He is satisfied anyway that England are in the right physical and mental shape to challenge for a second International Cricket Council global trophy in under a year.

"The (one-day) series in Australia was probably a blip in the cricket we've played over the last two years.

"We've got everyone fit now, and the guys have recharged their batteries back at home for four days - so we're feeling good.

"This is the World Cup. If you can't get up for the World Cup, then you probably can't get up for anything."

England have asked the ICC for special dispensation to allow Chris Tremlett to possibly play against Canada.