NBA betting trends, odds and predictions for Saturday, December 10th, 2016 from various handicappers and websites
NBA Knowledge
Denver lost five of its last six games, is 7-4 as road underdog. Over is 6-1-1 in Nuggets’ last eight games. Magic lost their last four home games, are 0-4 as a home underdog this season; under is 10-4 in their last fourteen games. Orlando won last two games with Denver, after losing previous five; over is 5-2 in last seven series games. Nuggets won three of last five visits to Magic Kingdom.
Milwaukee won five of last seven games; they’re 3-4 on road, 1-4 as a road underdog. Under is 5-2 in their road games this season. Washington lost four of last five games, are 5-7 at home, 5-5 as home favorites. Four of last five Wizard games went over total. Wizards won seven of last nine games with Milwaukee; Bucks lost last four visits here, by 5-29-11-13 points. Over is 6-4 in last ten series games.
Portland lost seven of last nine road games; they’re 2-6 as road underdogs. Over is 6-2 in their last eight games. Pacers are 4-3 in last seven games; they’re 8-4 at home, 4-4 as home favorites; four of Indiana’s last five games went over the total. Trailblazers won seven of last eight games with Indiana, winning by 9-10 points in last two visits here. Over is 5-2 in last seven series games.
Hornets won/covered their last three games; they’re 6-3 on road, 2-0-1 as road underdogs. Four of last five Charlotte road games went over. Cavaliers won/covered last three games, winning last two by 32-30 points. Cavs are 5-6-1 as home favorites. Over is 7-2 in their last nine games. Cleveland won seven of last eight games with Charlotte, which lost last five visits to Lake Erie (0-3-1 vs spread in last four). Three of last four series games went over.
Mavericks are 1-10 on road, 4-7 as road underdogs; their last three games went over the total. Houston won its last five games (4-1 vs spread); they’re 4-3 as home favorites. Six of Rockets’ last eight games went over the total. Rockets won four of last five games with Dallas, which lost four of last five visits here (2-3 vs spread). Four of last five series games stayed under the total.
Miami lost its last four games; they lost by 3 in Cleveland last night. Heat is 5-8 on road, 6-4 as road underdogs. Three of Heat’s last four games stayed under. Bulls lost three of last four games, are 6-3 at home, 3-3 as home favorites. Under is 4-2-1 in their last seven games. Miami won/covered four of last five games with Chicago; Heat won last three visits here, by 12-5-22 points. Under is 8-2 in last ten series games.
Golden State won its last eight road games (6-2 vs spread); Warriors are 7-5 as road favorites. Under is 5-1 in their last six road games. Memphis won its last five games (4-1 vs spread); they’re 8-4 at home, 4-2 as home underdogs. Under is 8-2-1 in their last 11 home games. Warriors won their last seven games with Memphis (6-1 vs spread); Golden State won its last four visits here, by 17-13-1-16 points. Under is 8-2 in last ten series games.
Brooklyn is 1-8 on road, 1-3-1 vs spread in last five games as a road underdog. Over is 10-3 in their last 13 games. San Antonio is 13-2 in its last 15 games, but 2-7 vs spread as a home favorite. Five of Spurs’ last six games stayed under total. Spurs won eight of last ten games with Brooklyn (7-2 vs spread in last nine); Nets lost last five visits to Alamo (0-4 vs spread in last four). Under is 7-1-1 in last nine series games.
Sacramento lost at home to the Knicks last night; they’re 4-8 on road, 3-7 as road underdogs. Four of their last five games stayed under total. Utah won seven of last nine games; they’re 3-6 as home favorites. Six of last seven Jazz games went over total. Jazz won six of last nine games with Sacramento; Kings lost three of last four visits to Salt Lake City (1-1-2 vs spread). Four of last five series games went over total.
Pelicans lost four in row, six of last seven games; they’re 3-5 as a road underdog. Four of last six New Orleans games stayed under. Clippers lost five of last seven games, are 5-4-1 as home favorites. Over is 11-4 in their last fifteen games. Clippers won five of last six games with New Orleans; Pelicans lost last five visits here (2-3 vs spread) losing by 3-21-7-20-32 points. Six of last eight series games went over total.
Armadillosports.com
Bulls host the Heat
By: Sam Chase
StatFox.com
Dwyane Wade faces the Heat in Chicago for the first time since leaving the organization this past summer.
The Heat are in Cleveland on Friday night and Chicago on Saturday night for the final two games of a three-game road trip that started with a 103-95 loss at Atlanta on Wednesday (MIA +9). It was the third straight loss for Miami and dropped them to 7-15 (10-12 ATS); they are sitting in last place in the Southeast Division. The Heat held the Hawks to 4 of 19 three-point shooting but were dominated inside, as Dwight Howard and Paul Millsap combined for 44 points and Atlanta shot 39 of 69 from the floor (56.5 percent) on two-point shots. Their Saturday night opponent, the Bulls, will enter that matchup coming off of one of their biggest wins of the season, a 95-91 win (CHI +3) in Chicago over a Spurs team that was previously 13-0 on the road this year. The victory improved their record to 12-10 and 13-9 ATS, the third-best record against the spread in the NBA. The Bulls got their win over San Antonio behind an impressive defensive effort in the first half that held the Spurs to 32 points in the first two quarters. For Miami, the respective availabilities of SF Justise Winslow, SG Josh Richardson, PF James Johnson and SF Luke Babbit are all in question entering the weekend, while SG Dion Waiters will also likely remain out.
Entering the weekend, Miami’s offensive efficiency rating of 103.3 points per 100 possessions ranked 23rd in the league, and their defensive efficiency rating of 105.9 points allowed per 100 possessions ranked 14th. They play at one of the league’s slowest paces, averaging 93.8 possessions per 48 minutes going into the game against Cleveland. Their offense begins with PG Goran Dragic, who is the team’s leader in field goal attempts now that franchise player Dwyane Wade has left town. He’s had a nice bounce-back season from a disappointing 2015-16 campaign, as he has improved on both his scoring and assists numbers from last season (he now leads the team in both). He had a season-high 29 points on 11-for-17 shooting on Tuesday against the Knicks, and handed out seven assists as well. It was the third time in five games that he scored at least 27 points. Trailing right behind him in scoring, but much more “dominant” as a player, is C Hassan Whiteside. As one of the most intimidating centers in the league, Whiteside leads the NBA in rebounds and is third in blocks. He put up arguably his best stat line of the season a week ago against the Trail Blazers with 28 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks. SG Wayne Ellington saw his first action of the season against Boston on November 28, and he has introduced a three-point threat that the team was previously lacking. SG Tyler Johnson had a career-high 27 points against the Hawks on Wednesday.
The Bulls are just outside the top third of the league with an offensive efficiency rating of 107.9 points per 100 possessions, and their defense is just inside the top third of the league with 104.7 points allowed per 100 possessions. They play at a moderately slow pace of 95.4 possessions per 48 minutes. Averaging 25.4 points per game, SF Jimmy Butler is a top-10 scorer in the NBA this season. The Bulls were able to get by the Spurs despite Butler having one of his worst games of the year, a season-low 13-point performance on 4-of-14 shooting. Prior to that game, he had scored at least 20 points in 14 consecutive games, a stretch that included 10 games of 26 points or more. He’s averaging a career-high 6.7 rebounds per game, seventh best among NBA small forwards. Wade, a Heat legend now on the Bulls, will be playing his former team in Chicago for the first time since leaving under somewhat contentious circumstances in the offseason. He’s actually scoring more than he did last season despite now being a No. 2 scoring option, and he is shooting a career-best 35.4 percent from deep. PF Taj Gibson and C Robin Lopez are the big men in the starting lineup; they lead the team in rebounding and blocks, respectively. SF Doug McDermott scored eight points in 26 minutes against the Spurs in his first action since suffering a concussion on November 12. Newly-added PG Rajon Rondo has looked like a shadow of his former self, and ostensible deep threat PF Nikola Mirotic has a three-point percentage of 29.4 percent.