NBA Knowledge
Hot Teams
-- Hawks won six of last seven at home; they clinched home field thru the Eastern Conference playoffs last night (3-5 last eight AF).
-- Bulls won four of their last five games (4-1 last five HF).
-- Golden State won its last seven games (6-1 vs spread).
-- Thunder won four of its last five games (6-3 last nine AF).
-- Portland won last two games, allowing 89-81 points, after losing five in row before that (5-2 last seven HF).
Cold Teams
-- Charlotte is 2-8 in last ten games, losing in double OT last night (4-2 last six HU).
-- Knicks lost their last six games (1-5 vs spread).
-- Milwaukee lost six of last seven games (1-3 last four HU).
-- Utah lost five of its last six games (4-1 last five HU).
-- Nuggets lost four of their last six games (6-3 last nine AU).
Series Records
-- Hawks won eight of last ten games with Charlotte.
-- Knicks lost eight of last ten games with Chicago.
-- Warriors won their last three games with Milwaukee.
-- Thunder won seven of last nine games with Utah.
-- Nuggets lost their last seven games with Portland.
Totals
-- Six of last seven Charlotte home games went over.
-- Six of last eight New York road games stayed under.
-- Under is 9-4 in Golden State's last 13 road games.
-- Last nine Oklahoma City road games went over.
-- Five of last six Portland home games went over.
Back-to-Backs
-- Hawks are 2-4-1 vs spread on road if they were at home night before.
-- Charlotte is 3-5 at home if they played night before.
-- Knicks are 5-9-1 on road if they played night before.
-- Golden State is 7-5 on road if it played night before.
-- Jazz is 3-2 vs spread at home if they played night before.
-- Denver is 1-5 vs spread if it won night before;
-- Portland is 8-7 when it had played the night before.
East vs West
SU: West 236-167 ATS: West 207-193-3
East teams HF vs West: 50-56
East teams HU vs West: 45-47
West teams HF vs East: 81-78-3
West teams HU vs East: 24-19
Armadillosports.com
Saturday's NBA Essentials
By Tony Mejia
VegasInsider.com
Hawks at Hornets
Charlotte has lost eight of 10 games following last night’s double-overtime loss to the Wizards and has slipped to 11th in the East, a couple of games behind No. 8 Boston. Al Jefferson is playing through a sore knee but has posted double-doubles in three of the last four games after posting 31 points and 10 boards. Kemba Walker shot 3-for-17 against the Wizards and is shooting just 32 percent since returning from missing 18 games after January surgery on a torn meniscus, averaging 13.2 points and four assists. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist severely sprained his left ankle in Washington late in the third quarter and limped back to the locker room under his own power. It would be a surprise to see him here. Cody Zeller missed his fourth straight game with a shoulder injury and is considered questionable. Mo Williams helped make up for Walker’s struggles by just missing a triple-double (26-9-10), while Gerald Henderson added 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds to help take some of the sting out of losing Kidd-Gilchrist. The Hornets are opening a three-game homestand here. Five of Charlotte’s last seven games have gone under the posted total. They’ve lost on the second night of a back-to-back five of the last six times they’ve been in this situation, including three in a row.
After rolling his ankle in the first quarter of Wednesday’s visit to Orlando, Jeff Teague returned to help the Hawks beat the Magic but sat out Friday’s 99-86 win over Miami. The Hawks say his ankle is tender and are excersing caution with their point guard since they’ve got the No. 1 seed in the East virtually assured. Teague has missed seven games this season, all of which have resulted in Atlanta wins. Backup Dennis Schroder has scored in double-figures in 13 of 14 games, including four straight, averaging 15.2 points and 5.8 assists since shooting 1-for-12 at Golden State on March 18. Schroder’s 12 points and 11 assists marked his third double-double in a 14-game span after having recorded only one all season prior to the All-Star break. DeMarre Carroll scored 24 points, one off his season-high, to help beat the Heat. Often unheralded as the Hawks’ lone non-All-Star starter, Carroll is averaging 15.7 points and 6.7 rebounds over his last six games, his most productive prolonged stretch of the season. Atlanta is playing just its third back-to-back since the break but have won nine of the last 10 SU in this situation.
Warriors at Bucks
Following an incredibly impressive 107-84 rout of Memphis, the Warriors have now won 13 of their last 14 games and have only been held under 100 points once all month. Golden State is 2-0 during this run of seven road dates in eight games, a stretch that got underway on a winning note in a 122-108 Tuesday night stomping of Portland. MVP frontrunner Stephen Curry pulled off a dominant 38-point, 10-assist night against the Grizzlies, knocking down eight 3-pointers. Since he sat out the Warriors’ last loss to Denver, the team has won the last 13 times he’s played and is 14-1 with him on board in March. Klay Thompson returned from a significant ankle injury earlier this week and added 28 points, connecting on 6-for-9 from 3-point range. He’s already played one back-to-back without incident, so it would be surprising not to see him suit up, though Golden State head coach Steve Kerr could exercise caution on the road. Thompson has averaged 17.7 points over the three games he’s been back. The Warriors have covered in each of its last six games and has seen overs hit in seven of its last nine contests They beat the Bucks 102-93 at Oracle Arena on March 4 and have won and covered in their last four on the second night of a back-to-back.
Milwaukee hopes to close out a four-game homestand on a three-game winning streak, coming in off conquests of playoff hopefuls Miami and Indiana thus far this week. The Bucks had lost six consecutive games prior to their current run and haven’t won three consecutive games since before the All-Star break. The Bucks have won back-to-back games for the first time with Michael Carter-Williams at the point, improving to 5-10 in games he’s participated in. He’s averaging over 14 points and nearly six assists since arriving from Philadelphia, but has shot just 37 percent from the field in March. Ersan Ilyasova is finally healthy and comes off a season-high 34-point night in Thursday’s 111-107 win over the Pacers, shooting 12-for-14 from the field, including 5-for-6 from 3-point range. He’s averaged 17.5 points and 8.1 rebounds over his last eight games. Four of Milwaukee’s last five games have gone over the posted total.
Thunder at Jazz
The Thunder already knew they were going to be without Kevin Durant the rest of the way, so don’t look for a spark following the announcement that he’ll have to have a bone graft next week, sidelining him from basketball activity until late September at the earliest. Serge Ibaka says he’s closer to coming back from knee surgery after originally being expected to miss the remainder of the regular season, but he won’t be a part of the equation until deep into the first week of April at the earliest. OKC resides in the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference and will need Russell Westbrook to continue his epic run in order to stay there. Unfortunately, the NBA’s leading scorer has shown signs of slowing down. Since scoring at least 40 points in three straight games at the beginning of the month, he hasn’t been able to top 36 in any game since and is averaging just 18.3 points over his last three games. The over is 14-3-1 in Thunder games since Feb. 21 and OKC has covered six of eight. Coming off a 130-91 loss in San Antonio, it’s worth pointing out that the Thunder has only lost consecutive games once since the end of January.
The Jazz fell in Denver on Friday night, giving up over 100 points for the third time in four games. Not surprisingly, a team that hangs their hat on defense to win games has now lost four straight for the first time since December. A stretch of 16 unders in 19 games has come to an emphatic end as Utah has now played four straight that have gone over the posted total. Gordon Hayward was able to return after dealing with a sore knee, scoring a team-high 24 points and grabbing seven rebounds against the Nuggets. It remains to be seen whether Utah will take the cautious approach with him and sit him on the second night of a back-to-back. Rookie Dante Exum fell ill at halftime and didn’t play in the second half. The 19-year-old appears to have hit the wall, shooting just 3-for-24 over the last six games, a stretch where he has more turnovers (9) than he has points (7).
Nuggets at Trail Blazers
Ty Lawson led the way with 18 points and nine assists in a 107-91 win against Utah, leading five guys in double-figures. Backup Jameer Nelson also got in on the act with 18 points, shooting 7-for-10 from the field. Kenneth Faried played just 17 minutes due to foul trouble, so he should be fresh here. Danilo Gallinari has been sitting on the second night of back-to-backs of late, so he may not play after shooting 4-for-14 last night. Former Trail Blazers J.J. Hickson and Will Barton should play large roles off the Denver bench and combined for 21 points and 13 rebounds against Utah. The Nuggets are looking to avoid a four-game sweep at the hands of Northwest Division-leading Portland. Denver has covered 10 of its last 15 games.
The Trail Blazers snapped a seven-game losing streak in Phoenix that dated back to 2010 and have now won consecutive games after dropping five in a row SU and ATS. LaMarcus Aldridge scored 10 straight points in the final minutes of the game to fuel a comeback after Portland scored just 13 points in the third quarter against the Suns. The Trail Blazers are now home for the next three games and will need to have success in order to work their way back up to the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference, locking in homecourt advantage in a first-round series. Point guard Damian Lillard shot 4-for-15 in Phoenix but had started coming out of a major slump, scoring over 20 points in three straight games for the first time since January. The Blazers need him to keep bouncing back. Center Robin Lopez came up with only his sixth double-double (12 points, 10 boards) of the season, only his second since Feb. 5. Despite last night’s low-scoring 87-81 win, Portland has seen the over hit in seven of its last nine games. The Blazers have lost two of the last three times they’ve played a second of a back-to-back.