Tuesday's Best NBA Bet
Indiana Pacers at Washington Wizards (N/A)
The Pacers offense should pick back up where it left off before the All-Star Break. After all, almost every team has been lighting up the Wizards.
Indiana has thrived offensively under interim coach Frank Vogel. Since taking over, the team has gone 7-3 SU and 6-4 ATS and topped the 100 point mark in each game. And turning the Pacers around has been no small task. Indiana is just 26th in the league in field goal percentage (44.3 percent) but has risen to 13th in points per game (99.5) thanks to the streaking offense.
“It feels good,” center Roy Hibbert said. “It’s a team effort. What I like about this team is if we’re down, if we’re up, we stick together and find a way to win.”
And it’s not like the Wizards are going to be able to shut them down. On the season, Washington is 22nd in opponents points per game (103.1), 25th in opponents field goal percentage (47.1) and 29th in opponents three-point percentage (37.9). If somehow the Wizards do find a way to shutdown the Pacers, the team must still overcome some lineup issues.
Nick Young (17.6 ppg) is nursing a sore knee and is expect to play, but forwards Al Thornton (knee) and Rashard Lewis (finger) are questionable.
"We're hurt," Washington coach Flip Saunders said. "We had a lot of guys who were hurt. It was one of those things, the harder we tried, the harder we fell. It was like being in quicksand."
Pick: Indiana
NBA Betting Preview: LA Lakers host Hawks
By: Barry Daniels
Fresh off collecting the NBA All-Star MVP trophy, Kobe Bryant will attempt to help his Los Angeles Lakers teammates snap a three-game losing skid Tuesday night against an Atlanta Hawks squad that is in the midst of a seven-game road excursion.
The overnight line for this 7:30 p.m. (PT) matchup at Staples Center has the Lakers as seven-point favorites, with the total set at 193 points.
The game directly prior to the All-Star break saw the Lakers suffer an embarrassing 104-99 setback to a Cleveland squad they had defeated by 55 points a month earlier.
The Lakers also failed to cover as 11-point road favorites, which lowered their spread record to a dismal 25-31-1. Though the combined 203 points skipped ‘over’ the 200½-point closing total, the ‘under’ is still 31-15 in the Lakers’ last 46 outings and 34-23 overall.
Los Angeles wasted Pau Gasol's first-ever 30-point, 20-rebound game and watched a scrambling last-minute comeback against the Cavs fall short. It was Cleveland's first victory in regulation time since Nov. 27.
Coach Phil Jackson cited 19 Lakers turnovers and a tough shooting night by Andrew Bynum. Although the Lakers fed Bynum the ball early against a team that starts nobody over 6-foot-9, the big center was 0-for 7 in the half and finished with six points in 22½ minutes.
One would think playing at Staples Center would help the Lakers snap this three-game slide. However, Phil Jackson’s troops are just 19-8 SU and 10-17 ATS through their first 27 home dates despite outscoring the opposition by an average of almost nine points per game (104.1 – 95.3).
Los Angeles ranks eighth offensively with an average of 102.3 points per game. The club is shooting 46.8 percent from the field, which ranks seventh.
The Lakers are yielding an average of 96.4 PPG (11th) and are allowing the opposition to shoot 44.2 percent from the field (fifth).
Atlanta began this seven-game road trip with stops in Detroit and New York prior to the All-Star break. The Hawks defeated the Pistons 94-79 to begin the excursion, but then suffered a 102-90 setback to the Knicks two days later.
Both games ducked below the closing total, leaving the ‘under’ 31-24 in Atlanta’s first 55 overall encounters and 16-13 in its first 29 road dates.
The Hawks also failed to cover against the Knicks as two-point road underdogs, which lowered Atlanta’s spread ledger to 25-30. The split of those two games left Atlanta’s road record at 17-12 SU and 13-16 ATS.
Marvin Williams scored 17 points and Mike Bibby had 15 in a losing effort against the Knicks. Hawks sixth man Jamal Crawford, who entered with just 21 points on 8-of-31 shooting over his previous four games, was 0-of-3 in the first half and finished 3-of-11 for seven points.
Center Al Horford, who has been suffering from a bad back after a hard foul from Blake Griffin during Atlanta’s Feb. 4 contest against the Clippers, is listed as “probable.”
The Hawks are yielding an average of just 95.4 points per game, which ranks seventh. They are also allowing the opposition to shoot just 33.1 percent from beyond the three-point line, which ranks second.
But it’s on the offensive end where the Hawks have had their struggles. Larry Drew’s club is averaging just 96.8 PPG, which ranks 22nd.
This will be the first meeting of the season between the Hawks and Lakers. Atlanta is 2-5 ATS in its last seven trips to Staples Center, with the ‘over’ going 5-1 in the last six meetings in Los Angeles.
The Hawks will continue their road journey Wednesday with a stop in Phoenix to play the Suns. The Lakers will make the short trip to Portland for a Wednesday meeting against the Blazers.
NBA RoundUp for 2/22
by Dan Bebe
Toronto Raptors @ Charlotte Bobcats (-8) with a total of 195.5
This game is a double revenge spot for the Raptors, but Toronto is a team that can easily lose by 8 or more. Charlotte went into the Break playing solid ball, beating the Lakers, Celtics, and Hawks in the week before the Break, but they lost to Indiana and Jersey, as well, so it's tough to know exactly what to expect. Generally, I would prefer to fade teams like Charlotte that took momentum into the Break, since the layoff can break the positive vibes. Of course, Toronto is a total mess no matter when they play. The Raptors have covered 2 in a row, but does that mean anything? I'm hard pressed to believe in Toronto against a decent rebounding team like Charlotte, but I can't lay 8 with a rusty team that tends to play to the level of its competition. Slight lean to TORONTO and the UNDER.
Indiana Pacers @ Washington Wizards with a total N/A
We could, maybe, possibly, be seeing a slight, baby surge by the Wizards...sorta. Going into the Break, Washington looked like they had found some sort of rhythm, winning a rare road game (yes, over the Cavs, but still), and taking care of Milwaukee at home a few days prior. Washington lost to San Antonio and Orlando (on the road), but that's nothing to be ashamed of, and playing at home out of the Break is a tiny bit easier, in terms of getting a practice in. Indiana had a hot run under new Coach Vogel, but they stumbled heading into the Break, and I can't help but think a little of that foul scent carries over. Lean to WASHINGTON and the UNDER.
Houston Rockets (-2) @ Detroit Pistons with a total of 203
This is a weird one to handicap. The Houston Rockets are actively trying to add Centers and Forwards while simultaneously trying to jettison contracts belonging to Forwards and maybe some Guards. It's tough to back the Rockets when they're a favorite for a few reasons, one being the aforementioned personnel question marks, and another being that they don't play defense and rarely win (or lose) by more than a few buckets. This line is probably pretty close to correct, though if there was one spot where I might consider backing Houston, it would be against the Pistons, somehow still coached by John Kuester. What a mess they've got in Detroit right now - they did beat Indiana in overtime heading into the Break, but Detroit has been awful since the latest Stuckey/Rip/Kuester showdown, and I can't back a team in disarray. Tiny, tiny lean to HOUSTON on the side, and the OVER.
Sacramento Kings @ Miami Heat with a total of N/A
I see no great reasons to back anybody, here. The Heat are likely a little more tired, given all 3 Heatles played minutes in the All Star game, and LeBron and Wade played pretty big minutes. Wade turned his ankle again, and a cross-country flight is rarely good on those types of swelling injuries. On top of that, Miami heads to Chicago for their next game, and the Bulls are set to get Joakim Noah back for what's sure to be a pretty good game. Sacramento is starting a 4-in-5-nights stretch through the Southeast, and I'm hoping to fade them at the tail end of that tiring run. At the beginning of a road trip, you tend to get a team's best effort, but the first game out of the Break is usually a little ugly. I suppose with the line set to come out in the teens, SACRAMENTO should be able to hang within 14-15 points, perhaps, and I'd be surprised to see a ton of defense, so maybe a little OVER lean.
Los Angeles Clippers @ Oklahoma City Thunder with a total of N/A
The Clippers 11-game road trip resumes in Oklahoma after a short layoff, and continues through New Orleans, and then back to LA for a "road" game against the cross-town Lakers. I honestly wish I could step up and say, definitively, "this is how a team will react to this situation" but I cannot. This is an extremely rare spot, for a team to be on an 11-game roadie through the Break, especially any team other than the Spurs. The Clippers have Chris Kaman back to add some actual post moves to their lineup, and they won their final game before the Break after ugly losses in Cleveland and Toronto (among others). Long story short, Blake Griffin didn't really get any time off, Durant and Westbrook partook of All Star festivities, too, and while I'd love to back the Clippers, who probably want to finish the road trip strong, Oklahoma is actually the team on revenge. This is going to be a big line, and one I'm not sure I can lay the chalk. I'm tempted to PASS on the side, but maybe a small lean to CLIPS, and I prefer the UNDER.
Minnesota Timberwolves @ Milwaukee Bucks with a total of N/A
Milwaukee strikes me as one of those "teams to watch" down the stretch. It is, to steal a lame cliche, put up or shut up time, and if the Bucks want to make a run at the postseason, they're going to have to put together a nice stretch run, and that is going to desperately need to include wins over lackluster opponents like Minnesota. That doesn't mean I want to back either team, but you can be darn sure I'm planning to watch this game to see if the Bucks can get things kicked into high gear. Milwaukee is on some tiny level of revenge from a loss back in November, so I'm not sure we can even count that, and both teams went into the Break with zero momentum. PASS on the side (but watch the game for research), and another UNDER lean, as both teams went into the break playing a very slow, clunky tempo.
Memphis Grizzlies @ Denver Nuggets with a total of N/A
I wanted to back the Grizzlies because I thought the team would do a nice job of rallying around the loss of Rudy Gay, but to some degree, I wonder if this is one of those rare cases where the team had time off, and "missed the boat" on the adrenaline that might result from an Injured Star game. Tough to say. Meanwhile, Denver recently lost a game in Memphis to a full strength Grizzlies team. Denver beat Memphis early in the year, but something tells me that both teams remember the recent game a little better. This is a difficult spot - do we ignore the Injured Star possibility and roll with the Nugs, who may or may not have Carmelo Anthony for this game? That's a pretty saucy play. My lean is certainly to DENVER and the UNDER, but Denver is a bit of a question mark these days...
Atlanta Hawks @ Los Angeles Lakers (-8) with a total of 190
Lakers are playing their first game home off a long road trip, but at the same time, they've been home since Thursday, so I'm not sure that angle actually matters. Atlanta, meanwhile, opens up the post-break experience with 5 straight on the west coast (or thereabouts). As we've said, we're likely to get the Hawks best effort in this first game, and Al Horford and Joe Johnson are already in LA, so while I expect the Lakers to win the game (since we know darn well they're not going to respond kindly to a loss in Cleveland), I'm not positive LA is all that interested in covering. LA has a tough one in Portland tomorrow, and Atlanta has a tough one in Phoenix tomorrow, so maybe our time would be best spent fading these teams on Tuesday. Just sayin'. Very, very small lean to ATLANTA and almost as small of a lean to the UNDER.
Boston Celtics (-4.5) @ Golden State Warriors with a total of 197
These two teams play again in about 10 days, so maybe our best course of action would be to wait and see how this one goes, and try to exploit some value in the repeat. This one is extremely tough, since this is normally a spot to consider backing Golden State (the team that hasn't had to travel), but most of Boston's roster was in LA for the All Star game, so they're only flying the 350 miles to the Bay. Boston is a strong road team, and they get a day off between every game on this road trip. I would wager Doc Rivers is currently dropping a cool hundo off to the schedule-makers for somehow getting away without a back-to-back on this roadie, and given Boston's success away from home, this line is probably pretty close to where it should be. The Warriors have been playing better defense against everyone not from Phoenix, so they'll be a tough competitor, but I don't see any angles strong enough to push me in either direction. Tiny lean to BOSTON on the side, and totals lean to the UNDER.