Stephen Nover
Orlando at Portland
Play: Under
Orlando is thin at point guard, struggles against big, physical teams such as Portland and the Trail Blazers rank third in many of the major defensive categories.
Elfrid Payton has missed eight games with a hamstring strain. He still might not be 100 percent. This puts Orlando in a bind at point guard because second-string point guard D.J. Augustin remains out. The Magic are the sixth-highest scoring team in the NBA, but they built up their high scoring average early in the season when their point guards were healthy.
Orlando has the second-best 3-point defense in the league holding foes to 31.7 percent shooting. The Trail Blazers heavily rely on their own star point guard, Damian Lillard. He's in a shooting slump, though, making only 32.6 percent of his shots from the floor during his last three games. Lillard is just 4-for-23 (17 percent) from beyond the arc during his last four games.
Marc Lyle
Rangers vs. Blackhawks
Play: Blackhawks -130
New York looks for their 7th game in a row tonight so that is a perfect time to fade them. Chicago gave up 7 goals to the Devils on Sunday and have looked bad after a red hot start. Quenville is only going to deal with so much losing and this is a very good spot tonight for the Blackhawks.
Andre Gomes
Jazz vs. Knicks
Pick: Over 203
This will be a rare nice matchup for the Jazz offense. The Knicks have a very good rim defense, but the Jazz barely attempt shots near the rim. On the other hand, Utah shoots a lot from the outside and this is an area where the Knicks' defense struggles a lot more, as they prefer their opponents to shoot from much nearer the basket. With Gobert out and with Favors, who likes to shoot from mid-range, replacing him on the lineup, the Jazz offense will have a good opportunity to expose the Knicks defense, which is poor outside the rim, including a fairly poor pick n roll defense, as veteran Jarrett Jack lacks the speed to handle his opposing PG's.
On the other side, Utah without Gobert is a much worse defensive team, especially near the basket. The Knicks know to attack the basket a lot and they will expose Gobert's absence tonight time and time again. Porzingis will also have a good match up tonight and he has a good spot to bounce back after a poor shooting night against the Cavaliers. I believe this will be a high scoring contest and so, I'll be taking the Over in here.