NBA Pick #1: 537 Oklahoma City Thunder @ 538 Cleveland Cavaliers
Rating: 3 Units – *TOP PLAY*
Pick: 537 Oklahoma City Thunder (+3)
Price: -110 / 1.91 on Betonline
Write Up:
I believe this game should have a 50/50 line, as the matchup is very favorable to OKC. Offensively, their driving game is tough to stop if opposing teams don’t have solid Centers who can protect the paint. Cleveland has Jarrett Allen, but he is injured and won’t play. This puts Mobley in a tough position against the Thunder, as he is the only decent big man on the roster right now.
Oklahoma City’s defense is very solid against opposing ball dominant teams as they blitz the ball handlers with great precision. Chicago’s LaVine just saw that in the first game where he went 4-16 FG. Cleveland is a dominant ball handler team and they will likely be without their best playmaker as Garland will likely miss this game. I believe OKC’s defense will put pressure on Mitchell on both ends of the floor.
NBA Pick #2: 539 New York Knicks @ 540 Atlanta Hawks
Rating: 2 Units – Regular Play
Pick: Over 228.5
Price: -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker
Write Up:
Both teams are coming to this game from losses where they really struggled on offense. Atlanta couldn’t hit a 3pts shot (5-29 3pts) against Charlotte and the Knicks couldn’t score close to the basket against Boston. The good news is that tonight’s matchups will be quite favorable for both offenses. Atlanta is more focused on 3pts shooting this season. Quin Snyder said today :”I would’ve liked to shoot more than 29 threes” and no team allowed more 3pts last season than the Knicks.
Meanwhile, both Brunson and Randle really struggled to score against Boston. Randle was well defended by Holiday while Brunson missed several good looking shots. Note that there is a massive downgrade of quality from Boston to Atlanta in terms of perimeter defense and paint protection. Atlanta is coming from allowing Charlotte to score 56 points in the paint (68% FG at the rim), so we can expect the Knicks to bounce back offensively today as well.