NBA Picks

The Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzles meetup Sunday night with both teams having played last night. Oddsmakers have made the Grizz a -7.5 home favorite. Who covers the spread? Get our UT/Mem pick here!

The Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors go at it Sunday where the sportsbooks have Fred VanVleet and Co. as -3.5 favorites. A whopping 62% of the general betting public are betting the Raptors minus the points. Get our Por/Tor pick before placing your wagers! We’ve got the winner!

For the third consecutive season in a row, Russell Westbrook has done the impossible: he’s averaging another triple-double. Unfortunately, he’s also shooting 21.8% from 3-point land. According to Basketball-Reference’s Play Index, only 4 people in NBA history have ever attempted more than five 3s per game while shooting less than 25%: Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love in Minnesota, Vander Blue (?) and Trae Young this season (side note: Trae has
-1.0 Win Shares this year. Can Russ avoid shooting the Thunder out of this one? KC has your NBA pick.

Phoenix will be without Devin Booker tonight. He’s missed the last four games and the Suns have struggled to stay competitive in those contests, losing by margins of 17, 22, 17 and 4. Booker has missed four other games this season and Suns had the same issue, losing all four of those games by margins of 14, 30, 7 and 21 points. In summary, Booker has missed 8 games this season. The Suns have lost all eight by an average of 16.5 points per game. Kevin West looks at if that’s enough to pick Spurs -12.5.

Last season through 25 games, the Houston Rockets were 21-4 with a +11.0 point differential. This year? 11-14 with a -1.4 point differential. They are currently on pace for the 3rd biggest drop-off by a 60- win team. The others? The post-Jordan Chicago Bulls and the first post-LeBron Cleveland Cavaliers. Last time I checked, this team still had the reigning MVP, and in fact, his numbers have been nearly identical across the board. But don’t bet the Rockets based on last year’s numbers, even though sportsbooks are pricing them that way!

The Heat have more injuries than the Eagles’ secondary, and we might be able to see some big minutes out of interesting young guys like Justise Winslow and Bam Adebayo. On paper, the Heat have the tools to give LeBron headaches; long, hard-nosed, switchable defenders with active hands and strong bodies. In reality that was not the case in LeBron’s 51-point dismantling of their defense three weeks ago. Will the script change in the last meeting with D-Wade on an NBA court? KC has a prediction!