Road Teams Ball Out
On a busy night in the NBA it was road teams and Overs that dominated the betting markets, with away teams and full game Overs going 7-3 on the night. Let’s take a look at the scores and odds from the card.
The LA Lakers were dealt one more hammer blow to their postseason chances as they fell 114-111 to the New Orleans Pelicans at Crypto.com Arena.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis returned for the home team, who closed as 2½ point favorites against a Pelicans team that all but cemented their place in the play-in tournament.
“The big picture is that it was pretty much a must-win for us, and we didn’t get the job done,” said James after the game.
A slow first half ultimately helped keep this game under the full game total 231 points.
The Minnesota Timberwolves returned to form in style as they secured an impressive 136-130 win on the road against the Denver Nuggets.
The market was strongly in support of the road team, who went from +4.0 point underdogs to +2½ by tip-off. The Timberwolves played from in front for almost the entirety of this one.
It also turned out that no number hung by the sportsbooks would’ve been too high here, with the final game comfortably sailing over the 242 point total.
The biggest totals blowout of the night came in Milwaukee, as the shorthanded Bucks were blown out by the LA Clippers 153-119.
Both sides decided to rest their star players on the second night of a back-to-back, which in turn saw this total plummet from 227½ to 217½ by tip-off. Ultimately, the final score ended up clearing the closing number by 54 points!
The Memphis Grizzlies were another team to rest almost their entire starting lineup, but that did little to stop their momentum as they emerged 122-114 winners over the top-seeded Phoenix Suns.
The home side closed as +8.0 point underdogs after the news came through that they would be resting their starters, with the total shifting slightly from 227½ to 228½. Ultimately, neither move mattered as Overs and Grizzlies backers were comfortable covers from start to finish.
The Boston Celtics kept their hopes of a top seed in the Eastern Conference alive as they ran out 128-123 winners at home to the Indiana Pacers.
The road team comfortably covered the 14½ point spread and made things uncomfortable for the Celtics down the stretch as they refused to go away. The 226½ point toal was cleared with 4:14 still to play in the final quarter.
The Dallas Mavericks suffered an unexpected 135-103 road loss to the Washington Wizards as their chance to move back into the three seed in the west.
This total was blown open front the off with a combined 71 points in the opening frame and ultimately sailed over the full game total by 21 points.
The San Antonio Spurs took a big step toward securing the final play-in spot with a 130-111 win over the tanking Portland Trail Blazers. The home side covered the 13½ point spread and Overs bettors ticked another one off the list as well here.
The Sacramento Kings beat the Houston Rockets 122-117 in the only other game to go Over the full game number on the night.
The Toronto Raptors were 102-89 winners on the road against the Orlando Magic, while the Detroit Pistons were also road winners, beating the OKC Thunder 110-101 as both games stayed Under their full game numbers respectively.
