Best NBA Picks and Predictions Today [Jan 17th]

Kate Constable:

Good afternoon. Happy Monday and happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Glad you could join us. Chris Farley, Alex Christensen, Kate Constable here with you today. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, fantastic day to celebrate multiple things but a bonus of MLK Day is we get basketball all day long. My time, games started at 11:00. They go probably till about midnight. Guys, have you had any action in the early games so far? Chris?

Chris Farley:

Yes. Had a personal play on the Hornets and they won, so that was good to see. Boy, the Knicks have been doing well but they catch an offense like the Hornets, they could easily just fly ahead of the Knicks, especially when they don’t have a good shooting day. And then I actually won on the Celtics and Pelicans under so, so far so good, guys. I thought these were going to be added to the slate today and then I realized that they’re very early games, so that wouldn’t make any sense. But two and O start, I can’t complain.

Alex Christensen:

I had that under too. I’m glad that I was able to steal that from you unknowingly.

Chris Farley:

Let’s go, Alex.

Kate Constable:

And I had the Hornets too. Wow. We’re really getting in sync guys. This is great.

Alex Christensen:

Should start the show earlier.

Chris Farley:

We should.

Kate Constable:

The Nets, Cavs are also playing right now. Cavs are up by six. Grizzlies are up two on the Bulls early in the first. And the Wizards are up quite a bit on the Sixers. Although the Sixers were a three and a half point favorite over the Wizards today. Alex, that’s not too good for your Sixers.

Alex Christensen:

No, it was kind of a funky spot. I was looking to back the Sixers but Bradley Beal played. It’s not the best matchup for the Sixers. Bradley Beal is someone, in general the Sixers have always really struggled to guard some of these better shooting, more offensively gifted guards, even with Ben Simmons, even when he was playing, even with Matisse Thybulle or Danny Green, they just struggle defensively against some of these guys. Somebody like Dinwiddie makes a real difference here. And Daniel Gafford isn’t really a star at center, obviously. He hasn’t played too many minutes today but you bring guys like that in, they get a couple fouls on Embiid, you put some smaller guys out there and really the way to attack Embiid when the Sixers are on defense is to put him on someone that pulls him away from the basket a little bit.

Alex Christensen:

It’s a pretty tough match up overall for the Sixers but even then, you still have to be disappointed. They’re shooting only 42% from the field, 33% from three is not too bad but overall, a pretty rough game from the little bit I did get to see. I just can’t believe they’re losing the turnover battle to this Wizards team.

Kate Constable:

Embiid has 30 points today but he’s about not getting much help. Tyrese Maxey is 17, otherwise they’re the only two scorers and double figures right now. Hard to win a basketball game with only two players in double figures. Meanwhile, the Wizards have five, so good for the Wizards. Good win for them. Pacers and Clippers are playing right now. Clippers up on the Pacers. That one’s kind of surprising to me.

Alex Christensen:

It’s the Pacers. They’re terrible. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a bunch of times don’t trust the Pacers.

Kate Constable:

Yeah, but the Clippers are terrible too.

Alex Christensen:

They have a good coach. They try hard. There’s a general level of effort. The Clippers aren’t good but I guess I could say they’re not disappointing. Is that maybe a better description? The Pacers are continuously disappointing. You never know what’s going to happen there but the Clippers they’re at least, they’re consistent. They give you a level effort I think.

Kate Constable:

That’s very true. All right. Well still plenty of games this afternoon. Let’s jump into those and see where you guys are landing on those games. Check out our overall record. First of all, Chris, just like to say, I might be the new leader after today. I have 60 wins, you have 61 wins. Your win percentage is a little bit better, I’ll give you that but I’m coming for you. Alex, looking pretty good at 51, 43, 217 wins all together. Good work, gentlemen.

Kate Constable:

All right, kicking things off. Before we do, chat us. Put something in the chat feature and let us know who you guys are playing today. If you like our NBA odds and any questions you have, we’ll get those answered towards the end of the TV show. The Bucks are in Atlanta today to take on the Hawks. Bucks are a five and a half point favorite on the road. This total is whopping 232 and a half. Hawks have lost their last five, Bucks not much better. They’ve lost five of their last seven, coming off of a loss to the Raptors. Alex, what do you like in this game?

Alex Christensen:

I like the under and again, it’s not the best idea to go under a low total. They’ve done a little bit better this year and I’ve been a little more selective in some of these opportunities but you start to look at the matchup here, you start to look at the schedule, you without Jrue Holiday, the Milwaukee Bucks play much slower pace on offense. It’s a little bit more plodding, a lot of more trying to kind of force the ball inside to Giannis and some of those guys. You look at the Atlanta Hawks, they do have Trae Young back, that obviously drives a lot of offense for them but without Bogdanovic, without Clint Capela, they go from being a really dynamic interesting offense into kind of one dimensional. It really allows the Bucks to focus on Trae Young, as opposed to have to worry about that pick and roll, have to worry about Bogdanovic coming in.

Alex Christensen:

Curious to see what Kevin Hueter can do sometimes. He is kind of a good lesser Bogdanovic coming off the bench. But I look, I see a limited offensive lineup here from the Hawks. I look at a Milwaukee Bucks team that isn’t playing the best defense in the world like we’ve seen the last couple years but starting to tighten the screws up a little bit. Again, the lineup’s finally healthy. It’s not just Giannis and kind of whoever’s there every night. They’ve had Middleton for a while. Bobby Portis has actually settled in nicely kind of as the starting pseudo center, if you will. I think we’re just going to see a really clunky kind of slow matchup here. I guess if it does go over the total, there might be some kind of outrageous shooting performance possibly. But I just, I look at this game, I struggle to get it over 228 level and over 230. Under 232 sounds great.

Kate Constable:

I’m with you, Alex. I like the under too. Each of the Bucks’ last 11 games without Jrue Holiday have gone under. Bucks are averaging only a 108 points over their last seven games so things have slowed down for them a little bit offensively. But defensively, I think they have the edge over Atlanta’s offense with Giannis and Bobby Portis kind of occupying the lane. I don’t see them getting a whole lot inside. It’s going to cause them to have to take outside shots. Unless they’re having a really strong shooting night, I don’t think that they’re going to be able to get enough baskets in order for this to go over the 232 and a half total. That’s pretty high for me. Last game between these two teams, 120, 110 Trae Young had 42 in that game as well. He needs to score in order for this Hawks team to win but 42 is a lot. I also like this under 232 and a half. Chris, what do you think?

Chris Farley:

Yeah, this is a tough game. Probably one of the tougher games on the slate for me today, just because well, first of all, I can’t look at any other side but the Bucks. Not a lot is going right for the Hawks right now and obviously the trade with Cam Reddish and everything, we need to start considering that maybe the Hawks are going to make some kind of significant change before the trade deadline. Reading some stuff about maybe John Collins as a possible trade piece. This team could change. They’ve kind of been at an inflection point right now. And the fact that they beat the Bucks in the one and only game that they faced each other this season and that was a great game for really the entire Hawks team. John Collins had 19 points. Capela did his typical thing at 13 rebounds. Everybody on the Hawks had a plus point differential in that game. Everybody on the Bucks had a negative point differential in that game.

Chris Farley:

Giannis struggled that night, there was no Middleton. You got to think that the Bucks are going to come into this one and at least maybe want to seek some revenge in the Hawks for that. But then you have this Hawks team that is just losing and losing and they are allowing a ton of points. That’s what kind of scared me off the total too. I lean towards the under and that’s an interesting angle with Jrue Holiday out of this game. It’s just the Hawks have been regularly allowing teams to score over a 120 points. And if you let this Bucks team go on a track meet against you, especially Giannis is going in the middle and without Capela tonight, things could get out of hand.

Chris Farley:

But again, these line, there’s some weird lines out today. We talked about that a little bit earlier before the show and this Bucks team is way better than four and a half points over the Hawks. The line kind of doesn’t make sense to me either. It’s probably the spot for the Hawks. They need a win, they need to put in a great effort. I think it’s going to take a really great offensive game from the Hawks to even keep pace here. I still lean towards the under with you guys because total’s a little too high too, but it’s just a tough game with all the line movement. And I just don’t really know where to put my money.

Kate Constable:

Five and a half, this scared me off the spread, which is why I’m playing the total. But Chris is right, the Bucks are five and a half points better, much more than five and a half points better than the Hawks.

Alex Christensen:

I think with Jrue Holiday they’re much more than five and a half points better than the Hawks. I think without Holiday, in this particular matchup, both teams fully healthy, maybe right around five. With the Hawks missing again, Bogdanovic, Capela, the Bucks are missing Jrue Holiday. I had the Bucks at are around six, six and a half. Little bit of value on the Bucks but I think that the number closer to right than wrong to me.

Kate Constable:

All right. Well, no play on the side on this one but Alex and I are both taking the under 232 and a half. The Raptors in Miami tonight to take on the Heat. Heat are a three point favorite total’s 207, much different than our last total. This is the third game in four nights for both of these teams. However, Miami’s been at home for those games while the Raptors have been on the road. I’m going to take Miami minus three tonight. Toronto’s played road games in Detroit and Milwaukee and in those games, Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet played 40 minutes each in both of those games, OG Anunoby played in the upper thirties in both of those games. Fatigue factor may be settling in a little bit for the Raptors here tonight.

Kate Constable:

And then this Heat team is just so much deeper than the Raptors. Miami’s bench ranks fourth with 38.9 points per game. Toronto’s bench dead last in the league, 23.9. Between Duncan Robinson coming off the bench, Tyler Herro, I think those guys have a chance to really put this game out of reach for the Heat tonight, rather. Alex, any thoughts?

Alex Christensen:

Yeah. Again, it’s one of those lines today that looks like maybe the favorite’s a little bit short. Bam Adebayo questionable, this line tells me he’s probably out tonight. I think maybe what the big impact here tonight is that Heat did get Jimmy Butler back but Kyle Lowry’s gone. And Kyle Lowry, even in just his first season has been a real centering post for this Miami Heat team. He kind of holds everything together. I think he’s really a big reason why they continue to win games without Butler, without Bam Adebayo, he provides real leadership. Not only his talent but what he does in the locker room, what he’s able to do out on the floor I think makes a big difference tonight.

Alex Christensen:

That said on the other side, Toronto, having to play on the road. I think they finally started to adjust a little bit in this road trip to not having fans. Again, there’s going to be no fans here in Toronto so that’ll be a big switch for them. And they kind of go from home to road and things like that but they’ve got two games under their belt here. Started shooting better against Milwaukee. I think some of those things normalized here. Again, show low value in the favorite but similar to that Bucks game, I have it four and a half, four, three is maybe a little bit of value but just not enough to get me to place a wager.

Kate Constable:

Chris, you’ve been pretty high on the Raptors lately, as we all have on the show, really. What do you think about the Raptors in this spot tonight?

Chris Farley:

Yeah, I stay away from it just because of, many of the things you guys have already said. Bam Adebayo, as far as I’ve heard Alex, you can shock me here, but I think he’s playing tonight. That’s what I hear. At least that’s what’s trending.

Alex Christensen:

I heard questionable.

Chris Farley:

Yeah. Questionable but it’s trending in that direction. That has to be a good thing for the Heat. But we’ve seen when some of these star players come back, he’s been out for a long time and the Heat have played very well without him. I believe they won seven out of their last nine and they’re tied with the most wins in the Eastern conference still, which is very impressive. And I think it speaks to Erik Spoelstra. Probably easily a top three or top five coach in the league at this point for what he can do with that team.

Chris Farley:

But this offense kind of runs through Bam. In the past, that’s how it’s been. He stands at the top of the key, a lot of pick and rolls, a lot facilitating from Bam. Is he just going to come right back into that position and be as fluid as he used to be? I’m not sure. Maybe that affects the offense in this game. I took under 211 because I thought that was a little too high and we’ve seen it move down. I still lean towards the under because you have two teams here who are slow paced. You mentioned it already, Kate, they played three games the past four days. There has to be some exhaustion coming into this matchup. They’re really good matchup wise against each other. Miami is very good on defense in the paint. You got all those long arms on Toronto but I don’t see them having as much success tonight.

Chris Farley:

But interestingly, the books really haven’t caught up to these teams as far as how they’re listing their totals. 60% of the Heat games have gone to over, 57.5% of the Raptors games to the over. That’s still the trend for these two teams over. Those lines still have to be adjusted a little bit by the books. And now it’s gone down a little too much for me. I still lean towards the under, I lean on the Heat. I think like you mentioned Kate, a much deeper team than the Raptors as well and they’ve been relying on that a lot. Now with Bam coming back, I still see that as a positive but there could be some clunkiness in their offense tonight because of that, especially. Just a lean towards the under for me.

Kate Constable:

It’s also possible that Bam doesn’t play a whole lot of minutes too coming back. I’m sure he’s got his reconditioning back in and everything but getting back in an actual game. Alex, when a player comes back, how much do you factor that into the line knowing that they probably won’t play a lot? You said it looks like Bam isn’t factored into this line right now.

Alex Christensen:

Yeah. It’s something that you’ll kind of learn to do over time. You collect and try to see what movements are with and without players. Again, one of the best things you can do as a handicapper, get really good at looking at closing lines. Learn when a closing line has a player in, when it has an out. Start to organize that stuff. Because a lot of what you see sometimes are midway lines, if you will. They’ll put kind of half the value of Bam being in, if they’re not sure. Looking specifically at players coming back, I kind of lean towards what Chris was talking about a little bit. Depending on what the injury is and how long they’ve been out, it’s a little bit different, but more often than not, these first games back for these guys are really clunky.

Alex Christensen:

They try to do a ton of conditioning. They’ll get them some practice, maybe even sometimes send them down to the G league, which I think actually does help. But there’s nothing like game speed. And I think the first quarter and the first half especially, you see kind of a deer in the headlights a little bit as they get back up to speed. It’s something, again, you learn how valuable a player is through your own work but a lot of times just through looking at the closing lines and seeing which lineup is and just try to get a feel for it.

Kate Constable:

All right. Well, we’ll pay attention to this line and see if it changes prior to tip off, whether Bam’s in or not. Either way, I am taking the Heat minus three. The Phoenix Suns continue their road trip. They’re in San Antonio tonight taking on the Spurs. Suns are four and a half point favorite. Total’s 227. Suns are on the back end of a back to back. They beat the Pistons by 27 yesterday afternoon in Detroit. Deandre Ayton though, sprained his ankle. He’s been listed as day to day and the Spurs finally healthy and coming off a win over the Clippers. Chris, I’ll let you start this one off. Who do you like in this matchup?

Chris Farley:

Yeah. Let’s stir the pot here a little bit, shall we, on a Monday? I know I think Alex and I are going and head to head on this one. I like the Spurs. I got them at plus five, still like them at plus four and a half. But they’re dropping, this line is still dropping. I believe it’s three and a half now in most books. The first thing to me that jumped out when I looked at this is where the line is. I dare say, there’s no way that the Suns are only four and a half points better than the Spurs. Absolutely not only three and a half points better than the Spurs, even on the road. Now obviously you have to take the situation in the spot, into your handicapping.

Chris Farley:

Suns, this is going to be their fourth game in six days. They’ve been all on the road. This is a great spot for the Spurs. They’ve been at home. They have no look ahead. I believe they face OKC on Wednesday. This is a really good spot for the Spurs who are really, really healthy. They’re one of the healthiest teams in the NBA right now. I believe there’s one back row bench member who’s not going to play tonight but nothing significant. The Spurs are not a great basketball team. That’s pretty clear at this point but they are pretty good at some things. They’re really good at steals. They’re good at rebounding. They’re good at blocks. They don’t commit a lot of fouls. They’re good at fast break defense, where is an area where the Suns really thrive.

Chris Farley:

I think this is just a game where the Spurs can button it up a little bit. They’re all healthy. Play smart. Don’t make many mistakes. The Suns, who have to be a little bit tired, they’re still human. The Suns have been so impressive. I almost played on them yesterday because I thought that line was too big against the Pistons and what do they do? They waltz in there and they beat them by 27. Certainly the Suns could cover this game tonight and certainly the Suns are the better team but this is just the line is just telling me everything here. And as Alex nods his head, as I see from my peripherals, the thing is reverse line movement is a big red flag indicator in sports betting. And what’s happening in this game is, happens on a regular basis in the NFL. You don’t see it as much in the NBA but you’re getting a line that’s decreasing.

Chris Farley:

It’s going towards the Spurs’ side, yet there’s more side bets. There’s more money on the Suns. That’s a really strange thing that happens. It’s kind of a signal that the sportsbook still really think that the Spurs or they’re trying to bait people into taking the Suns even more. In the past, in all these cases it doesn’t work a 100% of the time but many times I choose to stick with my own numbers and still go with the team. I think that’s what Alex is doing here. And that is the right side, Alex. Obviously I’m not telling anybody anything by saying this, the Suns are much better team than the Spurs but the reverse line movement has me a little shook here. I think this is a good raise spot for the Spurs and the Suns for as good as they are, eventually they have to kind of loosen it up a little bit, put on the brakes of tad. This is a good spot for that to happen, I think. Tell me why I’m wrong, Alex.

Alex Christensen:

Well, I just not really sure what I’m supposed to say. You told everybody why you were wrong. What’s left? You just said the Suns were much better. They are. It’s a guard driven matchup. The Suns have the better guards. What the heck else is left? I will say, I think the line movement is mostly due to the Deandre Ayton reporting. There was some rumors floating around this morning that he might try to play, that he was kind of questionable. He just recently was announced officially out. I think that’s what’s driving that little bit of movement there. But just like you said, Chris, I look at my numbers. I have the Suns a seven point favorite here, even without Deandre Ayton. I know that it’s a little bit of a tough schedule spot but you look at that game against Detroit yesterday.

Alex Christensen:

None of the stars played more than 30 minutes. Chris Paul, only 27 minutes. You go back the game before against the Pacers, the same thing. It is a little bit of a fatigue spot. And I will say it’s their fourth game in seven days, not six days. They got an extra day in there to rest on you. But that looks like plenty of rest to me. You look at the minutes they’re playing and we’ve talked a lot about it today. For whatever reason, some of the favorites look a little funky. Maybe it’s just because they’re all on the road on the same day or something like that. But I’m happy to lay the points here with the Suns in a spot that looks really advantageous. And again, it’s never great when the line moves against you but I think it’s at Deandre Ayton news, so at least I know why.

Kate Constable:

Suns and Spurs have played twice already and the Suns won by four in each of those games so at least they’re very consistent. And this line, looks to be.

Alex Christensen:

Doesn’t bode well for me.

Kate Constable:

No it doesn’t, Alex.

Chris Farley:

Well, Kate, can I ask you, Kate?

Alex Christensen:

Only by half a point more.

Chris Farley:

Kate, can I ask you? I don’t think either Alex or I are going to get offended, who do you side with here? You’re the deciding factor.

Alex Christensen:

I might get offended. Reserve the right.

Kate Constable:

The line’s funky to me. The line is similar to the Sixers being three and a half point favorites over the Wizards. That’s not right. And the Wizards just beat them by 19 points. I might side with Chris a little bit. This is just a funky spot, funky number. But when you look at the previous two match ups, the Spurs have played them close and they were up by 16 in one of those and lost that lead. Not a definitive answer there, probably not the answer you’re looking for Chris.

Chris Farley:

I appreciate everything you just said.

Alex Christensen:

That feels like you’re on the Spurs. That’s fine, me against the world.

Chris Farley:

And I must add, I got to say this too, thank you to the producers of the show because the line at BetUS is three and a half. They’re still giving me four and a half. I’ll take it.

Kate Constable:

That’s why you use BetUS, best line.

Chris Farley:

Get the good line.

Kate Constable:

I’m on the Spurs, Alex. I’m sorry. I just made my decision there in the last 10 seconds. I’m on the Spurs.

Alex Christensen:

It’s fine. It’s cool. Just sit over here by myself. You guys, it’s fine. I don’t need you.

Chris Farley:

The Suns are going to win by 30.

Kate Constable:

If you win, then you will have bragging rights and Chris and I can both.

Alex Christensen:

I look forward to Friday’s show if the Suns win by a lot. If the Spurs win by a lot.

Kate Constable:

We will tell you that you’re right. We will admit our wrong. All right, well, it’s always fun to have different sides too. We agree on the same games so much more than we probably should but it’s fun to go against each other every once in a while. Chris, taking the Spurs with the points, Alex laying the points with the Suns. Thunder and Mavs tonight. The Thunder 11 and a half point dogs in Dallas. Total’s 209 and a half. Mavs are coming off of a 16 point win over the Orlando Magic and are now double digit favors once again. Alex, can they cover the Mavs that is, as double digit favorites?

Alex Christensen:

I sure don’t think so. I’ve been very confused by some of these Mavericks prices. I’m actually curious to hear what Chris thinks about this game and really just the Mavericks overall. Ever since Luka Doncic came back, sorry about that, bumped my laptop. The Mavericks are being priced like they’re one of the three or four best teams in the league. They suddenly went from being this rather mediocre, kind of funky team that really wasn’t winning games. Luka Doncic goes out, they go all big. They start winning games. He comes back, Porzingis goes out. They’re winning games again but I just don’t see it. I don’t understand why they should be an 11 and a half point favorite over anybody. And Oklahoma City isn’t the best, isn’t very good but they’re not the worst team in the league.

Alex Christensen:

It’s not like they’re playing the Magic or the Pistons or something like that. The Thunder have shown us they have capable defenders. They actually have some length and can bother teams a little bit. They have a style of play that’s difficult, makes teams uncomfortable. They take games and turn them into these kind of slow plodding pile of nonsense. And I just think this is going to be a really slow, ugly game. I don’t understand this number. I can’t get anywhere close to it. I looked, I kept tweaking stuff. I came out and spit out six when I first started. I tweaked some stuff, tweaked some stuff. I got it to a nine but the stuff I tweaked make a whole lot of sense to me. I just kept going to see if I could get to the number and I can’t. I can’t get to this number so give me the points.

Kate Constable:

Chris, can you get to this number?

Chris Farley:

Okay. To play contrarian, firstly, I thought about taking the Mavs last night, before I saw the line because I thought maybe it would come out around seven and a half, eight, maybe even eight and a half, nine. But then I saw the line and I totally agree with Alex in this one. There are reasons to like the Mavericks recently. They’ve won four out of five of their last games, they’re keeping opponents to 98 points per game in the last five games. They’re playing better defense and they’ve won 60% of their home games, four straight at home. A lot to like about the Mavs. But in case our listeners don’t know, I think it’s overdue that we give some credit to the Thunder.

Chris Farley:

The Thunder are second in the NBA as the ATS covering team. They’re 27, 14 and one against the spread. They’re one of the best covering teams in the league and they’re going against, to Alex’s point, a Mavericks team that just recently started to seem to figure some things out. But why do they deserve to be 11 and a half point favorites against a Thunder team that plays hard, can play good defense. And I really think the Thunder, unlike some other of the bottom tier NBA teams that we’ve seen, the Thunder I think do have some talent. They are improving. I really like Josh Giddey. He’s an underrated rookie in the NBA. He’s a great passer of the ball. Kind of just an awkward guy out there, the way that he runs and everything but boy, he can pass the ball. He can shoot.

Chris Farley:

Luguentz Dort, he can score. Gilgeous-Alexander, has been a lightning bowl for the Thunder. That is a play on words that I intended. Just the Thunder, I think, the Thunder are a team that we could start to like a little bit more, especially when the line is inflated like this right before this show. I don’t know why I passed by this game before. I think because I was anticipating a bet on the Mavs, so I just turned away from it. But I think I have to put some money on the Thunder too. I put some on right before the show, not an official pick on this show but I think full game under 210 is probably a decent look too because the Mavs have improved on defense and OKC can play good defense but I have to lean so it’s not an official play in the show for me. But I think Alex is absolutely on the right side. I’d be shocked if the Thunder couldn’t at least keep this competitive against a Dallas team that really depends on great shooting.

Chris Farley:

When they don’t create opportunities to shoot, they are not a good basketball team. I guess you could say that about a lot of NBA teams but they’re just not very good about, in the paint, they can’t score a lot in the paint. They depend on that outside perimeter shooting and the Thunder are pretty good defending that. I think this is a closer game than people think. And yes, Alex, I agree with you. We’re back in alignment. I love it.

Alex Christensen:

I like that. That’s better.

Kate Constable:

One of the things here that I like about the Thunder is in their last matchup with the Cavs, they out rebounded Cleveland at 51, 37 and that was a big reason why they were able to stay in that game. And that’s even going up against Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, who are huge rim protectors, pull down a ton of rebounds. That just shows a team that’s still willing to play hard and play throughout the entire game. If you have a team that’s doing that, covering by 11 and a half in the NBA is tough to do on most nights. Alex, plus 11 and a half for the Thunder for you tonight against the Mavs. Questions, still have a couple other games today, tonight. We’ll talk about those Jazz minus four versus the Lakers. What do you guys think about that match up? The Lakers kind of need a bounce back after everything that’s been going on with Magic Johnson and Russell Westbrook.

Chris Farley:

Yeah, that was going to be my exact point is, the Jazz four and a half points over the Lakers. That again seems like a give me. The Jazz are extraordinarily better than the Lakers. I do not like the Lakers as a team to go into the playoffs or anything. However, when Magic Johnson calls your team out and you’re LeBron James and you tell the audience, you tell your fans that, “We will do better.” It’s just always scary. That’s how good LeBron is, is he could maximize that entire team tonight. And for one night at the Staples Center, they could play fantastic. And he could just maximize everybody’s talent. And who knows, maybe Russ won’t turn the ball over 12 times. I say that so much on the show but it’s constant with him and he just keeps on saying that it is not a problem. Russ, it’s a problem. It’s a problem, Russ. That’s the only reason why I’m not betting on this is because of what Magic Johnson said and because the call to action from LeBron, otherwise this would be a fairly easy spot and bet.

Kate Constable:

Even with the Jazz playing last night? Back to back for the Jazz.

Chris Farley:

I think so because I loved the Jazz in that game. Go ahead, Alex.

Alex Christensen:

I think last night was a big spot for the Jazz and tonight’s going to be a little bit of a let down. Chris, you did, you called it out. You liked the Jazz yesterday, you called out kind of a Jazz blowout. And I think coming off that game, you got 35 minutes for Donovan Mitchell, 35 minutes of Rudy Gobert, and again, 35 minutes for Gobert after taking kind of a long break here.

Alex Christensen:

I agree that there is probably value in the Jazz, similar to the Mavericks pricing. The Lakers, all of a sudden they beat the Blazers, the Timberwolves, the Kings and the Hawks and are now being priced like they’re a good team again. They got beat by Memphis in a game that wasn’t near as close as the eight point score line, lose outright to the Kings, got smoked by the Nuggets the other night. And the Jazz again are a lot closer to the Nuggets than they are to the Hawks, Kings, Timberwolves and Trailblazers. I think it’s a decent spot for Utah but game in Denver, blowout game, back to back, a lot of minutes for everybody, there’s a lot of reasons to find something else to do with your money.

Kate Constable:

Are the Lakers making the playoffs?

Alex Christensen:

I hope not. Yes.

Kate Constable:

Do you have a future on the Lakers not making playoffs?

Alex Christensen:

Oh yeah. It’s one of my favorite bets, it’s 20 to one and it’s not going to win. The problem is the bottom of the Western Conference is so bad. I know that Chris at one point said the Pelicans are going to make the playoffs. It’s not looking so hot. You got the Kings, the Spurs, the Pelicans, the Thunder, the Rockets what’s left of the Trailblazers. What is that, six teams? One of those teams is going to make the playoffs, one of those six teams that I just listed is going to make the playoffs. The Lakers almost have to be at this. There’s just, there’s too many spots.

Kate Constable:

CJ Jim McCollum’s back for the Blazers though. Does that put the Blazers in a better spot?

Alex Christensen:

Less worse is how I would describe that spot. I don’t know if I describe it as better. Not as terrible.

Kate Constable:

Not good but not as bad.

Alex Christensen:

Yeah. Still pretty bad.

Chris Farley:

Exact same thought for me. I kind of thought about playing on them today too. And we’ve seen the line move in their favor but that means I have to trust the Blazers. I’m not doing that.

Kate Constable:

Yeah. I wouldn’t trust the Blazers either. Two point favorite over the Magic right now.

Chris Farley:

Yeah, but those Wagner brothers, they’re stepping up. The Wagners, hey.

Kate Constable:

They’re not afraid of anyone either. They’ll get in your face.

Chris Farley:

Oh yeah. They’ll get in. They’ll get in Luka’s face, that’s pretty good.

Kate Constable:

All right. Well, let’s take a look at our best bets for today. There was a bunch of funky lines because 12 games today and we only have what? One to five plays.

Alex Christensen:

Well, and I have the Thunder.

Kate Constable:

And you have the Thunder. Alex has the Thunder as well. Three plays on the day for Alex, the under and Bucks, Hawks for both of us, Chris and Alex going head to head in the Spurs versus the Suns game. That one will be fun to watch tonight but exciting day in the NBA. So many games, so much to watch all of this afternoon and heading into the evening. Oh yeah. Chris is saying, “Bring it on.” I hope you guys, we’ll have a text exchange probably later with a lot of choice words, I’m sure.