RADIO
Friday is a jampacked nine-game slate and if you weren’t satisfied with last nights grouping of games, today has much more to offer. First things first, small slates usually mean there will be a limited number of teams playing two games in two days, so it’s already looking positive that every team will be arguably “fresh” Friday night.
Throughout all nine games, the most noticeable targets have to be dominating centers facing terrible defenses. Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Clint Capela all have favorable matchups and both Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley are facing a Trail Blazers defense that even with Jusuf Nurkic, struggles to defend the paint.
MonkeyKnifeFight.com is always ahead of the curve with their canceling of contests amid postponements, so don't worry about wasting money on a player or game that might not play. As always, you can find me in the NBA Chat Room or @HalfCourtJester on Twitter with any questions, especially since lines and players are subject to change throughout the day.
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SAS @ PHI
Joel Embiid (PHI) MORE 28.5 Points – Dejounte Murray (SAS) MORE 17.5 Points
Joel Embiid isn’t a headliner for MVP, but with the 76ers on the brink of another six-game win streak, he’s slowly creeping into that conversation. The Spurs defense is very middle of the road when it comes to defending centers, but anyone with an understanding of who Jakob Poeltl is as a player knows that he is willing to step up to any challenge despite maybe not having the capabilities to physically stop someone like Embiid tonight.
The 76ers backcourt is featuring Seth Curry, Furkan Korkmaz, and Isaiah Joe. With everything they bring to the offensive side of the ball, they don’t reflect anything close to the defensive effort required to keep Dejounte Murray from getting to his spots. The Spurs offense is usually spread out and hard to predict because of how they are coached, but Murray is their best player by far and even the most well-balanced offenses understand the importance of giving a player similar to Murray plenty of usage.
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MIN @ OKC
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) MORE 23.5 Points – Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN) MORE 22.5 Points
There are just some players you do not want to bet against, but this isn’t meaning automatically taking the under on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tonight. This means that when you bet on someone who is lining up against Patrick Beverley, you are basically getting what you ask for. Players at the NBA level can hit contested shots regularly, but Beverley brings extra effort that at the very least, causes a game-altering amount of havoc and chaos.
These teams just played earlier this week and both Gilgeous-Alexander and Karl-Anthony Towns had underwhelming games. Towns salvaged his performance by grabbing 16 rebounds, but only 17 points on 14 shots against Oklahoma City’s frontcourt is bad. Since he fouled out and had six turnovers, it’s safe to say he’ll still be heavily involved this time around as well.
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SAC @ DEN
Nikola Jokic (DEN) MORE 26.5 Points – De’Aaron Fox (SAC) MORE 21.5 Points
The Kings frontcourt is starting Damian Jones and Marvin Bagley, which is literally enough for me to just stop talking about this side of the wager altogether. This is one of the top MVP candidates playing in the first of what might be his easiest two games of the season.
The Nuggets backcourt is their weak point and it’s not like one side of the ball is better than the other. With no shooters and no defenders, the Nuggets are forced to rely on hoping opponents miss their three-point attempts. De’Aaron Fox is already seeing lows across the board and he’s shooting fewer and fewer three’s every night. However, the past week has been great as a resurgence for his stats, so until he faces a defense that has the assets to stop opposing backcourt threats, his momentum shouldn’t be stopped Friday.
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ATL @ LAL
LeBron James (LAL) MORE 31.5 Points – Clint Capela (ATL) MORE 26.5 Points
Scroll slightly and you’ll find this bet. Clint Capela is dominating the boards lately and even against smaller teams, he gets the minutes because of how lethal his role in the Hawks offense is, not to mention his length makes it nearly impossible for teams to pull him away from the rim easily and consistently. LeBron James will be sure to have no problems scoring around the basket, but that’s not really the case for any other Lakers. With a boost in shot attempts, it’s hard not to like any Capela rebounding prop tonight.
Since Los Angeles’ offense is fairly stagnant even with James doing everything he can, it’s easy to see why he's controlling so much of the offense and doing most of the production. His previous two games have been his lowest scoring of his last nine contests, but the Lakers have won and James still hasn’t scored under 25 points since December 17th, so saying he’s played poorly is just downright false.
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