The NBA season may have witnessed its worst beat of the season on Friday night.
With 7:31 left to go in the fourth quarter, D.J. Augustin hit a pull-up jumper to give Houston a 101-85 lead. The Rockets, which were as high as five-point underdogs before close, were on their way to a 13th victory! However, Minnesota proceeded to close the game on a 22-0 run that would not only give the Wolves a win, but the cover as well. Houston’s poor offense was on full display, going 0-of-14 from the floor and 0-of-6 from deep while failing to draw a single trip to the free-throw line.
If you were on Houston, I am so sorry.
Here are my NBA betting notes for Saturday, March 27.
Updated injury reports can be found here.
Updated odds for every game can be found here.
*Indicates team is on the second leg of a back-to-back.
The Main Event
Dallas Mavericks (-2.5, 227.5) at New Orleans Pelicans
The straight-up results have not been there as consistently for New Orleans, but they can rest easy knowing they are at least covering spreads. The Pelicans’ loss to Denver on Friday ended a 4-2 SU/5-1 ATS run over their previous six games. Now, they face a Dallas team that embarrassed them 143-130 back in February, and is 14-6 SU/10-10 ATS in its last 20 games.
New Orleans will have to become somewhat competent from the perimeter on defense to have an opportunity to take this game from Dallas, but there is no real indication it can be. Last night, the Nuggets torched them from deep with a 14-of-27 performance overall. On non-corner 3-pointers Denver shot 10-of-19, and that is an area that the Mavericks love to operate from. Dallas takes the fourth-most non-corner 3-pointers of any team in the league and ranks 11th in shooting on those attempts (36.6%). New Orleans ranks 30th in defending non-corner 3-pointers (39.8% allowed), which is clearly a problem in this meeting.
 
Be the first to comment