With Covid-19 running rampant in the league, be sure to check out injury reports more than usual. Teams are sitting out half of their lineups and will have a drastic effect on the outcome. These picks are subject to change as they are written the night before!
Atlanta Hawks at Phoenix Suns
The Hawks are coming into this game with a lot of injuries that are not Covid-19 related. Gallinari, Dunn, Rondo, and Bogdanovic are all out this game. Capela is listed as a game time decision.
Despite all of these injuries, the Hawks are still relatively deep and are getting great play from Young and Collins. In his third year, Young is proving to be a top tier point guard. Through 10 games, he is averaging 24.8 PPG, 8.4 APG, and 3.9 RPG. He has shown to be an effective scorer from anywhere and draws the defensive eyes, allowing him to make a pass for an easy score.
Collins has expressed his frustrations with the way Young handles the offense. Despite these concerns, he is still an effective player. He is putting up 16.7 PPG and 7.7 RPG. Due to the depth of the roster, he is seeing the ball less leading to fewer points.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The depth of the Hawks forces the defense to cover everyone leading to fewer double teams for Young and Collins. The Hawks are 5-5 and come into Pheonix after an excellent win against the Hawks.
Th Suns are a top team in the West and start the season 7-4. The Suns are just as deep as the Hawks and can match up player for player.
The Suns have an extreme edge in the injury department. Payne is the only player listed on the injury report for the suns and is a game time decision. Not a huge deal if he sits.
Booker appears to be in elite form. Getting roughly 35 minutes a game, he is averaging 23.0 PPG, 4.3 APG, and 3.3 RPG. Ayton is seeing a dip on his numbers from last year. This is due to the talent they added to the roster and is still averaging a double-double.
Th Suns are coming into this game after an off shooting night and a stellar performance by Beal, who is playing at an MVP level.
With the Suns touting a healthy roster, the Suns -5.0 is the play. Chris Paul will control the pace of the game, slowing down an electric Young from making runs. Unable to guard Bridges, Saric, and Johnson, they should run away with the game. The Suns will focus on shutting down Young and Collins, forcing their other players to beat them.
New Orleans Pelicans at Los Angeles Clippers
The offensive powerhouse of the Pelicans meets the defensive minded Clippers. The Pelicans are below .500 starting the season and seem to have trouble finding chemistry with their new lineup.
The Clippers will have their hands full with Williamson and Ingram. Both are talented scoring threats and command the best defenders on the other team, averaging 21.9 PPG, 1.3 APG, and 8.1 RPG and 24.8 PPG, 5.8 APG, and 7.1 RPG, respectively.
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The main problem with the Pelicans is their lack of assists. The assist leader is Ingram, who seems to be the focal point of the offense. They are getting lackluster play from Ball and Bledsoe who are both barely averaging over 10 PPG and 4.0 APG. With the threat of the point guard almost nonexistent, it makes it harder for Ingram and Willaimson to have huge nights.
The duo George and Leonard are one of the most effective pairs on the league. Both getting 34.7 MPG and are averaging 25.0 PPG, 5.4 APG, and 6.3 RPG and 24.4 PPG, 5.7, and 4.9 RPG, respectively.
The duo can simply do it all. Their assists numbers coupled with their scoring makes them almost impossible to stop. If you shutdown the high percentage shot, they pass the ball to the open guy leading to an assist. This makes the Clippers difficult to stop since they have a deep roster and tout several players who can go off any given night.
The Pelicans are on a three-game losing streak and do not play the next couple of days. With rest coming soon, we should see everyone on their roster giving maximum effort.
The Pelicans are the underdogs and are given a line of +6.0. The Pelicans should be able to cover this line despite Reddick and Bledsoe listed as game-time decisions. Zubac is listed as game-time decision for the Clippers.
Dallas Mavericks at Charlotte Hornets
The Mavericks are coming into Charlotte stricken by Covid-19. They will be without Powell, Brunson, Finney-Smith and Richardson.
However, not all is bad news as they will be getting back their star Porzingis back into the lineup. He was supposed to debut against the Pelicans on Monday, but the game was postponed.
The duo of Doncic and Porzingis was very successful last year. They are both freaks of nature who can do it all on court and can shoot from anywhere making them difficult to guard.
The Hornets are surprising the league by starting 6-5. After years of bad seasons, they are poised to compete.
Scary Terry and Hayward are leading the way. The fans, who were skeptical of acquiring Terry from the Celtics for Kemba, are singing a different tune. Kemba has been plagued by injuries and Terry has upped his play.
Hayward is back to his old self playing like he did with the Jazz. The combination of Terry and Hayward are drawing defensive attention allowing for their rookie LaMelo Ball to come to form. The rookie is coming along nicely and is now the youngest player ever to record a triple-double.
The Mavericks are the favorite at -4.5. The Mavericks were road warriors last year and appear to be road warriors again. The debut of Porzingis will bring a wave of new energy to this team, despite all of the players who are out. I believe the Mavericks will win and cover the -4.5 as the Hornets do not have the defensive capability of shutting down Doncic, Porzingis and Hardaway Jr.
Suns -5.0
Pelicans +6.0
Mavericks -4.5
Parley of the Day
Bucks ML
Nets ML
Suns ML
Trailblazers ML
Odds: +294
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