NBA Preview: Is LeBron James playing tonight?
Washington Wizards (44-28) at Cleveland Cavaliers (47-24), 7:30 p.m. EST
Estimated Line: Cavs -5.5. Estimated Total 221.
If you are at a Las Vegas Sportsbook looking to place a bet on the Cavaliers and you find out LeBron James is listed as questionable, my advice is to immediately get out of line and go play some blackjack while you wait for an update on his playing status.
Cleveland is an astounding 3-21 straight up and 2-22 ATS (Against The Spread) in the 24 games King James has missed since his return to Cleveland.
The estimated line for tonight’s game is based on James playing. LeBron is listed as questionable with a scratched cornea after getting poked in the eye during Friday’s game against the Hornets. The Cavs are winless in the five games James has missed this season.
Cleveland is 4-10 ATS and Washington is 8-5 ATS on the back-end of back-to-backs this season. The Cavs are 8-6 to the under and the Wizards 10-3 to the over on back-enders.
Cleveland has won and covered the spread in both meetings with the Wizards this season. The last meeting was a thrilling 140-135 win in overtime as LeBron hit a three-pointer while falling out of bounds to tie the game at the buzzer in regulation time.
James finished with 32 points, 7 rebounds and a career-high 17 assists. Kevin Love added 39 points and 12 boards and Kyrie Irving scored 23 points for the Cavs.
Bradley Beal scored 41 points with 8 assists, John Wall had 22 points and 12 assists and Otto Porter added 25 points and 6 boards for the Wizards.
I like the Wizards in this spot regardless of whether James plays in this game or not. If he does not play, I would be curious to see what the spread will be. I would put the line right around a pick’em.
Washington has a “chart play” on their side tonight as well. Their 129-108 win Friday night against the Brooklyn Nets snapped a 6-game not-cover streak. So the chart play dictates that the streak will reverse itself, which means we take the Wizards to cover the spread in this game.
New York Knicks (27-45) at San Antonio Spurs (55-16), 8:30 p.m. EST
Estimated Line: Spurs -14.5. Estimated Total 210.
Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose and Lance Thomas all sat out Thursday for the Knicks at Portland. New York got blown out in the first half, but showed some fight in the second half as they cut a 23-point deficit three minutes into the third quarter down to 10 several times, but could not get any closer.
Kristaps Porzingis led the Knicks with 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
The Knicks have played well against the Spurs in recent meetings, winning two and covering three out of their last four meetings.
Despite losing 35 of their last 48 games, the Knicks still show signs of life at times. Their effort comes and goes during games, but they are able to cover the spread often enough to have a 37-35 ATS record on the season which is #12 in the league. New York is 5-3 ATS as a double-digit underdog.
The Spurs are #8 in the league with their 38-33 ATS record. San Antonio is 13-10 ATS as a double-digit favorite this season.
San Antonio will win this game. The only question here is whether they can cover the Vegas number. The answer to that question hinges on whether New York will play Anthony, Rose and Thomas. I suspect they will all play as there is no back-to-back for the Knicks this weekend.
The Spurs lost to the Knicks 94-90 as 9-point chalk back on February 12 at Madison Square Garden. Pau Gasol did not play for San Antonio in that game. Kawhi Leonard had a monster game with 36 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals, but he was just 1-for-7 shooting three-pointers.
The Spurs’ starters were 3-for-19 from beyond the three-point arc as San Antonio shot 20.7% from three-land and 36.3% from the field for the game. Tony Parker played 31+ minutes and did not score a point as all Spurs’ starters not named Kawhi Leonard had 24 points combined on 8-for-34 shooting (23.5%) from the field and they were 2-for-12 shooting three-pointers.
The Knicks had a balanced attack with 25 points from Anthony, 18 points from Rose and 16 points from Porzingis.
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