Ghazi
12-26-2012, 02:27 PM
Magic -3 - I'm not sure why they're laying so few points to the Hornets. Glen Davis is out, but Nicholson can do an adequate job of replacing him. No Eric Gordon tonight, IDT.. Anthony Davis is good, but his defensive stats, as expected w/ a lot of rookies, are terrible. In fact I suppose it can be argued that the Hornets are a better team as far as individual talent, but the Magic's chemistry/defense more than offset that. Vegas had the O/U on Magic wins set at 23.5 this year and they're on pace for 35-40. I like the Magic to win here.
Nuggets -3.5 - This is a horrible spot for the Lakers. an old team w/ no depth playing a b2b in Denver. Lawson can blaze by Nash, and Miller can post him up. the Lakers are 26th in the league at fastbreak efficiency defense and 30th in FB pts allowed. The Nuggets are one of the best fastbreaking teams in the league, especially at home. It certainly does't help that the Lakers are 29th in turnover rate, which fan fuel more fast breaks. Iguodala can probably do a decent job defensively on Bryant. While the Nuggets give up size here, are a poor shooting team and have trouble defending the 3, I see too many things working in their favor here.. the team is amazing at home. I also feel like the Nuggets size issue won't be properly exploited by the Lakers. I saw very few post ups yesterday for the Lakers.. Gasol operated more as apasser out of the elbow and Howard isn't even efficient posting up. Duncan shredded the Nuggets for 30/15 last week (eve though Nuggets won), but Howard doesn't have that kind of skill.
Knicks -2.5 - I'm not sure why they'd only lay 2.5 to the Suns. Very poor defense and very por rebounding fr the Suns. Melo as a PF should be a huge mismatch here... Felton may be out, but I don't think he should be worth that much to the spread... Prigioni can certainly spell him. Suns are worst in league at 3P%, and the Knicks offensive chemistry/ball movement should certainly be able to find looks here. I know its a b2b road game for the Knicks, but I really like them to win here.
Nuggets -3.5 - This is a horrible spot for the Lakers. an old team w/ no depth playing a b2b in Denver. Lawson can blaze by Nash, and Miller can post him up. the Lakers are 26th in the league at fastbreak efficiency defense and 30th in FB pts allowed. The Nuggets are one of the best fastbreaking teams in the league, especially at home. It certainly does't help that the Lakers are 29th in turnover rate, which fan fuel more fast breaks. Iguodala can probably do a decent job defensively on Bryant. While the Nuggets give up size here, are a poor shooting team and have trouble defending the 3, I see too many things working in their favor here.. the team is amazing at home. I also feel like the Nuggets size issue won't be properly exploited by the Lakers. I saw very few post ups yesterday for the Lakers.. Gasol operated more as apasser out of the elbow and Howard isn't even efficient posting up. Duncan shredded the Nuggets for 30/15 last week (eve though Nuggets won), but Howard doesn't have that kind of skill.
Knicks -2.5 - I'm not sure why they'd only lay 2.5 to the Suns. Very poor defense and very por rebounding fr the Suns. Melo as a PF should be a huge mismatch here... Felton may be out, but I don't think he should be worth that much to the spread... Prigioni can certainly spell him. Suns are worst in league at 3P%, and the Knicks offensive chemistry/ball movement should certainly be able to find looks here. I know its a b2b road game for the Knicks, but I really like them to win here.