Sacramento @ Minnesota
After a tremendous beatdown of Memphis, the Kings have lost two in a row. Saturday, they took a six-point loss at the hands of the Timberwolves, and they stay in Minneapolis to take them on once again.
After winning six games in a row, the Kings have dropped three of their last four; only twice this season have the Kings lost three games in a row, and they will be trying to avoid that fate tonight.
Minnesota has been playing exceptionally well and is playing for their fourth straight win. It would be just the third time this year they have managed to string together that many wins. Seeing how they played Saturday, there is no reason to think we will see a different result, especially considering the officiating crew.
Kevin Scott, Brian Forte, and Nate Green will take the floor tonight.
Brian Forte is the biggest homer in the league. Home teams are 28-8-2 at the spread in games he officiates, and this crew as a whole has held home teams up to a record of 61-39.
I don’t see any reason why the Timberwolves won’t pick up their 28th win of the season tonight.
Minnesota (+100) Rudy Gobert Over 11.5 Rebounds (-125)
Detroit @ Dallas
The Dallas Mavericks look to make a jump in the standings, taking on a Detroit team that is in full tank mode.
Things are heating up in the chase for Victor Wembanyama, and the Pistons are a front-runner. Four teams have 15 wins or less, but the Pistons have been far worse than the other three. Cade Cunningham is out for the season, so the Pistons should sell off the few assets they have by the deadline. This team will finish the season with less than 20 wins and have the best chance at landing Victor Wembanyama.
As for the Mavericks, they have lost seven of their last ten games. This is not the team we saw last year, and Cuban will need to do some work on the trade market if he wants his team to make another run.
Dallas’ run to the conference championship last year felt flukey, and the team we have seen in the first half of this season certainly would validate that thought. However, they have 31 games to figure things out before the playoffs.
They should have an easy win here, and with Crew Chief Curtis Blair on the floor, we should also see an easy over, as Blair is 21-12 at the O/U.
In addition to that, our man Jacyn Goble will be on the call. Goble is the referee who missed the call on LeBron at the end of the Lakers/Celtics game. He is currently under investigation, so he should be calling absolutely everything tonight. Lots of fouls and lots of points being scored while the clock isn’t running should result in an easy over.
Dallas -8.5 (-110) Over 229 (-110)
