NBA Picks

At just 3-6 SU in away games this season the Chicago Bulls have not impressed. However, Friday sees them going into Charlotte for a date with the 4-14 Hornets who have lost 7 games in a row. Defense has been the root cause of all issues that the Bulls have had this year, just in their last two defeats they’ve allowed 143 points both to the Pelicans and Heat. At some point this team has to take a good look in the mirror and take accountability on that end. Maybe the Hornets are a team they can finally get some stops against? Charlotte ranks only 18th in offensive efficiency, in their last two games vs the Knicks and Hawks they scored only 101 and 110 points.

LaMelo Ball appears to be headed towards and exit in the coming weeks or months, depending on when the Hornets can find a suitable trade for him. Whenever you have your star player being one foot out the door, it’s never good for team chemistry. Charlotte’s injury situation has been improving with Brandon Miller coming back, however they’ve struggled to implement him into their schematics in his first few games back. At home this team has covered the spread just once in 5 games, they’ve dropped 5 straight to Eastern Conference opponents and vs the Bulls they are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 home games.

Not having Nikola Vucevic hurt the Bulls on the inside in their last game, but I hope they’ve learned their lesson here. The trio of Coby White, Josh Giddey and Ayo Dosunmu should rack up the points against the Hornets. Let’s back the road squad.

Chicago Bulls vs Charlotte Hornets Predictions: Bulls -3.5 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

After back-to-back upset wins over Denver and Minnesota, the Kings were brought back to Earth in their last game as they lost at home to Phoenix. Not having Domantas Sabonis around was bound to hurt them at some point, moving forward the schedule won’t be kind to them in the month of December. On paper the game against Utah is a winnable one – they’ve beaten this team 9 consecutive times and are 6-2 ATS in the last 8 meetings. But, you never know with these Kings. On most nights they won’t show up, but when you least expect it they pull off miracle wins against far superior opponents.

Utah’s story of the season has been their solid home play and their disastrous run in road games. Playing at the Delta Center is literally the only reason why someone would consider backing them here. This team has lost 4 games in a row, granted he games were against elite opponents such as the Thunder, Lakers and Warriors. Hosting Sacramento will be much easier, plus there’s also the revenge factor in play as the Kings won the earlier meeting this season 105-104 in what was the 2nd game of the season for both sides.

Sacramento might have the superior record in recent meetings, but I like the Jazz chances slightly more in this scenario. The Kings are already a bottom 5 team in the league when it comes to opponent points in the paint, they’ll only get worse down low with no Sabonis out there. Lauri Markkanen had 33 in that first meeting, expect a big game from him and the Jazz defending home court.

Sacramento Kings vs Utah Jazz Predictions: Jazz -1 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

With just 1 win to show for in their last 5 outings, the Mavericks don’t have a lot of reasons for optimism at the moment. The offense has been dreadful with just 102 and 96 points scored in their last two games vs Miami and Memphis. It’s been a struggle to score for this team without their two biggest stars, who are still out injured. Dallas scores just 105 points per 100 possessions which ranks them bottom of the league. The fact that they play the 6th fastest pace makes that stat sound a lot worse than it is.

Meanwhile, their former player Luka Doncic is enjoying life with his new team the Lakers. The team in purple and gold is 2nd in the West only behind the OKC Thunder, they’ve won 13 of 17 games and currently have an active streak of 5 wins in a row. How are the Lakers doing this? Well, that is a good question. This team does not excel in anything particularly. They rank 9th in offense and 16th in defense efficiency wise. They do have Luka Doncic though, which is the main reason for all the success they’ve had. LeBron James is also back from injury, he is slowly ramping up work and just had his best game since returning with 25 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists in the win over the Clippers.

The pick is quite obvious here. As long as Deandre Ayton keeps missing games I’ll be backing the over on the Lakers, regardless who they play against. This team and their superstar Doncic loves to run, they’ll just keep on piling the points. We just saw the Lakers score 135 and 140 points in 2 of their last 3 games, they should be able to score enough to carry us over the projected total. Give me the points here.

Dallas Mavericks vs LA Lakers Predictions: Over 230.5 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.