NBA Picks

Sunday’s NBA slate will start with a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Finals when the Minnesota Timberwolves take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Timberwolves lead the season series 2-1 with wins in the last two meetings between these teams. The last time these teams met in Oklahoma City, the Thunder prevailed 113-105 behind 40 points from Shai-Gilgeous Alexander. The Thunder have been red hot leading into this matchup, winning their last seven games, while Minnesota has struggled, losing three of their last four games. The Timberwolves need to win as many games as possible down the stretch as they are currently battling for position in the Western Conference. Minnesota is currently the fifth seed, but things could change quickly as only three games separate the third seed from the seventh seed. Anthony Edwards will need to be at his best for Minnesota to compete this afternoon. In the three meetings with Oklahoma City, Edwards is averaging 27.7 points per game. Extra defensive pressure could be applied by Oklahoma City towards Edwards to slow him down. Edwards also enters this game listed as questionable with a sore knee. Even if Edwards goes, he could be a step slow. Gilgeous-Alexander has at least 30 points in each matchup against Minnesota this season. In the Thunder’s last two wins against the Nuggets and Celtics, Gilgeous-Alexander has been distributing the basketball. He finished those games with 15 assists and nine. He was also highly efficient with a combined shooting percentage of 69%. The Thunder are playing better team basketball right now than Minnesota. If Edwards plays, we may see him trying to take on the double team himself, while the Thunder will be looking to make the right play to the open shooter. I have the Thunder winning this game on their home floor.

Thunder -8.5 is available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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Cooper Flagg and the Mavericks are once again massive underdogs when they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2nd time in 2 days. They couldn’t do much against Cleveland’s high-octane offense in the first meeting, allowing 138 points in a 33-point blowout loss. Is it realistic to expect them to turn things around in a positive way so quickly after such a loss? Dallas has just 1 win in 10 games, while they’ve dropped 7 in a row vs the Cavs and have covered the spread only once in 5 meetings. A total of 5 players are questionable to play here, with the most notable ones being Daniel Gafford, Klay Thompson, Caleb Martin and P.J. Washington.

There’s also a long list of potential absentees for the Cavs here as well, but unlike the Mavs, they have a ton of depth to compensate for that. Plus, both Donovan Mitchell and James Harden are healthy and ready to play. Neither of them spent much energy in Friday’s win, logging just 29 minutes each. Evan Mobley stole the show with his 29 points on 12-for-15 shooting in just 23 minutes played. It was Cleveland’s 12th win in 17 games, and they have one of the softer schedules in these remaining 15 games or so. If they take this game seriously, it should be a non-contest — just like the one we saw a couple of days ago in Dallas.

The Mavs are basically playing for pride at this point. The spread is a big one at 16.5 points, but Dallas’s last 7 of 8 defeats were all by double-digits. Cleveland should take this game seriously, so let’s back them to get the job done once again here.

Mavericks vs Cavaliers Predictions: Cleveland Cavaliers -16.5 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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The Pacers and Bucks are playing a seemingly meaningless game on Sunday, as these teams clash for the 4th and final time this regular season. The Pacers have nowhere to go in the standings, as they were eliminated from play-in tournament contention a long time ago and are currently on a 12-game losing streak. If there is a silver lining to their season at this very moment, it would be the debut of Ivica Zubac, who finally played for the first time in a Pacers uniform. His presence down low has slowed the tempo down a bit over the past couple of games, so it’ll be interesting to see how Indy uses him in Sunday’s match-up.

Meanwhile, the Bucks are also going nowhere at the moment. The #10 seed is 6 games away with 16 games left, but it would take a monumental collapse from the Charlotte Hornets for Giannis and co. to even sniff the play-in tournament — which is tough to see that happening. The Greek Freak skipped the last game in Atlanta as it was a 2nd night of a back-to-back, and the Bucks were absolutely smoked 122-99 for their 4th loss in a row. Indiana has been so bad lately that even this struggling Bucks team is a -7.5 favorite in this match-up. It’s unclear if Giannis will even play; he’s officially listed as a game-time decision with his calf issue.

The state of both teams is pretty bad right now, and it’s not easy to get a read with so many players out on both rosters. I’ll focus on the total market here. Backing the under has yielded profit in 4 of 6 meetings, while the 10 most recent games head-to-head averaged 225.5 points per game. The 2 most recent contests produced just 205 and 204 points. With Zubac manning the middle now, the Pacers will look to slow things down a bit. I’m going for the under here.

Pacers vs Bucks Predictions: Under 228.5 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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Coming off a win they needed to get against the Brooklyn Nets, the Philadelphia 76ers will try to make it 2 straight at home when they welcome in a tougher test in the Portland Trail Blazers. This will be the 2nd time these teams have faced off this season. The Trail Blazers took the victory in Portland on February 9th 135-118.

The 76ers are doing the best they can while managing injuries to both Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Since Maxey went down with an injury on March 7th, the 76ers are 2-2. Philadelphia has needed to rely heavily on their guards Quentin Grimes and VJ Edgecombe during this stretch. Grimes carried the load against Brooklyn, scoring 28 points while shooting 45% from the floor, but he and Edgecombe draw a tough assignment in this game against Jrue Holiday and Scoot Henderson. Holiday has played his best basketball of the season in the month of March, averaging 21.3 points per game while shooting 56% from the field and 51% from three. Sunday’s game will be the first game of a pivotal 5-game road trip for the Trail Blazers. They currently sit a half-game behind the 9th-seeded Golden State Warriors. With tougher matchups against the Timberwolves and Nuggets coming up later in the road trip, Portland will want to get off to a good start by picking up a win today against the injured-76ers.

Trail Blazers vs 76ers prediction: Portland Trail Blazers -8.5 is available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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The Golden State Warriors will be hoping to halt a four-game losing streak when they visit the New York Knicks on Sunday evening. Of course, the reality is that the Warriors have very little chance of accomplishing that feat. Will they even be able to field a team?!?! Given Golden State’s smorgasbord of injury issues, my Warriors vs Knicks prediction is for the home side to win and cover. Jimmy Butler is already out for the season with a torn ACL and Stephen Curry (knee) will miss his 17th consecutive contest and at least another week thereafter. In addition to that, the Warriors have ruled out Draymond Green, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton and Seth Curry. Yes, a game will be played on Sunday — but if you’re watching, you will definitely need a roster in front of you to identify basically anyone on the floor for the visitors.

New York is in much better shape, as only Josh Hart (knee) is questionable for this one. The Knicks are a decent 6-3 SU in their last 9 contests and 7-3 SU in their last 10 inside Madison Square Garden, where 2 of those 3 recent losses have come against Detroit and against Oklahoma City in overtime. Mitchell Robinson is coming off a 12-point, 22-rebound performance in Friday’s win over Indiana and should be able to dominate down low against a Warriors squad that is thin in the front court even when it is healthy. Golden State is 0-3 against the spread in its last 3 overall, while New York is 6-3 ATS in its last 9 games. Look for those trends to continue.

Warriors vs Knicks prediction: New York -12.5 (-118) available at time of publishing. Playable to -13.5.

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For right now, the Sacramento Kings are the only team mathematically out of the playoff race in the Western Conference. However, they have not been tanking well of late, earning 3 wins from their last 4 games. They are up against an Utah Jazz team that has been tanking far more successfully over the last 10 games, having won just 2 of them. One of the reasons the Kings have been winning games is due to a veteran backcourt of Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan. The former has recorded 2 triple-doubles in his last 3 games, while the latter has 66 combined points in his last 2 efforts. They will be the driving force for the hosts tonight.

The Jazz frontline has been decimated by injuries, which has forced Kyle Filipowski to play a major role. With the visitors deciding to rest him tonight, their center rotation is going to be very slim. Oscar Tshiebwe will likely get the start, but he is listed at 6-foot-9. The hosts will have 7-foot rookie sensation Maxime Raynaud starting, with the center averaging 17 points and 8.7 rebounds per game this month. With his frontcourt partner Precious Achiuwa averaging 17 points and 10.1 rebounds over the last 10 games, the Kings should be well positioned to dominate inside. That will go a long way to help them cover the spread.

Jazz vs Kings prediction: Sacramento Kings -3 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable to Kings -4.