Toronto Raptors at Washington Wizards (-2.5, 193)
It’s tough to say why the scoreboard virtually blows up every time these two teams get together, but for some reason the last seven games between the Raptors and Wizards have played over the total.
The strange part of that statistic is that neither defense is all that bad. Toronto allows just 95.1 points per game and Washington isn’t far behind with 97.2. But when they hook up, none of that seems to matter.
In the last meeting back in December, both teams were missing their top scorers but they still managed to combine for 198 points largely thanks to a combined 21 three-pointers. Don’t be surprised if it’s raining three-balls again in the Verizon Center because the Raptors, the best three-point shooting team in the NBA, have been shooting better than 50 percent from beyond the arc over their last five games.
Pick: Over
Detroit Pistons at Indiana Pacers (+7 1/2, 192 1/2)
Things are bad in Indy right now. Jermaine O’Neal and Jamaal Tinsley are out. The Pacers are coming off three straight losses to Chicago, Milwaukee and Miami - teams which have a combined record of 44-86). And even though they’re back at home after playing nine of their last 11 games on the road, their 9-10 record in Indianapolis isn’t all that comforting.
The most worrying thing for the Pacers is the tendency they’ve shown to fall apart on offense when their perimeter shooting fails. They gave up scoring runs of 16 points to Philadelphia, 17 to Chicago, 12 to Milwaukee and 11 to Miami, which killed their confidence and shifted the momentum in those games. That doesn’t bode well against a tough, disciplined team like Detroit. This game could easily get out of hand if the Pacers’ shooting goes cold again.
Pick: Detroit
New York Knicks at Los Angeles Lakers (-9, 206)
The Lakers haven’t just lost three straight games - they’ve also failed to cover in six of their last eight outings.
Maybe they got too much love at the sportsbooks for the surprising success that has them in the running for the lead in the Pacific division. The opposite has been true for the Knicks. They were long ago labeled as hopeless losers but they’ve still covered in six of their last eight games and even a cross-country trek couldn’t slow them down on Sunday when they played a close 104-106 thriller at Golden State as 10-point dogs.
It will be a tougher test at the Staples Center, where the Lakers are 16-7 straight-up and 13-9 ATS, but those pesky Knicks just might be able to pull off another cover if the Lakers don’t take them seriously.
Pick: Knicks
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