Saturday's best NBA bets
Portland Trail Blazers at Dallas Mavericks (-8.5, 193)
The Blazers were able to weather the storm without All-Star guard Brandon Roy for a little while, but it appears the ship is starting to sink without the talented slasher in the lineup.
Portland has lost back-to-back games heading into Friday?s date with the Houston Rockets, dropping to 3-4 (4-2 ATS) in games without Roy this season. But as much as the Trail Blazers miss Roy?s 23 points per game, he misses them just as much.
He is nursing his nagging hamstring injury back in Portland while the team travels to Texas for two games. Roy has been forced to watch his team?s recent road games on TV, which has been a difficult task for the constant competitor.
"I?m walking around the house and I didn?t really notice it at first, but when the players and coaches were talking during a timeout, my hands were shaking a little bit," Roy told The Oregonian about watching last weekend?s win over Detroit. "I?m thinking, ?Man, I?m nervous!? I?m never nervous when I?m playing, I'm like, ?Coach, hurry up and draw up the play and let?s get back out on the court.? "
The Blazers have missed his clutch play down the stretch on both ends of the floor. Portland could sure use his perimeter defense against the Mavericks, who are averaging 114 points over their last three games and have defeated the Trail Blazers in seven of their last 10 meetings.
Pick: Dallas
Atlanta Hawks at Orlando Magic (-5, 192.5)
The Magic scored a huge conference win over the Boston Celtics Thursday night, downing their Eastern rivals 96-94. Now, Orlando is setting its sights on its own division ? more specifically the Southeast-leading Atlanta Hawks.
Heading into Friday night, the Magic are knotted with the Hawks atop the division with a 30-16 record. Atlanta plays Boston Friday, heading into that contest with a 28-15 mark on the season.
Dwight Howard picked up his game against the Celtics, scoring 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter. Howard made his last five field goal attempts and pushed Orlando to the comeback victory.
"That's the best he's played against their big guys in the low post," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy told the Orlando Sentinel. "I thought that he looked tremendous down there, and we kept going to him in the fourth quarter because he was playing so well. I just think [that] we were able to get him the ball in the fourth was the big thing."
Howard matches might with fellow Eastern Conference All-Star center Al Horford Saturday night. In his last meeting with Horford and the Hawks on Jan. 9, Howard scored just 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Back in November, he scored 22 points to Horford?s two in a 93-76 win as 3.5-point road underdogs in Atlanta.
Pick: Orlando
Portland Trail Blazers at Dallas Mavericks (-8.5, 193)
The Blazers were able to weather the storm without All-Star guard Brandon Roy for a little while, but it appears the ship is starting to sink without the talented slasher in the lineup.
Portland has lost back-to-back games heading into Friday?s date with the Houston Rockets, dropping to 3-4 (4-2 ATS) in games without Roy this season. But as much as the Trail Blazers miss Roy?s 23 points per game, he misses them just as much.
He is nursing his nagging hamstring injury back in Portland while the team travels to Texas for two games. Roy has been forced to watch his team?s recent road games on TV, which has been a difficult task for the constant competitor.
"I?m walking around the house and I didn?t really notice it at first, but when the players and coaches were talking during a timeout, my hands were shaking a little bit," Roy told The Oregonian about watching last weekend?s win over Detroit. "I?m thinking, ?Man, I?m nervous!? I?m never nervous when I?m playing, I'm like, ?Coach, hurry up and draw up the play and let?s get back out on the court.? "
The Blazers have missed his clutch play down the stretch on both ends of the floor. Portland could sure use his perimeter defense against the Mavericks, who are averaging 114 points over their last three games and have defeated the Trail Blazers in seven of their last 10 meetings.
Pick: Dallas
Atlanta Hawks at Orlando Magic (-5, 192.5)
The Magic scored a huge conference win over the Boston Celtics Thursday night, downing their Eastern rivals 96-94. Now, Orlando is setting its sights on its own division ? more specifically the Southeast-leading Atlanta Hawks.
Heading into Friday night, the Magic are knotted with the Hawks atop the division with a 30-16 record. Atlanta plays Boston Friday, heading into that contest with a 28-15 mark on the season.
Dwight Howard picked up his game against the Celtics, scoring 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter. Howard made his last five field goal attempts and pushed Orlando to the comeback victory.
"That's the best he's played against their big guys in the low post," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy told the Orlando Sentinel. "I thought that he looked tremendous down there, and we kept going to him in the fourth quarter because he was playing so well. I just think [that] we were able to get him the ball in the fourth was the big thing."
Howard matches might with fellow Eastern Conference All-Star center Al Horford Saturday night. In his last meeting with Horford and the Hawks on Jan. 9, Howard scored just 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Back in November, he scored 22 points to Horford?s two in a 93-76 win as 3.5-point road underdogs in Atlanta.
Pick: Orlando
