NBA Picks and Predictions Against The Spread, Friday 10/25

Wednesday didn’t go as planned. The Pacers blew a 4th quarter lead and lost outright to a Detroit team missing Blake Griffin that they are clearly better than. Drummond dropped a monster line on them 32/23/2, adding 4 blocks and 3 steals. We might be looking at a couple weeks of growing pains with the significant roster changes on the Pacers, particularly on the defensive end.

The Bulls dropped a game they had no business losing, watching a 10 point lead evaporate in the last five minutes of play. The Hornets remain one of the league’s worst team but they had an insanely good night from 3 point range, shooting 23 of 44 and this improbable outcome set up a narrow one point win. The win for the Hornets may actually be a net positive as they will continue to be a team to bet against and may create more favorable point spreads for the next week or two.

Thursday went completely as planned as the Clippers steamrolled the Warriors on our Thursday night TNT play of the week. It was foolish to not have the Clippers as a heavier favorite than just a single point in that one, and the oddsmakers have some catching up to do on the true ability of this Clipper team.

1-2 the last two days bringing year to date to 3-2.

Minnesota Timberwolves at Charlotte Hornets

7:05PM EST

• Opening Line: Timberwolves -4 and 229
• Current Line: Timberwolves -5 and 227

We are going right back to attacking the Hornets in this one. The three point shooting anomaly we saw on Wednesday may turn out to be their best of the season with 81 games left to play. Devonte Graham and rookie PJ Washington combined to shoot 13 of 18 from 3 point range, treat this as an outlier. The Timberwolves grabbed a road win in a tougher matchup at Brooklyn in their opener and will have an easier time in this one.

Chicago Bulls at Memphis Grizzlies

8:05PM EST

• Opening Line: Grizzlies -1 and 220.5
• Current Line: Bulls -1.5 and 222.5

Doubling down on the outlier outcome in Charlotte on Wednesday, the Bulls were the team to notch the loss to the Hornets, and they walk into another matchup with one of the league’s worst teams to follow up. The Grizzlies are another team with real talent deficiencies as they rebuild and were blown out by the Heat sans Jimmy Butler in their opener. We are already getting a gift line due to the Hornets win and this one happens to be their opponent in that game. Lauri Markannen and company will simply be too much and the more talented and ascending Bulls get an easy win here.

If you’re looking for a larger volume of plays to put together a parlay on this Friday night, there are a couple live underdogs to throw out there. The Knicks +8.5 at Brooklyn and the Jazz +3.5 at the Lakers are certainly worth a look.

Good luck!