The Hornets have quietly been respectable thus far, sitting 9th in the East with a 4-6 record. Despite sitting 13th out West, the Grizzlies have showed some signs of life, having a few impressive wins thus far.
Charlotte have opened 1.5-point favourites in this one, receiving 70% of the early action from bettors. In somewhat of a change, I’m going to side with the majority here and back Charlotte at a relatively low number.
First and foremost, young teams like these two tend to play much better at home than they do on the road. This is especially true for lower-end rotation players, which both of these sides have a lot of.
Memphis have won just once on the road this season, which was coincidentally last time out at San Antonio. They’ve been terrible in the game after a win this season, losing by over 50 combined points against the Lakers and Magic.
On the flipside, the Hornets have been the more consistent and reliable of these two sides so far. They’ve picked up a few impressive wins and held serve against the teams they’re capable of beating.
Terry Rozier has added some stability to the Point Guard position and is backed up very capably by De’Vonte Graham. Given the weaknesses of Memphis’ perimeter defence, the Charlotte guards have a noticeable matchup advantage and should be able to control this one.
They’ve also been getting some very solid frontcourt production, specifically from young forwards PJ Washington and Miles Bridges. Nic Batum appears to be returning from injury, meaning they’ve essentially now got a clean bill of health.
Ultimately, I think Charlotte is probably the slightly better of these two sides. Factoring in 3 points for home court and we’re really getting good line value on Charlotte at this -1.5 number.
Minnesota have been a very solid side through the first 10 games, entering the West playoff picture with 6 wins thus far. A recent poor run from the Spurs has them 5-5, now on the outside of the top 8 looking in.
The Wolves have opened as relatively tight 2-point favourites in this one, garnering nearly 75% of the early action. I’ve started to see a few 2.5-point lines popping up and really see some value in the Spurs at this number.
Despite a poor recent run, I think the Spurs probably the better of these two sides. They’ve got a very deep Guard rotation, one which I think can really stifle the Timberwolves offence. This is especially true when you consider the injury report for Minnesota, with both Teague and Napier questionable for this one at Point Guard.
As maligned as they are come playoff time, both DeRozan and Aldridge are very solid regular season offensive players. They’re particularly strong in isolation, which is a noticeable weak point of the Minnesota defence. Another strength of this side is their interior defence, which comes in very handy against someone like KAT.
I also think they’ve got a relatively substantial coaching advantage with Greg Popovich over Ryan Saunders. Especially after a poor loss at home to Memphis last time out, you can bet Pop will have these guys motivated.
Minnesota are probably a tad overrated by the public after their early season run and the Spurs look like a great contrarian play here. I think this is a coin-flip type of game and will happily take the side with a better coach getting 2.5 points.