Thursday, January 14

Charlotte Hornets vs Dallas Mavericks, 11:05 am
Hornets +4.5

Assuming this game goes ahead with all of Dallas’ health concerns, I like the Hornets as 4.5-point home underdogs here. They’ve been playing much better of late, while Dallas has been thrown into flux with a covid outbreak.

Charlotte is essentially fully healthy for this one, while Dallas are without Richardson, Finney-Smith, Powell, and Brunson from their usual rotation. This significantly weakens Dallas on the perimeter, creating a favourable matchup for Charlotte’s young backcourt.

This has also really disrupted Dallas’ practice schedule, so I can see them starting this one slowly. Charlotte has a real shot at pulling off the outright win here, but getting 4.5 points is great value.

OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers, 12 pm
Thunder +9.5

OKC have opened as 9.5-point home underdogs here and I’m inclined to back them getting this many points.  Both LeBron and AD have been on the injury report lately and this appears to be an ideal game to give one or both of them some rest.

Even if both of them play, this is a likely letdown spot for the Lakers after an emotional win in Houston yesterday. OKC are also on a back-to-back, but the lack of travel makes this a much more favourable scheduling spot for them.

While they haven’t pulled up many trees this season, they’re still a respectable 5-5 straight up and 6-4 ATS. This is a team that plays hard and will be well up for this as a relatively big home game. I like either OKC +9.5 or Lakers 1-10 here.