00:00All right, welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
00:02Great to have Adam Kaufman back in the house here on Newswire
00:05to break down some of the games in the NBA tonight.
00:08And wouldn't you know, the favorite to win the MVP is back
00:10just in time to cash that check at the end of the season.
00:14Shea Kilgis-Alexander is back.
00:16He really can't afford to miss many more.
00:17I don't think he would qualify.
00:18As Adam said, you've got to play 65 games in the NBA.
00:21So that makes the Thunder a whopping 8.5-point favorites tonight
00:24over the Nuggets, 233.5.
00:26You know, the thing with me at the Thunder is they keep winning,
00:29and it's so impressive that they're winning without SGA.
00:32I know Jalen Williams came back, but they're really not winning big.
00:35Like, a lot of these games are close.
00:37So is that in store tonight against Denver?
00:40Well, and plays into, as we were just talking about,
00:43the fact that the Spurs, with their 11-game winning streak,
00:45has trimmed this deficit in the West to just a game and a half.
00:48You know, two OKC's credit, especially as shorthanded as it is,
00:51five and four without SGA during that absence due to the abdominal strain.
00:57But he is back, and that's huge.
00:58There's still no Jalen Williams.
01:00You've got one of the Jalen Williams's, the one with the Y.
01:02But no Jalen Williams in terms of your, you know, second all-star there.
01:07And that does hurt.
01:08A.J. Mitchell, of course, a key contributor off the bench,
01:12is also unavailable in this one.
01:13So this is a team that's a little shorthanded.
01:16Thing is, so are the Nuggets.
01:17You know, yes, you have the best player in the world, in my mind,
01:20Nikola Jokic.
01:21But you don't have Aaron Gordon.
01:22Jamal Murray is obviously questionable.
01:24So we'll see if he winds up playing here in this one.
01:27And the Nuggets, if you want to lean into a close game,
01:31and I would be in that camp.
01:32And I know OKC beat Denver earlier this month by 10 points.
01:36Granted, the rosters looked a little bit different a few weeks ago at this point,
01:39given all of these injuries that we're talking about.
01:41But I was just reading this one earlier.
01:42The Nuggets 7-1 against the spread as dogs of six-plus points,
01:47winning their last five outright.
01:49Right. So I like Denver to hang around in this one, keep it close,
01:52take advantage of whatever rust may exist early on around SGA.
01:56And also, it's a team that, as superb as OKC is in general anywhere,
02:03I mean, you play the game on Mars, Oklahoma City would still do well.
02:06But at home, 24-6, the Nuggets are 21-11 on the road.
02:10So it's not a team that is going to be intimidated in any way
02:13going on the road into this environment.
02:15And don't forget, this is also a team that pushed
02:17the eventual champion, Thunder, to seven games in their playoff series last year.
02:22So we keep talking about how the Spurs have OKC's number this year, and that's true.
02:26But Denver is a team that is not exactly going to cower in this matchup.
02:31All right. To win the NBA's MVP, SGA moved from minus 230 on FanDuel to minus 250.
02:37And if he plays tonight and does well, I think he's going to jump a little more.
02:39Jokic is 4-1.
02:41Cade Cunningham is plus 850.
02:43It's a two-man race, let's be honest.
02:45But Cade Cunningham has had a fantastic season for Detroit.
02:48Don't want to discount him as well.
02:49OK. So Cleveland, life without James Harden for now,
02:52getting 6.5 tonight in a matchup against Detroit,
02:55which they'll feel a lot better about if Harden plays for them sometime later this month.
03:00Or, I'm sorry, later next month in March or in April.
03:01Total 227.5 Detroit is just simply playing like one of the best teams in the NBA.
03:07I'm not really interested in fading them,
03:09but I certainly understand that Cleveland has played like that as well.
03:11I just don't know to quantify the Harden factor,
03:13what the line would be, I guess, if he was in this game.
03:16Pistons have won 9 of 11.
03:18The Cavaliers have lost 2 of 3 since a 7-game winning streak.
03:22So to your point, still obviously the team that has played well over its last 10,
03:25but the injuries can't be ignored.
03:27You know, there's no Isaiah Stewart, no beef stew,
03:30because of the suspension he's dealing with.
03:32But on the other side, you're talking about big guns, obviously.
03:35It's not Cade Cunningham quality.
03:37So, you know, in terms of, you know, James Harden, like you said, is questionable.
03:43We already know Donovan Mitchell is not going to play in this game.
03:46And then on top of that, Max Truce is out.
03:49Dean Wade looks like he's not going to play.
03:51Dennis Schroeder has been upgraded to probable from questionable.
03:54And Bolsa is a guy that at least, in terms of a role player, can contribute,
03:58certainly can blow up for 2025 on any given day.
04:01And maybe he does that without some of the star power there for Cleveland.
04:05But, you know, I just consider the fact that, you know,
04:09these teams, when playing against higher quality competition,
04:12the Pistons this year against teams that are at least 500 have a 19-7 record.
04:17The Cavaliers, conversely, are below 500 against teams that are 500 or better.
04:23And so, you know, they don't exactly, again, you know,
04:27raise their game to what's around them.
04:30Ultimately, I like the Pistons to win this one.
04:33I like them to cover.
04:34I just think, you know, clearly they're the better team.
04:36There's no mystery there.
04:37But also the healthier team, the team that should take advantage in this spot.
04:41The same thing could be said tonight for this matchup between the Bucs and Knicks.
04:46The Bucs, you know, certainly playing toward the future now at this point.
04:49Although I think they have said that Giannis is supposed to come back.
04:52I don't know if I'd buy that, though.
04:54Knicks are 8.5-point favorites, total 219.5.
04:56It's just a matter of making a case here for Milwaukee in some way if you can.
05:01I understand this is a big line here,
05:03but generally the Knicks have done very well in these spots, Adam.
05:06They've been beating up on all the bad teams.
05:08It's just they can't beat the good teams this season.
05:11Look, the Bucs are terrible, but it's wild what they're doing.
05:14They've won 5 out of 6, like you said.
05:16Giannis is out, and who knows if we'll see him again.
05:18I'm inclined to believe we will, but maybe if the season gets away, we don't.
05:22And that is still what's in jeopardy.
05:24This team is still outside looking in when it comes to even the play in the tournament,
05:28let alone a playoff spot.
05:29And they're just, at least of late, winning on balance.
05:32We're talking about Rollins and Kuzma and Turner and,
05:37God, I mean, Porter Jr., Green, Portis off the bench.
05:41You know, it's, again, just a real collection of,
05:44okay, this guy can get you 12.
05:46This guy can get you 15.
05:47This guy might pop off for 20.
05:49But there's no 40-point dominant Giannis-like performance
05:53that you can rely upon night to night.
05:56That being said, yes, the Knicks are the better team.
05:59They're healthier.
05:59There's nobody out of consequence in this game for New York.
06:03And so this should be one of those situations where the Knicks roll,
06:07especially considering you don't need them to lay double figures.
06:11You mentioned Brooklyn, and that probably made people tune out of the show, honestly.
06:16But the good thing is, Adam, we've only got two minutes left with you.
06:19Celtics, Nets, Boston minus 17.5, total 207.5.
06:24They don't need Tatum for this one.
06:25I know that.
06:26No.
06:26Do they cover the spread?
06:28Do they cover this big line?
06:29I hate these big lines.
06:31I don't like the big line either.
06:33And it's not like the Celtics can't cover it, obviously.
06:36But the Nets have played them close to their credit.
06:38You know, they beat them once earlier this year, took them to double overtime in a second
06:43game as well.
06:44Celtics clearly are the better team, the healthier team, even without Tatum, Jalen Browns out there.
06:48Like, yes, they could win this game by 30, 40 points, and who would even blink at that?
06:52But I still don't want to lay 17.5.
06:55And to that point, Evan Abrams over at Action Network did a tweet earlier today.
06:59Celtics are the biggest favorites in a game with a total this low, 207.5, in nine years in the
07:06NBA.
07:07So for the Celtics to lay, you know, to win by 18, 20-plus points, and for this game to
07:13still, you know,
07:14theoretically come in at 205 or maybe a little bit lower than that, you're talking about a real shellacking.
07:20And maybe that's in store because these Nets have lost six in a row and, again, actively taken.
07:26Have a great weekend, Adam.
07:27Thanks again.
07:28You too.
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