New York’s title defence has gotten off to an awful start, with a 0-3 record a week into the season. It hasn’t been the easiest of schedules, with home games against Philadelphia and Orlando, and a road game against Boston, but being favourites in both of their home games, they would have been expecting at least one win from them. Instead, Mike Brown’s team is yet to taste victory and Jalen Brunson’s iffy shot-making has been a reason for that, with the finals MVP taking a while to find his form. He was still among New York’s best on Monday in their 102-111 loss to Orlando, recording 28 points and four assists, but it came on a 12/28 shooting night, while Karl-Anthony Towns had an improved showing with 22 points, 14 rebounds and four assists. OG Anunoby had 22 points on a strong shooting performance but New York had just 11 bench points and missed Jose Alvarado’s energy.
Detroit, on the other hand, are unbeaten after overcoming some key injuries to beat Philadelphia 106-93 on Monday. With Jalen Duren (hamstring) and Ausar Thompson (ankle) out, Paul Reed and Daniss Jenkins were inserted into the starting lineup to good effect, as Detroit shot out of the gates to a 15-1 lead and they never looked back, maintaining a healthy lead right the way to the end of the fourth quarter. It was a very good defensive display from Detroit, limiting the hosts to 25 points or less in every quarter and finishing with a 96.9 defensive rating, while Cade Cunningham starred offensively with 26 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, two steals and two blocks. Duncan Robinson hit five threes on his way to 21 points and Jenkins contributed 18 points and six assists, alongside John Collins’ 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Duren is out again and Thompson is questionable, as is Isaiah Joe, while Alvarado remains out for New York. That sees the hosts come into this game with a clear health advantage and I think we will see the form of both of these teams balance out, with New York coming out on top. It’s a matter of time until NY hit their stride, and that makes them good value as reasonably thin home favourites.
Best
New York -3.5 ($1.87)
San Antonio picked up their first win of the season on Sunday, overcoming Dallas 122-106. In the Texas showdown, it was all San Antonio in the fourth quarter, as their now-renowned defence tightened the screws and allowed just 17 points to make it a comfortable victory. Julian Champagnie was the star of the fourth, with eight points, four rebounds and three blocks, while Dylan Harper also had eight points in the period to steer San Antonio’s offence. Victor Wembanyama did much of his damage earlier in the contest, with 23 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, De’Aaron Fox had 19 points and nine assists and Stephon Castle added 19 points and eight assists to form a strong offensive night and make their way to their first win of the season.
Sacramento have yet to taste victory this season, now at 0-3 after a 112-123 loss to Memphis on Monday. After getting into a double-digit hole in the third quarter, Sacramento came back to tie the game midway through the fourth at 106-106, but they barely scored afterwards and fell to another defeat in in disappointing fashion. Darius Acuff Jr was given the keys in the fourth quarter but couldn’t produce, going 2/10 from the field and while he had a better game earlier on, it was a flat way to finish his outing. He wrapped up with 22 points on 45.6% TS% and seven assists, but Zach LaVine was the standout, at least offensively, with 37 points and five assists. Sacramento’s starting lineup has been awful on defence this season and that continued on Monday, with a 134.1 defensive rating, and they’ll need that to improve going forward.
Sacramento have their hands full going into this clash, and with Maxime Raynaud and Keegan Murray still out, their job doesn’t get any easier trying to deal with Wemby’s size and SA’s penetration. More importantly, Sacramento’s absences take away some scoring options, leaving a lot of defensive energy to be directed towards Acuff and LaVine, which isn’t going to bode well for the visitors. I struggle to see how Sacramento are going to score in this contest, and San Antonio are also figuring things out on that end with Harper now in the starting lineup, meaning the under is my bet.
Best
Under 230.5 ($1.90)
It’s a battle of two of the West’s five unbeaten teams on Wednesday, with the Lakers and Portland squaring off. Los Angeles are 3-0 after getting past Utah 132-123 on Monday in their first road game of the season, and they now return back to Crypto.com Arena for Wednesday’s game. It was a Luka Dončić special to get the Lakers the win, with the Slovenian star dropping 52 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists, shooting 74.3% TS% in the process to give Utah no chance at winning. Austin Reaves was a very capable right-hand man, contributing a very efficient 29 points and four assists, and Matisse Thybulle continued his impressive start in Los Angeles, with 11 points and three steals. Walker Kessler was quiet with just two points and seven boards but it didn’t matter at all, as Dončić’s offensive masterclass got LA home.
Portland have played just two games this season, starting with a memorable 124-83 demolition of Phoenix before beating Sacramento 128-120 on Saturday. With a three-day rest under their belt, they’ll head to Los Angeles confident and refreshed, but they won’t be fully satisfied with their performance in Sacramento. A 24-6 run turned a second quarter deficit into a 10-point third quarter lead, and Portland did enough to hold onto their buffer from there. Deni Avdija looked more settled in this outing, with 26 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and Damian Lillard made his way to a rather inefficient 19 points. Ja Morant also struggled with his shot but found seven assists, while Toumani Camara went 5/10 from range to record 19 points. Jrue Holiday, Rob Williams III and Sidy Cissoko were also key contributors off the bench, each scoring in double figures to give Portland just enough juice for the win.
Portland have the rest advantage going into this game but I expect the Lakers to be able to handle them well. The visitors’ guard-heavy lineup is going to be well contained by the likes of Thybulle, Quentin Grimes and Zaire Williams and the Dončić-Reaves combo is going to be too much for this Portland lineup to handle defensively. As relatively small favourites at home, I think Los Angeles are value.
Best
Los Angeles Lakers -3.5 ($1.98)