New Jersey Nets (18-23) +9, 215 at Golden State Warriors (25-18), 10:30 pm Eastern Thursday, TNT
by Zman of Predictem.com
A couple of teams coming off demoralizing losses meet when the New Jersey Nets visit the Golden State Warriors Thursday in Oakland on TNT.
NBA betting boards list Golden State as nine-point home favorites for Thursday’s game, with a total of 215. The Warriors are also giving around -450 on various Vegas moneylines, with New Jersey getting +350 as road underdogs.
The Nets have hit the skids. They were 18-17 a couple of weeks ago, but have lost six straight games since. And they’ve been losing badly. After getting blown out at Sacramento Tuesday 128-94, allowing the Kings to shoot 58% from the field, New Jersey had lost three of its last six games by 24 points and more.
Meanwhile, Golden State lost at home Monday to the worst team in the league, the Minnesota Timberwolves, 109-108, as 11-point favorites. But the Warriors have been playing pretty good ball lately, winning five of their last seven games and going 25-12 after starting the season by losing their first six games.
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Heading into Thursday’s action, the Nets were lodged in third place in the Atlantic Division, 15 games back of the first-place Boston Celtics, and were tied with the Indiana Pacers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Golden State, on the other hand, was in third place in the Pacific Division, five games behind the first-place Phoenix Suns, and owned the eight spot in the Western Conference standings, a half-game ahead of the ninth-place Utah Jazz.
These two teams split their two games each of the last two seasons. And the Nets beat the Warriors in the first meeting between these two teams this season 100-95 back in December in Jersey. The Nets outrebounded Golden State that night 58-39, and both teams shot poorly, New Jersey hitting 42% from the floor, the Warriors 39%, which helped the game stay under its total of 210.
Over the last five meetings in this series, the o/u is 3-2, and the games have averaged 204 total points.
This season, the Nets are a dismal 15-25 against the spread, but 9-9 both straight up and vs. the numbers on the road. On the other end of this match-up, Golden State is 20-23 ATS, 11-8 SU and 8-11 vs. the numbers at home.
Statistically speaking, the Warriors rank 14th in the league in point differential at +1.9 per game, New Jersey 26th at -6.1.
The Nets are shooting 44% from the field as a team this season, 33% from 3-point range and 72% from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Golden State is shooting 45% from the floor, 35% from beyond the arc and 75% from the stripe.
Both teams are allowing opponents to shoot 46% from the field this season, and while New Jersey ranks 9th in the league in rebounding at +1.2 boards per game, the Warriors rank 29th (out of 30 teams) at -5.0 per game.
The Sagarin PREDICTOR ratings at USAToday.com ranks Golden State 12th at 91.8, the Nets 26th at 84.1. Sagarin’s current NBA home-court advantage figure is 2.95.
The o/u is 19-21 in New Jersey games this season, which are averaging 193 total points, while the totals are 22-20 in Warriors games, which are averaging 216 points.
Zman’s Pick: Nets +9.