PREMIUM
Stephen Nover's NBA Saturday Spread Crusher
(NBA) Brooklyn vs. Minnesota,
Point Spread: -4.50 | -105.00 Minnesota (Home)
Result: Win
Point Spread: -4.50 | -105.00 Minnesota (Home)
Result: Win
Rarely do I care to lay points with the Timberwolves. This is one of those times.
Minnesota is off a road performance so bad that Timberwolves coach Sam Mitchell yanked his three best players - Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Ricky Rubio - early in the third quarter and never put them back in the game during a 116-101 loss to Milwaukee Friday night. The Timberwolves committed a season-high 26 turnovers and once again didn't play defense.
I don't suddenly expect the Timberwolves to curb their season-long defensive and turnover woes, but I do expect them to come out very hard here and take advantage of an even worse Nets squad that is in a letdown spot.
The Nets nipped Denver in overtime, 121-120 on a tip-in with 0.4 seconds left by Brook Lopez, last night in the high altitude of the Rockies. Brooklyn, which ranks second-to-last in scoring, made 50.5 percent of its shots from the field while hitting 13 of 22 3-pointers. Now the Nets make their seventh straight road appearance. They are 7-22 on the road this season.
Brooklyn is 1-4 ATS the past five times when playing without rest. They also are 2-9 ATS the past 11 times playing in Minnesota. The Timberwolves have beaten the Nets nine of the last 13 times and have played well lately at Target Center covering seven of their past 10 there. During this span, the Timberwolves have defeated the hot Celtics, Raptors, Bulls and Grizzlies. They nearly upset the Thunder, too, falling by three points in a game that had 19 lead changes.
Minnesota is off a road performance so bad that Timberwolves coach Sam Mitchell yanked his three best players - Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Ricky Rubio - early in the third quarter and never put them back in the game during a 116-101 loss to Milwaukee Friday night. The Timberwolves committed a season-high 26 turnovers and once again didn't play defense.
I don't suddenly expect the Timberwolves to curb their season-long defensive and turnover woes, but I do expect them to come out very hard here and take advantage of an even worse Nets squad that is in a letdown spot.
The Nets nipped Denver in overtime, 121-120 on a tip-in with 0.4 seconds left by Brook Lopez, last night in the high altitude of the Rockies. Brooklyn, which ranks second-to-last in scoring, made 50.5 percent of its shots from the field while hitting 13 of 22 3-pointers. Now the Nets make their seventh straight road appearance. They are 7-22 on the road this season.
Brooklyn is 1-4 ATS the past five times when playing without rest. They also are 2-9 ATS the past 11 times playing in Minnesota. The Timberwolves have beaten the Nets nine of the last 13 times and have played well lately at Target Center covering seven of their past 10 there. During this span, the Timberwolves have defeated the hot Celtics, Raptors, Bulls and Grizzlies. They nearly upset the Thunder, too, falling by three points in a game that had 19 lead changes.
