Norman Powell has to be in the race for the Most Improved Player this year, putting up huge numbers for the Clippers this season.
Best Bet
LA Clippers @ Denver Nuggets (1:10pm)
Continues to bring it this season, averaging 23.6 points per game. Although Norman Powell has slowed down a bit of late, there’s a valid reason for this – it’s the Houston match-up.
Powell has played the Rockets in three of his last seven games where he’s failed to record 20 points in any of those games due to how well Houston defend. If you exclude those three games from the game log, Powell actually averages 26.4 points per game from his last 14, covering 20.5 points in 12 of those.
The Denver match-up isn’t what it used to be, and in the two games Powell has faced the Nuggets he’s gone off scoring 37 in October, and 28 just 2 weeks back. In fact, he’s played his best basketball against the Nuggets of all teams this season going at 40.6 points per 36 minutes – his most recent 28-point outing was in just 24 minutes.
He’s seen the other side of the Rockets, so Norm should be back to his best.
SGM – Powell 20+ Points / Zubac 10+ Rebounds / Porter 6+ Rebounds = $4.00
Next Best
Brooklyn Nets @ Memphis Grizzlies (12:10pm)
Has gone under the radar slightly, but Cam Johnson has been huge in the absence of Cam Thomas for the Nets.
Johnson averages 22.8 points per game without CT from six games, but has recorded 25+ points in four of them including the last three games.
Johnson and the Nets will come up against a Memphis outfit who are the second easiest team for power forwards to score against over the last month at 17% above average, while the Grizzlies also concede triples at 30% above average over this period.
This will be music to Johnson’s ears playing the stretch-four for Brooklyn – expect plenty of looks as he looks to produce another 25+ point effort.
SGM – Johnson 20+ Points / JJJ Over 18.5 Points / Claxton 8+ Rebounds = $5.00
Value Bet
LA Lakers @ Minnesota Timberwolves (12:10pm)
If both Reaves and LeBron miss, this is definitely a play – even if Reaves does play though, I’d be happy to take DLo to produce a big assist game.
The former T-Wolve will face his former team who he produced a solid game against when they met on December 2, but he was mainly playing off the ball with LeBron there.
DLo averages 11.1 assists from his last 12 games without LeBron, hitting at least 8+ assists in all 12 games – most of those included playing alongside Reaves at the back-end of last season. Recording 14 assists last start against the Blazers, DLo is a serious watch when he’s without King James.
SGM – Russell 15+ Points / Hachimura Under 15.5 Points / Russell 8+ Assists = $4.00
Saturday NBA Multi
Timberwolves / Bulls / Suns
$2.52
