Three at 3: Home-and-Home Trend Favors Phoenix
After a great MLK Day slate of basketball on Monday (and a 2-1 showing from Three at 3), we're back with three more bets for Tuesday night's NBA action.
1. Sacramento Kings at Toronto Raptors (-11)
7:00 pm ET
The Kings will be playing on the road for the second consecutive day when they travel to Toronto tonight, and will need to bounce back quickly if they want to challenge one of the league's best teams in the Raptors: They were drubbed 123-94 on Monday against a middling Nets squad (BKN -3.5). The Kings are only 1-3 (and 1-3 against the spread) when playing the second leg of a road back-to-back this season.
The Raptors, on the other hand, are very well-rested, having not played since they shut down Memphis at home on Saturday, 119-90 (TOR +10.5). With the young Kings playing their fourth straight game east of the Mississippi, they'll be easy prey for the Raptors tonight despite Kawhi Leonard being out.
Pick: Raptors -9.5
2. Portland Trail Blazers at Oklahoma City Thunder (-5.5)
8:00 pm
After losing five of their first eight games to start 2019, the Thunder have looked strong in back-to-back wins. First they beat the Sixers 117-115 in Philadelphia on Saturday as 3.5-point underdogs, then followed that up with an easy 127-109 win over the Knicks at MSG on Monday (OKC -9).
The Thunder will be playing for the second consecutive day when they host the Trail Blazers tonight, but so will Portland. And while the Thunder cruised to their victory yesterday—they led by 18 after the first quarter, and Russell Westbrook and Paul George each played under 32 minutes—the Blazers had to fight for a 109-104 road win against the Jazz (POR +5), one of the league's toughest defensive teams. Damian Lillard played 36 minutes, and CJ McCollum played 38. The Thunder won in Portland as underdogs on January 4 (111-109, OKC +1), and should win and cover at home tonight with relatively fresh legs.
Pick: Thunder -5.5
3. Minnesota Timberwolves at Phoenix Suns (+4.5)
9:00 pm
The Suns gave the Wolves everything they could handle in Minneapolis on Sunday, holding a five-point lead entering the fourth quarter before ultimately falling 106-104 thanks largely to 31 points and a game-winning stepback jumper from Derrick Rose. Phoenix certainly didn't look like a 12-point underdog, getting valuable contributions from its entire rotation—Kelly Oubre Jr., Josh Jackson and Jamal Crawford all scored in double digits off the bench.
These two teams will meet again tonight, this time in Arizona, and the angle on this one is simple: In home-and-homes this season, the team that lost the first meeting is 10-2 straight up and 9-3 against the spread in the second meeting. When the team that lost the first meeting is playing the second leg at home, it's a perfect 9-0 SU and 7-2 ATS. With Phoenix already having proven it can hang with the Wolves, this one's an easy call.
Pick: Suns +4.5
Overall Record: 106-93-4
