WE’RE back for another Wednesday in the Association and we have a nice three-game slate on hand.
Today’s focus will be on the marquee matchup in Brooklyn as the Nets play host to the Golden State Warriors.
Golden State Warriors @ Brooklyn Nets
Steph Curry and the red-hot Warriors head to the Barclays Centre to take on Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets as two of the top teams in their respective conference’s take centre stage.
Curry and Durant have shared incredible individual starts to the season, with the former teammates leading the way in MVP betting markets so far.
This is a great opportunity to get a better understanding of how both teams are travelling so far this season. Despite strong starts neither has really recorded impressive wins on their resume as yet and both have been able to pick off weaker teams during favourable scheduling.
Brooklyn return home after a seven-game road trip where their only blip came against Chicago. This is their first real test since that game so we’ll hopefully get a better idea on whether this team has truly turned a corner after a stuttering start.
Three of the Nets four losses have come against playoff calibre teams and while that’s not a huge concern at this stage of the season it is interesting to note their offensive output against top-tier defensive teams has been sub-par to say the least. In fact, the team has averaged less than 100-points per game in their games against playoff calibre opposition this season.
In losses to Miami and Chicago we saw the Nets struggle to execute their offence in half court sets and that’s something that could become cause for concern if they suffer the same fate against a Warriors team that has shown itself to be a terrific defensive team so far this season.
The Warriors lead the league in half court defensive efficiency and do a great job at contesting three-point shooting while having genuine rim protection behind Draymond Green and Kevon Looney inside.
Missing Joe Harris in this matchup is made more concerning for Brooklyn given what he provides on the wings offensively and I still haven’t seen enough from James Harden to say he’s figured things out offensively after struggling to adjust to the rule changes in the early goings.
Brooklyn’s defence has admittedly been impressive in its own right, but the balanced scoring that the team is getting outside of Curry makes them a tough matchup for Steve Nash’s team at that end of the floor.
The Warriors offence is certainly capable of holding their own and I think their defence can do enough to subdue the Nets at that end of the floor.
My model has the Warriors slightly favoured on the markets so grabbing the points on them seems a favourable bit of value for punters.
Our best bet: Golden State Warriors +3.0 $1.92 at PlayUp
