Golden State Warriors vs. Charlotte Hornets Preview
Where: Spectrum Center — Charlotte, NC
When: Wednesday, January 25, 2017, 8:00 PM ET
Line: Golden State Warriors (-9.5) vs. Charlotte Hornets (+9.5); total: 221.5 – view all NBA lines
TV Broadcast: ESPN
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Betting on the Golden State Warriors (38-7)
Point Spread: -9.5
Golden State’s in a relatively unfamiliar situation: bouncing back from a loss.
Yes, the NBA’s No. 1 team just got a rare taste of defeat at the hands of a depleted, lottery-bound Miami squad on Monday night, 105-102. What hurts the most from this loss is the fact that the Warriors had their hearts broken by the unlikeliest of heroes in Dion Waiters, who nailed a contested, game-winning three-pointer with less than a second left to play.
Other than that, Steve Kerr only has his team to blame. Their league-leading offense (117.6 PPG) racked up more than 100 points on 46.6 percent shooting and received 70 points combined from Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant, but Golden State allowed a myriad of open looks and had careless turnovers, which turned into 18 points for the Heat.
That loss was a good experience for the Dubs to stay grounded and keep their eyes on the prize no matter how dominant they’ve been this season. Their next assignment is another game with Charlotte, a team that they’ve beaten four-consecutive times while going 2-2 against the spread. The Warriors must remind us here why they’re the top favorites (-175) to win it all this season.
Betting on the Charlotte Hornets (23-22)
Point Spread: +9.5
Charlotte’s three-game winning streak ended on Monday night against the Wizards, 109-99. It was a rough night on both sides of the floor for the Hornets, who shot just 38.9 percent as a team and couldn’t contain Washington below 100 points—something that their defense has been really good at this season.
As of this writing, they rank 10th in the league in scoring defense and have held their last three opponents prior to Monday’s loss to 89.3 points on average. Doing that against the best offensive team in Golden State is a near-to-impossible task, but the Hornets defense should make it difficult in any case.
It’s on offense where Charlotte needs to really work. Kemba Walker, who is averaging 23.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game this season, can only do so much on his own. He’ll need every bit of support he can get in order to hang around long enough with Golden State’s superior attack.
The Hornets are 8-2 SU and 6-4 ATS in their last 10 home games.
Writer’s Prediction
Golden State (-9.5) wins and covers.
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