Golden State Warriors vs. Brooklyn Nets Predictions, Picks and NBA Preview – December 22, 2016

Golden State Warriors vs. Brooklyn Nets Betting Preview

Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY

When: Thursday, December 22, 2016, 7:30 PM ET

Line: Golden State Warriors (-14) at Brooklyn Nets (+14); total: 232.0 – view all NBA lines

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Betting on the Golden State Warriors (-14)

A 104-74 rout of the Utah Jazz on Tuesday has the Golden State Warriors on a five-game tear and looking more and more like the best team in the NBA, hands down.

The Dubs’ four-headed monster of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson – as expected – did most of the damage unto the Jazz. Curry finished with a team-high 25 points; Durant pitched in 22 points of his own; Green tallied 11 points, 15 rebounds and five steals; and Thompson had 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting.

While there was nothing out of the ordinary from Golden State’s stunning offensive production, the team’s defense was the biggest story of the night and has continued to improve as the season progresses. The 74 points scored by Utah is a new season-low for the Warriors, and they’ve now held their third-straight opponent to 90 points or less en route to becoming the second-best team in the NBA in defensive rating at just 100.8 points allowed every 100 possessions.

With no chinks in Golden State’s armor as we speak, the team is rightfully heavily-favored to blow out the Nets in Brooklyn this Thursday. Yet despite the fact that the Warriors are 13-2 on the road this season, they’ve gone just 6-8-1 against the spread. The total has even gone under in their last seven contests overall as well, which could be a concern for us bettors looking to bank that the Dubs have another massacre in store.

Betting on the Brooklyn Nets (+14)

With star center Brook Lopez out of action on Tuesday, it was all but decided that the Brooklyn Nets would fall to the Toronto Raptors. The outcome was indeed a 116-104 defeat for the Nets, who have now lost three-straight contests and 15 of their last 18 games.

Brooklyn’s woes due to the absence of Lopez could not have been more evident than in Tuesday’s box score. No Nets player scored 20 points or more that evening; the team’s scoring leader was bench spark plug Randae Hollis-Jefferson, who scored 19 points before fouling out and finishing with a minus-13 rating for the game. And when some guy named Spencer Dinwiddie is the team’s second-best scorer of the night (14 points), you know there’s something completely wrong with this ball club.

Stage as it may sound, though, the Nets are currently eighth in the league in scoring at 106.6 points per game and could get back to getting in buckets in bunches with Lopez’s return from his scheduled rest day. However, they’ve also had a hard time finding great looks all season long at that. They’re only 24th in the NBA in terms of offensive efficiency, and their shoddy 39.6-percent field-goal shooting performance from Tuesday further backs up that fact.

Adding insult to injury is that Brooklyn has lost six of its last eight meetings against Golden State, with its two victories having been won by a combined six points. The team did go a decent 4-4 against the spread during that span, but we’re not counting on the Warriors to tank on Thursday night at all considering how well they’ve been shutting down their opposition on D of late.

Writer’s Prediction

The Warriors (-14) rip the Nets apart, 115-92.

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