Filip Tomic
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The Christmas festivities might be over, but there is no slowing down the NBA regular season. Monday has 7 more games coming our way, and my focus is on the Brooklyn Nets, who are in Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers. Tip-off is at 7:oo pm ET on NBA TV and I’ve prepared a Same Game Parlay which you can find below.
As always you can find our picks on the side and total for Monday’s 7-game slate in our NBA predictions. Let’s dive in!
Brooklyn Nets ML (+110)
Royce O’Neale over 2.5 made threes (+162)
Evan Mobley under 13.5 points (-111)
Same Game Parlay odds: +735
Brooklyn Nets ML (+110)
Together with the Philadelphia 76ers, the Brooklyn Nets are owners of the longest win streak in the NBA right now at 8 in a row. The Nets are firing on all cylinders, winning 4 of 5 on the road and they’ve also owned the Cavs with 5 wins in the teams’ last 6 meetings. Losing to Toronto in their last game was the Cavs’ first home defeat against an Eastern Conference team this season, but at 16-3 SU they are one of the best home teams in the league. However, I’ve seen signs of decline lately. They are struggling to defend the perimeter, which is one of the biggest strengths of the Nets. During this win streak they are scoring 124.3 points per game, on almost 43% shooting from 3-point land and 55% shooting from the field. Ball movement has been another thing that’s been working well at 28.4 assists per game, that would rank 2nd in the NBA, behind only the Golden State Warriors for the season so far. Cleveland is tough on defense, but I still think they don’t have the necessary personnel to slow down a Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving. I’ll take Brooklyn to extend the win streak on the road.
Royce O’Neale over 2.5 made threes (+162)
With the news of Joe Harris missing this game, the Nets will most likely resort to Royce O’Neale to keep their hot 3-point shooting streak alive. O’Neale has been one of their better role players this season, he’s actually 4th on the team in scoring behind KD, Kyrie and Nic Claxton. He’s averaging 45.5% of made threes during the 8-game win streak, his percentage from three is higher than the one from 2-point land which is interesting. He doesn’t attack the rim at all, during December he’s attempted only 4 free-throws in 8 games played. Right now he’s on a streak of 5, 4 and 3 made threes over his last 3 games and I see no reason why that won’t continue tonight as well. Cleveland is allowing 41.6% of made threes over the last 3 games, and the Raptors just shot 51.4% against them on Friday. With the attention KD and Kyrie attract on offense, I think it’s pretty reasonable to expect them to dish it out to O’Neale on a consistent basis in this game. Fingers crossed Royce takes adavantage of that.
Evan Mobley under 13.5 points (-111)
I think it’s fair to say Evan Mobley hasn’t lived up to expectations in his second season, at least not on the offensive end. Although he’s averaging 14.6 points per game, that’s far below what people envisioned he would be putting up as a sophomore. Right now he’s on a streak of 3 games in a row scoring less than his season average, and tonight against the Nets I think he won’t be getting many shot opportunities. Slowing down Durant will be his main objective here, that will cost him a ton of energy on the defensive end, plus on offense he will have to score on KD which is a lot tougher even for more experienced players than him. Brooklyn is one of the tougher teams when it comes to guarding the paint – they allow 46.8 points per game from the inside when playing on the road, that’s the 5th-best mark in the league. Mobley shoots only 25% from three in home games this season, so if the Nets shut down the paint, he will have a tough time scoring.
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