Washington Wizards Form
Everything seems to be clicking for the Washington Wizards, they’ve won 5 games in a row and are top of the Eastern Conference standings with a 10-3 record. Their latest victim were the New Orleans Pelicans who they beat 105-100 on their home court. It was their 2nd straight game without their leading scorer Bradley Beal, but the team looks to be unphased by not having their best player to help out. Spencer Dinwiddie stepped up once again with 27 to lead the way, while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 18 on an efficient 7-for-13 from the field. Despite the good run though, the oddsmakers have made them 2.5 point underdogs in this match-up. Washington has lost 7 straight on the road against Charlotte and has covered the spread only once in the last 5 meetings overall.
Charlotte Hornets Form
The Hornets have bounced back with a 3-game win streak of their own after beating Memphis, New York and Golden State. The win against the Warriors was particularly impressive as they were able to hold Stephen Curry to just 7-for-22 shooting and escaped with a narrow 106-102 victory. Three Hornets players scored 20 or more points in that game, led by Miles Bridges who had 22. The three-game win streak is nice and there was a noticeable improvement on the defensive end in the last two wins, however there’s still work to be done as the Hornets are only 28th in the NBA when it comes to defensive rating. They also give up the 2nd highest percentage of rebounds per game, but for that they will have to make some moves before the trade deadline and possibly get another big man.
Charlotte Hornets vs Washington Wizards Head to Head
It’s tough to disregard the run the Wizards are on, at this same time last season they had only 3 wins and 9 losses. They’ve also covered the spread 8 times in 12 games and are 4-1 ATS over their last 5 overall. They also rank 7th in the NBA in rebounding and should take advantage of that big weakness for Charlotte. Give me the Wizards to cover here.
Betting Tip: Charlotte Hornets vs Washington Wizards
Washington +2.5 Point Spread is available at -110 odds on bet365
I’m expecting yet another fast paced game here, the Hornets rank 2nd in the NBA in pace averaging 104.5 possessions per game. The O/U numbers for their season currently stand at 9-6 in favor of the Over, plus at home 4 of their 6 games have gone over the total. If we look at the last 10 meetings between these two sides we can notice that 228.9 points per game have been averaged during that stretch. If we narrow that down to the last 3 meetings, the number goes down to 219.6 per game, which would still put us over the total of tonight’s game. Charlotte’s games against Eastern Conference teams have been very productive point-wise with 9 of the last 13 finishing over the total. I just feel like with all the offensive firepower within both teams we are going to see a lot of points being scored in this game. Let’s back the over.
