Nets (+2) at Magic (218), 7 p.m.
Pick: Nets +2
The Nets don’t seem to stop fighting regardless of who’s in the lineup and who’s on the shelf. They fought hard in San Antonio until the bitter end on Thursday night and now head to Orlando on Saturday to take on a Magic team they’ve seen a lot of lately. Saturday will be the third time in two weeks these two teams have met and Brooklyn has won each of those two meetings by single digits.
There’s a certain level of cohesion that the Nets play with regardless of the lineup, which speaks a lot to the job Kenny Atkinson is doing this season. It will be interesting to see how much love he gets in the Coach of the Year voting because Brooklyn has certainly been one of the league’s biggest overachievers as we near the All-Star break. D’Angelo Russell is having a career year for the Nets, and all we need them to do is win against a bad Magic team here. The line seems a little phony, but the Nets have earned our trust.
Sixers (-3) at Kings (235), 10 p.m.
Pick: Kings +3
Pick: Under 235
Fading a team off a big win is usually a good idea. This profiles as a good letdown spot for the Sixers while Sacramento returned home earlier this week from a long road trip. Philadelphia has impressed to start a grueling stretch in its schedule that goes into March. However, winning three straight road games seems like it’s asking a lot from a Sixers team that struggled away from Wells Fargo Center in the 2018 portion of the schedule.
Since we’re forecasting a letdown for the Sixers, it’s probably worth going under the total as well at 235. Thursday’s total against Golden State closed at 240.5 and was an easy under with the Sixers playing well. We don’t think they’ll be the same well-oiled machine in California’s capital city and think this game lands in the neighborhood of 115-105 for the Kings giving us some nice value on the under.