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00:00Live right here on the early line on Sports Grid, a six-game slate on this Thursday night
00:05around the Association. About a week and a half remains in the NBA regular season to get to 82
00:11games. Every team has played at least 75, so seven or fewer games remaining for all 30 clubs
00:17around the Association. DRS, let's start with a great one tonight in Los Angeles,
00:22a California clash between the Golden State Warriors, who sit in the five-spot in the
00:26Western Conference standings. A half game in front of Minnesota, the other LA team in the Clippers,
00:32and of course also in that mix is, why am I blanking on the team, the Memphis Grizzlies
00:38on their slide, taking on a Lakers team that is currently the three-seed in the Western Conference.
00:43It is basically a pick-em tonight in Los Angeles, minus 112 now for LA, minus 104 on the other side
00:51for Golden State, over-understands at 229. How do you break down this matchup in Los Angeles?
00:58Yeah, looking at the minimal movement here from this morning on the FanDuel Sportsbook in New
01:01Jersey, minus two-point favorite, now down to minus one as a favorite for the Los Angeles Lakers.
01:05In this environment, again, finally we get one of those games like, hey, 16-point spread, don't really
01:09care who gets it. This is a big game for both of these ballclubs tonight that sometimes you just
01:13lean towards home-court advantage. Both teams not worse for the wear with any rest disadvantage at
01:18this point. You see the estimated starting lineups for the Lakers, Luka Doncic, Austin Reeves, Rui
01:22Hatrimor, LeBron James and Jackson Hayes. And then for the Warriors, Curry, Podjemski, Moody, Butler
01:28and Green. So full gas on both sides. I'll go with the Lakers. It's their home game. If this game was
01:32being played in San Francisco, I would have gone with the Golden State Warriors. It's that thin
01:36and it's that razor sharp here at minus one. Give me the Lakers at home to prevail tonight.
01:41The Lakers had dropped four of their last five. They have won two straight, including against both
01:46the Rockets and the Grizzlies, other NBA Western Conference playoff contenders. Of course, Golden
01:51State has won three in a row. They have been booked as a favorite in all three. They have
01:56covered in their last two. Since adding Jimmy Butler to the full DRS in that starting lineup,
02:02really when that happened on February 8th against the Chicago Bulls, this Golden State team has been
02:10dynamic. They were 25 and 26 at that time, a game below 500. Jimmy hasn't played in every game,
02:18but Golden State is 19 and five since that moment, right before the all-star break, a successful run
02:25for Golden State. Again, the dubs in the five spot in the Western Conference standings,
02:30half game lead over three teams at 44 and 32. T-wolves, Crippers and Grizzlies, the Lakers three
02:37games back of the Rockets for the two spot in the Western Conference, slightly in front of
02:43the Denver Nuggets. Can the Miami Heat make it seven consecutive wins at home tonight on the
02:50second leg of a change of venue, back to back, leaving Boston now being back in South Beach at
02:56home? Or can the Memphis Grizzlies snap a crucial four game skid? They got to start winning some
03:02games if they want to be out of play in tourney position, or just playing good basketball down
03:08the home stretch. The odds makers expect Memphis to get a win on the road. What does DRS say?
03:14I do too, and I like this spot for the Memphis Grizzlies, and it's apparent here. The Miami
03:17Heat on a win streak here. Take a look at the Memphis Grizzlies going in the opposite direction,
03:21but yet we have a line that opened up at minus four here in New Jersey on the FanBlue Sportsbook
03:25that now sits right now at four and a half points as a favorite towards the Memphis Grizzlies.
03:29Total this game, 227 down to 224. Understandable, even though we know Memphis likes to play at a
03:34little bit faster pace, obviously, the Miami Heat, and the Heat played last night in the TD Garden
03:38up in Boston. Just looking at a spot with a team that desperately needs a win, as if it's like a
03:44championship game, it feels like that's for the Grizzlies. Will the Heat play strong? Will the
03:48Heat, you know, try to back up that win streak? Yes, they will. Perfect spot for the Grizzlies
03:53tonight. They have to get it done, and I'll lay the four and a half points. DRS on this four game
03:58slide, Memphis has been booked as the underdog three times, hasn't even covered in those games.
04:03Miami has been covered in all six victories, four times as a favorite. The Grizz were 36 and 18
04:09at the All-Star break. I thought I was going to fly to the over of my win total bet on the Grizz
04:14preseason, 46 and a half. They now have to win three of their final six to get there. They are
04:20eight and 14 since the All-Star break. DRS, as you said, the tank is on for Philadelphia. They have
04:26lost nine consecutive games. They're a 12-point home dog tonight against Milwaukee. The Bucs trying
04:33to position themselves in the Eastern Conference standings. Should it be an easy victory for the
04:37Bucs tonight in Philadelphia? Yeah, it will be. They'll win this game and win it by margin. The
04:42minus 11 is already up here, 12 to the FanBlue Sportsbook. Some outlets even showing 12 and a
04:46half at this point right now, a total of 226 and a half. It's the simplicity of the sport, Ben.
04:51One team in the Philadelphia 76ers are telling you, we are not going to win a single game the
04:56rest of the way out, and I'm going to make sure of it, which means the general manager and the
05:00head coach are in lockstep with this, as you see some of the rosters that the Sixers are putting
05:04out. Unlike in the NFL, teams winning games they shouldn't have to, and then you cost yourself
05:08draft position. The reason why it's so important, Philadelphia, top six protected lottery pick. If
05:13it finishes one through six, they get that pick. They need to get that pick. Sixers get blown out
05:18tonight. Properspective with TV Tom next. The Properspective live right here on a Thursday on
05:25the early line on SportsGrid. It is TV Tom Vecchio of SportsGrid joining us here on TEL. Tom, as
05:32always, appreciate the time. Thank you for being here. The jack of all trades on full display
05:38today. A six-game NBA slate, a shorter slate in MLB on this Thursday, but still plenty of best
05:44bets and picks to give out. Yeah, we got a lot to cover. Like I said, smaller slate for MLB. Some
05:50teams are traveling. We got a little bit of weather concerns there. We're in the final few weeks of
05:53both the NBA and the NHL. Let's get to it. Let's dive right in, Vecchio. A California clash late
06:00night in Los Angeles, and basically a pick-em between the Lakers and the Warriors. If you've
06:05listened to Donny Rightside, he has not exactly loved handicapping the end of the regular season
06:10in the NBA. It is hard to get a feel of what roster is going to be out there. What is the
06:15motivation for this team? Are they in the playoff race, hunting down a play-in tournament spot? All
06:20of that good stuff. Well, it seems as tonight, fully healthy on both sides. Both teams trying
06:25to improve their playoff positioning in the final week and a half of this regular season,
06:30leading to that pick-em number. So Vecchio, how fun of a game is this to handicap tonight in Los
06:34Angeles? Yeah, this is basically the ideal spot late season NBA. Like we have two teams, like you
06:40said, fully healthy. They both have very clear motivation to play and win. We're not dealing
06:45with some dramatic lines as we saw the other day, like, not just between these teams, but dating
06:50back with past days. We're seeing sprints that are like 14, 15 points. That's something we're
06:53going to see. Close game, two teams fighting for spots. I really like the under in this game. And
06:57it's among those things that you said. Again, we have teams that are fighting for play positioning.
07:01The Nuggets have lost two in a row, which means the Lakers have jumped up to the three seed.
07:05Now, I don't think they're going to jump up to the two seed. I just don't think they'll
07:08catch the Rockets at this point, but the Warriors are playing great ball. Both teams are still in
07:13the top 10 when it comes to defensive rating. So very clear motivation of playing winning,
07:17you know, Donnie, we could talk about rotations. Like this is the spot that we know who to trust.
07:22Like we know everything about these two teams at this point in the season. So it's not like we're
07:26seeing the Lakers play the Spurs, even though obviously the Spurs bring up a nice performance
07:30last night, but we have two teams that want to play defense need to come away with the win.
07:34I'm going to say take under 229 and a half. That's where it was last night. I still think
07:38it's playable at 229. Yeah, I think it's going to be a good game tonight. Again, just both of
07:42these teams playing hard, you know what the estimated starting lineup is going to be and
07:46shouldn't get too many surprises tonight, which is great. Now there have been some surprises here
07:50in the Western Conference throughout this season, which includes the Rockets who currently sit as
07:54the number two overall seed in the Western Conference at 50 and 27, three games clear
07:59of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets talking to, you know, earlier myself and Ben 35 to
08:06one though, to win the Western Conference. So when you take a look at those top six standings,
08:10the Nuggets, they've won, excuse me, world championships, the Golden State Warriors as
08:13well. The Los Angeles Lakers with LeBron check, check, check the question though,
08:17is the Houston Rockets. Are we to believe that they are going to be a contender, which means Tom,
08:22they can win a couple rounds and find themselves in the Western Conference finals, or is it fool's
08:26gold? And that's what the fans of sports book is calling them right now with those price points.
08:30I think that's what it is. If I remember correctly, Ben, you had a ticket on the
08:34Rockets to make the playoffs. I think maybe it was last season. I don't know,
08:37but they had a dramatic increase to share was last year. I think it was last season.
08:41I knew it was something, but I think that's what comes down to like the Thunder have that star
08:46power with SGA, the Lakers, the Nuggets, they proved it. The Warriors have proved it. The
08:50Rockets have had like too much of an increase and it's a great story for them, but I really
08:55don't think that they have the pieces to win multiple rounds. Can they win a round if they
08:58end up playing like, I don't know, the Mavericks or the Kings, whoever comes through like in the
09:03play in sure, but I don't think the Rockets are going to beat the Thunder or beat the Nuggets in
09:07a seven game series. Just to clarify Vecchio, I have a ticket right now on the Rockets at a 17 to
09:13one number bet back in late January, because I thought they would be in this spot to see
09:19three seed in the Western Conference. And my price would get better. In fact, it is doubled.
09:24And then so much in the similar philosophy. If you remember a couple of seasons ago on the
09:28Sacramento Kings, hoping they would finish in the top four in the Western Conference at a 50 to one
09:33price and find some value there. I wish it was just a make playoff number on Houston. Vecchio
09:41is we'll look at the play in tournament standings right now in the Western Conference of the final
09:45week and a half of this regular season. It is really fascinating. We talked about Golden State.
09:50They have a half game lead over Minnesota, the Clippers. And of course the Memphis Grizzlies,
09:57all three of those teams, Memphis, LA and Minnesota, 44 and 32. Vecchio, when you look
10:04at those teams then down the stretch and their final five, six, seven games this year, will you
10:09add in that extra bit of motivation to try to get out of the play in tournament and just be a playoff
10:15team from the start? Yeah, it has to, we have to add that in. Like that's one of the variables that
10:20we don't always talk about. It's like not something you can easily handicap, but the Clippers are the
10:24clear answer here. Like Memphis is a mess. Dallas just doesn't, they're not deep enough. The Kings
10:29are also a mess on defense. The Kings are, they're minus 900 yesterday, losing to the Wizards. Like
10:33what do we do? These are teams that we can, at least we have something with the Clippers that we
10:37know. We, whether they make the sixth seed, the seventh seed, whoever it might be, I think we need
10:40to be start trusting the Clippers more and more. And that's something that we have to be accounting
10:44for at this time of the year. We take a look at those standings too, because let's have a little
10:48fun with this because you see five, six, seven, and eight right now, which is right on that cut
10:53line of who's actually in the playoffs automatically in the top six, or who's going to play in those
10:57play-in rounds. So the Golden State Warriors, 44 wins. The Minnesota Timberwolves, Tom, 44 wins.
11:02Same thing with the Clippers and the Grizzlies. Two in, two out. What's that decision for you?
11:07Who's in and who's into the play-in rounds? I can't trust Minnesota. They've been a team
11:13that's been super streaky, at least in my mind this year, they started off super slow. I don't
11:17know if the trade was just some like lingering team effects that had them like take a step back,
11:21but I can't trust them. I see Golden State as a team that you don't want to play. And if they end
11:27up in the five seed, it'd be, you know, they could come up with a second round upside, it'd be one,
11:31four on the other side, like they can beat anyone. And that's a team that I think you should be
11:36looking back. If you don't have a ticket on them, it wouldn't be the Rockets. The Lakers take too
11:39much public money. The Warriors are a team that are at least fun at this point. Since Jimmy Butler's
11:44first game back on Saturday, February 8th, Golden State is now 19-5. Now, Jimmy hasn't been in the
11:51starting five in every game or fully healthy in every game, but still it has been a great sign
11:57for Golden State.