The Golden State Warriors will host the Washington Wizards team in a high profile, nationally televised game on Friday night. In the flurry of summer moves around the league, these two franchises have been pillars of stability. All the familiar faces will be there, but it shouldn’t be as one-sided as when they last met in April.
Wizards at Warriors
Spread: Golden State Warriors -11 (-110) at BetDSI Sportsbook
Total: o/u 232 points (-110)
The Wizards suffer the first loss of the season
The Wizards did everything possible not to come up with a win over the L.A. Lakers, losing the game in overtime 102-99. As sloppily as they played through three quarters, the Wizards still led by 10 in the fourth, before the home team rallied and forced the overtime.
Perhaps the Wizards were too eager to stick it to Ball and the Lakers, and it affected their game in a negative way. Whatever the case, they haven’t shown superior talent nor experience like they were expected to. There’s no way a veteran team like them shoots only 6 free throws in the last 13 minutes while protecting the lead, and makes 2. As the Wizards settled, the shots stopped falling – they combined to shoot 6-of-22 after that 10-point lead and scored just 14 combined points in the last 7 minutes of regulation and overtime. For most of the game, the Wizards struggled in their half-court offense, struggled to pass the ball and struggled to find open shooters. The prized backcourt played their worst game of the season – Wall was -14 in the plus/minus, hitting just 7-of-22 field goals. Beal shot it better en course to his 28 points, but hasn’t had so much impact on the game. Each were guilty of 4 turnovers. As a team, the Wizards shot just 41 percent and 23 percent from downtown. They were solid on the defensive end, forcing the Lakers into plenty turnovers and missed shots, but it was all for naught.
To add to the insult, Washington lost backup center Ian Mahinmi to an ankle sprain injury (yes, again), so they might be even more shorthanded when they play the Warriors. This will be their third Western road trip game, so they might become a bit tired after the travel and the extended game in L.A., playing with a shortened rotation.
Place: Oracle Arena, Oakland, California
Date/Time: Friday, October 27th, 2017. 10:30 PM ET
TV Coverage: NBATV
Champions leave it late, remain unconvincing
The Warriors barely avoided 0-2 start at the Oracle with a 117-112 win over the Raptors on Wednesday night. The Warriors have not started the season as they would have liked, so it was a much-needed win. They fought through a less-than-stellar performance to earn a win it, leaving it up to the final minute when their stars knocked down their shots and Raptors stars failed to do so.
The team simply isn’t there mentally yet, and their fitness still needs to improve. This translates to playing uncharacteristically poor defense. They are a tad late, which often leads to fouls or made shots. The Warriors are 21st in defensive efficiency at the moment, a far cry from the top 4 spots they’ve occupied in each of the last four seasons. That leaves it for Curry, Durant, and others to make up for it by scoring big, and on Wednesday, it worked. Curry scored 30 and Durant scored 29, both hitting a crucial three in the last minute. They each attempted 20 shots, had 4 rebounds and 5 assists. While the symmetry is more of quirk, it also testifies about team play of the Warriors. Each starter except Pachulia, and sixth-man Iguodala (who had 2) had either 5 or 6 assists against the Raptors. They totaled 32 for the game, an excellent stat. But they’ve also been overly opportunistic with the passes at times. The coughed up the ball 17 times in this game, and average just a bit over 20 a game, a number that they’ll surely look to cut down.
The good news is that they look healthy and animated more than before. They get to stay in California until November, playing Detroit and the Clippers in L.A., so they’ll be able to put in more practices and polish the rough and the rust.
Washington Wizards at Golden State Warriors Game Trends & Prediction
After changing the fortunes of their backers in the first game of this road trip, the Wizards lost and failed to cover once again. This brings them to a 1-4 ATS record, one of the worst in the NBA. The West doesn’t feel right for their overs either. After starting of this campaign with three overs, the last two games failed to reach the expected number of points, despite the Lakers game going to the extra period of time.
The Golden State Warriors are one of the few teams in the league that can match the poor start the Wizards had for their backers. They’ve also failed to cover in their last game, and have done so only once this season. The distribution of the over and under is different, but the Dubs also have 1-4 ATS and 3-2 O/U records.
A unique ranking system – AdmiRank helps you understand how good NBA teams are on a scale to 100. After plummeting in the first week, the Warriors are showing a slight uptick to match the improvement in their game. The Wizards are not on their standard, no one is, so it will take a much better performance from them to give themselves a chance.
Neither of these teams is up to their last year’s standards, but I believe I don’t have to remind you that those were some lofty standards, especially after the few starting months. So, it’s a matter of time they pick it up. At this point, the Warriors have to rely on their firepower to top the Wizards, while the visitors might be happy to accept an up and down game after a futile half-court performance against a much weaker defensive team. Total points eclipsed 250 points in the last meeting, so you should feel good about the potential an over bet has.
The books know it of course, so they are fading Warriors (the usual practice) and the overs, by setting the spread to 11 points and the total points line to 232. While the over became tough to find a value on, I’m going to give it a go on this Warriors team here. The Wizards are going to play exactly like the Warriors would script it, and my numbers show 12.5 points as the more accurate distance between the two sides. However, I believe the people are going to shy away from betting the Warriors, as it gives them no return. The price should slightly increase before the pro money hit it, so it’s smart to wait for at least 3-4 hours and try to maximize the value.
My Pick: Golden State -11 (-110) [will be looking to grab -10.5 (-110)]
Total: (no bet on the totals, unless the line dramatically drops)
To bet on this event, please visit BetDSI Sportsbook!!!
