Milwaukee at Washington
Time: 7 PM ET, Apr 12, 2014
Spread: WAS -11
Total: 203
Betting odds courtesy of Bovada
While this game is entirely meaningless for the hapless Milwaukee Bucks, the Washington Wizards are still battling for playoff seeding in the lower half of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
The Wiz hold a one game lead over Charlotte for the sixth seed, and if the playoffs began today the Wizards would face the Chicago Bulls. Tonight, Washington will be 11 point favorites at home against the Bucks according to NBA oddsmakers at Bovada.
The Wizards won 96-86 over Orlando on Friday (Apr 11) night. Nene contributed 17 points off the bench to lead all Wizards scorers and John Wall had a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists. The Wizards have won five of its past 10 contests, and are markedly average both home and away, which may help its cause in the first round since the Bulls (or whichever team the Wizards face) will have home court advantage.
The Wizards have a strong backcourt that it hopes will stick around together for a while in Wall and former Florida Gator Bradley Beal. The tandem averages 36.5 points per game combined, though Beal leaves some room to be desired in his efficiency (PER of just 13.8).
The Wiz helped its cause a lot by adding Marcin Gortat earlier in the season as the Polish big man is a great pick and roll defender and also good in pick and rolls on offense. He’s been able to help Wall refine his pick and roll game. Gortat and Nene are a good defending tandem and the Wizards have a chance to make some
noise in the playoffs.
Milwaukee is 15-64 and hoping that its horrible season at least translates to a top-3 pick in the draft. The Bucks need offense in the worst kind of way, and adding Jabari Parker (if he comes out) or Andrew Wiggins would begin to remedy that situation.
The Bucks best three prospects are all defenders (John Henson, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Larry Sanders [debatable]), and offense has been hard to come by since parting with Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis over the summer. The Bucks have also been swept by team wide apathy, though, as O.J. Mayo has regressed from him breakout season in Dallas to an unmotivated slump. Ersan Ilyasova was once deemed untouchable; now the Bucks couldn’t peddle him if they tried.
MIL Trends: OVER 4-0 in last 4 overall; OVER 5-1 in last 6 Saturday games; 5-1 ATS in last 6 on 0 days rest.
WAS Trends: UNDER 6-0 in last 6 when opponent scores 100 or more in previous game; UNDER 5-0 in last 5 following SU win; UNDER 4-0 in last 4 following ATS win.
Head-to-head: OVER 4-0-1 in last 5 meetings in Washington; OVER 4-0 in last 4 meetings; Bucks 8-3 ATS in last 11 meetings in Washington.
