Golden State Warriors at Brooklyn Nets
Time: 5 PM CT
Spread: GSW -10.5
Total: 210
Betting odds c/o Pincle
What could slow the 21-0 Golden State Warriors? Injuries, maybe? Certainly not the Brooklyn Nets, though the Dubs avoided a scare from Toronto last game, winning by just three points.
The Warriors have a plus-15.4 point differential, and there have not been many close games.
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NBA oddsmakers full heartedly agree that this should be another easy ‘W’ for Steph Curry and company. The line is set 10.5-points in favor of the visiting Warriors as the 5-14 Nets search for answers—answers which may not come in time to have a chance against a Warriors team in search of making history.
Curry is averaging a league high 32.6 points per game and has already knocked down 102 threes. He is posting an almost unheard of PER of 35.5 while dishing out six assists and grabbing nearly five boards per game.
His fellow “Splash Brother” Klay Thompson has seen his role reduced, but is still second on the team in scoring with 17 points per game on 13.7 shot attempts per night.
Thompson is still hitting 45.4 percent from the floor and 43 percent from three-point range, but Curry is just making the entire league look paltry with his 5.3 threes per game at a 46.8 percent clip. Curry takes shots from all over the arc, and far behind it, and is now establishing himself as likely the best shooter in NBA history. The fact that the Warriors have been able to taylor its offense to benefit Curry the way it has, is a testament to the coaching prowess of both Steve Kerr and interim HC Luke Walton.
To not accredit any of the Warriors’ success to the coaching is folly, especially given the way the team has maximized other talents, like the unique forward that is Draymond Green. Green is averaging 12.9 points per game to go with 8.5 rebounds and 7.2 assists. He is in the top-six in the NBA in assists per game as a power forward, and he is able to step out behind the arc to stretch the court with a 38 percent three point mark. The Warriors shoot 43.8 percent from three-point range as a team this season (!), and also rank first in holding opponents to under 30 percent three point shooting.
Control the three-point line, control the game. Do it consistently and the result is a 67-win season last year and pursuit of the Bulls’ 72 win mark this season. The season is still at its quarter-mark, and as noted in the opening line here, the only thing that could likely slow Golden State would be an injury or two. If this team stays healthy, it challenges history.
The Nets meanwhile are piece-mealing a strange lineup that has not been very effective. Center Brook Lopez may finally be dealt this February as the team’s most productive player and best trade chip. That is to say the Nets are absolutely in a rebuild at this point, with Thaddeus Young and Jarrett Jack (the No. 2 and No. 3 scorers) having little to no trade value. Joe Johnson has fallen off precipitously and is averaging just 13.5 points per game this season while hitting just 35.1 percent from the floor.
Shedding Deron Williams was expected to have something of a positive effect, and while Williams is hardly putting up a stellar year in Dallas, he did have the talent both to have big games at times, and providing court spacing that just has not been there for Brooklyn.
Power forward Thaddeus Young has stopped shooting threes for the most part and the only legitimate bomber on the team is Jack, but he hits just 1.1 per game. The Nets are shooting just 29.6 percent from three-point range as a team and hitting just 4.6 per game on average.
That is a recipe for losses as much as Golden State’s model leads to unparalleled success. Control the three-point line, control the game.
