Sacramento Kings VS New Orleans Pelicans
- Sacramento Kings (+5.5 Points) Handicap
Sacramento made a bold move at the deadline, trading away Tyrese Haliburton and acquiring Domantas Sabonis. The Kings are coming off a big 21-point road win over Oklahoma City, and right before that, they lost a really close one at the Nuggets.
Portland Trail Blazers VS Phoenix Suns
- Portland Trailblazers (+13.5 Points) Handicap
- Anfernee Simons (+22.5 Points Over)
The Phoenix Suns are very vulnerable right now, as they have lost their last 2 games and not having Chris Paul at their disposal is finally catching up to them. Portland has already beaten the Suns once this season (134-105) back in early October, and the last time they met the game went into overtime with the Suns edging it out in the end by just 4 points.
With Dame Lillard out injured and C.J. McCollum plus Norman Powell traded away, Simons has taken over the reins as the number one scoring option for the Blazers. Over his last 10 games, he is averaging 23.7 points on 45.5% shooting from the field and almost 39% from three-point land.
New York Knicks VS Philadelphia 76ers
- New York Knicks (+10.5 Points) Handicap
- James Harden (+25 Points Over)
- Tobias Harris 2+ Three Pointers made
- Evan Fournier 4+ Three Pointers made
The first two games of the Joel Embiid/James Harden experience have gone smoothly as they beat the Timberwolves and Knicks. However, the first game against New York was closer than what the final score indicate. These teams just played each other in their most recent games, and this kind of back-to-back can lead to some variance. New York has a real chance at an upset here.
In 2 games for the 76ers, Harden is averaging 28 points, 9 rebounds and a whopping 14 assists. Both of those games were on the road in Minnesota and New York, and tonight is the home debut for Harden.
Harris drained 2 threes on 5 attempts in Sunday’s win at MSG, and that was his 2nd game in a row of 2 threes scored. He has done so in 4 of his last 7 games, and for the month of February he is shooting them at a 37% from beyond the arc.
Together with Barrett, Fournier was the leading scorer for the Knicks on Sunday scoring 24 points. Unlike Barrett, he was hot from three-point land and scored 6 of his 11 attempts.