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The big news in the NBA this week is the injury to the Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant. One of the best players in the NBA on the very best team in the NBA suffered a bone bruise and MCL sprain and will be out for at least the next four weeks. The Warriors should be happy with that time table as there are six weeks left in the season followed by a rather lopsided first round match-up so they should be able to take their time with him and make sure that he is 100% before coming back.
The Warriors lost the game that he was injured in (against the Wizards on Tuesday), but they should be fully prepared for life without him tonight against the Chicago Bulls. From a fan perspective this should be an exciting time as the Splash Brothers will have to be back to their peak selves for this team to hold onto the top spot. I’m not too worried about that happening and tonight’s Bulls match-up should be a breeze.
This injury has done almost nothing to change the Warriors’ championship futures nor should it. They are still the class of the Western Conference and could probably survive the first two rounds without Durant if they had to. It’s beyond that when things get interesting. Let’s hope we don’t have to find out.
NBA Betting Tips:
The Warriors and Bulls match-up is almost unfair. The Warriors play the best version of the modern type of basketball with a ton of threes and transition scoring. They are long, athletic and can defend anyone. The Bulls don’t have anyone like that and are not only bad at three pointers, but they hardly attempt any. The math is just against them in so many ways and tonight’s game could be an absolute blow-out. Even if that’s not the case, I think the Warriors -8 cover this one handily.
The Charlotte Hornets fancy themselves as a playoff contender despite some of their obvious flaws. They play good defense and Kemba Walker is a real scorer in this league. If they want to be a playoff team, they have to beat the Suns. If they can’t beat the Suns, they aren’t a contender. They will beat the Suns. The Suns aren’t good. Hornets -4
Portland’s playoff hopes slip further away every day. They are 3-7 over their past ten and haven’t really been making it close in the losses. They face the Oklahoma City Thunder who are winners of four straight. They are currently the seventh seed in the West and I think they have eyes on bigger things. Russell Westbrook we all know about, but the additions of Doug McDermott and Taj Gibson are big for them and I think this is now a much better team. Gibson and Steven Adams together is a nightmare for teams. Westbrook handles the offense and the rest of the team does the one thing that the Blazers can’t do, play defense. That defense should win this one for them tonight. Thunder -1 for the road win.
