TNT will feature games on Tuesday during the beginning of the season at it looks to avoid the Thursday night NFL juggernaut. That means we get a double-dose of available basketball with the Pistons playing the Wizards in a game we will charitably call of mild interest to all but the fans of those respective teams. But we also get the TNT double header, and the matchups are pretty ripe for tonight’s games.
We will see a depleted but hungry New Orleans Pelicans team missing Brandon Ingram Herb Jones and Zion Williamson face off against Luka Doncic, the unstoppable Christian Wood and the Dallas Mavericks. The nightcap features the Golden State Warriors facing a Phoenix Suns team that once again looks like it has a pulse.
Game Vitals
Pelicans vs. Mavericks
When: 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
Watch: TNT
Odds: Pelicans +6
Warriors vs. Suns
When: 10 p.m. ET
Where: Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Watch: TNT
Odds: Warriors +1.5
Projected Lineups
Dallas Mavericks (1-1)
Luka Doncic, Spencer Dinwiddie, Reggie Bullock, Dorian Finney-Smith, JaVale McGee
New Orleans Pelicans (2-1)
Devonte Graham, CJ McCollum, Trey Murphy, Larry Nance, Jonas Valanciunas
Golden State Warriors (2-1)
Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Kevon Looney
Phoenix Suns (2-1)
Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Deandre Ayton
If everyone were healthy, the matchup between the Mavs and Pelicans might be the game of the early season. Sadly, the Pelicans appear to be down three starters. Zion is out with a hip and back issue, Ingram is in concussion protocols and defensive Swiss army knife Jones hyperextended his knee.
It’s no surprise to see the Mavericks as 6-point favorites in the contest, per DraftKings. I wanted to take a look at the prop bets to see what was offered surrounding former Pistons starting center Christian Wood. The perimeter-shooting big man has found a nice new home in Dallas and is averaging 25 points on 55% shooting and 50% from deep and grabbing 10 rebounds. You can currently bet the 16.5 over at -140, or over 1.5 3s at -120, both are kinda meh. You can get a double-double prop at +240, and the Pelicans are in the bottom half in rebounds per game.
Wood is also sitting at +350 in the Sixth Man of the Year awards race, and it feels like those odds will just continue to dwindle. You can also get a Luka Doncic prop for a triple-double at +750, which seems incredibly doable.
The Warriors-Suns game is hard to get excited about. It’s too early to know about what their true weaknesses are, and they have so many strengths on both sides of the ball. It’s being treated as toss-up with the home team Suns sitting at -1.5. The Warriors’ defense is a little soft this year, but it still seems too risky to bet on Devin Booker having an explosive scoring half, and the Suns have the third-ranked defense so they might also be able to somewhat contain Curry. Meh, I guess I’ll spare my pretend money and stay away from this one.
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