Talkin’ Tuesday’s TNT primetime slate: Mavs-Pellies, followed by Warriors-Suns

Joel Embiid, James Harden and the 1-3 Sixers have the day off after nabbing their first win of the year over the Indiana Pacers. But we do have a double-header on TNT tonight. For those of you diehards who keep an eye on the competition and trade landscape — and with the help of our friends over at DraftKings — let’s take a look at what’s going on in Prime Time, shall we?

Mavericks at Pelicans

Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

This line took an extra day to drop with all of the Pelicans’ injuries. Brandon Ingram was placed in concussion protocol so he’ll be out for a few games. Zion Williamson landed hard and sustained a posterior hip injury. Zion, along with Herb Jones, are listed as questionable, but we don’t expect to see either in this one, paving the way for C.J. McCollum to carry the load.

On the Mavs side, Frank Ntilikina and Davis Bertans are out. So far, 62 percent of bets came in on the Mavs Moneyline, per our friends at VSiN.

Mavs’ coach Jason Kidd’s defense can put most of its focus on slowing down McCollum, the Lehigh product. The Mavs are now listed as -6 favorites (-110) with a Money Line of -240 to win, per DK. I feel like every time I check my phone, the line moves a little more, with each piece of injury news. Luka actually has the third-best (+550) odds to lead the NBA in scoring this year, behind only Giannis and Embiid (+320). Doncic probably won’t hurt his chances at his first scoring title tonight if you wanted to hammer that bet before oddsmakers adjust to Embiid’s slower start.

Vegas is scrambling to adjust to the wave of support for Dallas, and if you got your bets in this a.m. on Luka and co., you’re ahead of the curve since I like the Mavs to win too.

Player props for this one are not up, as of this writing as I suppose nobody is quite sure who’s going to play on New Orleans’ side.

Suns at Warriors

Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images

This line was set at Warriors -3, with a -140 money line on DraftKings. But all the money came flooding in on the champs, and this one has shrunk in half. Now it’s Suns -1.5 (-110) with a Money line of -125.

Both teams have won twice, sandwiched around a tough loss. The Suns got Dame Timed by Lillard in overtime last week. And the Warriors got caught in post-ring ceremony hangover, as Nikola Jokic dropped an insanely efficient triple-double on them in a win.

Still, both title hopefuls will try to make it two in a row in a clash of the backcourt titans with the late start for East Coasters. On Monday evening, nearly 90 percent of early bets came in on the Warriors here to cover the three.

I think bettors were basically saying “lol, like dude, anytime you get the defending champs getting points, you have to take it, right?” I’d side with folks who said that. Curry and the gang’s chances of winning the game outright can’t be that far below 50 percent.

I got an earlier start on this one and hit the no longer available +120 Dubs money line. Early bird has a shot at the worm? That comes out roughly to a 45.5 percent shot to win. Now, if you bet the Dubs to win it’s closer to even money at +105.

Andrew Wiggins has scored 24, 23, and 20 points so far this year. Oddsmakers don’t buy that remaining consistent just yet. His point total is 16.5, (-105) to hit the over. The Suns have Mikal Bridges, and have done a good job on the wings. But if you were Monty Williams, wouldn’t you ask Mikal to chase Steph for a chunk of this one? I would. So send Wiggi to the moon. Speaking of which, Wiggins has attempted 6, 8, and 7 triples thus far. So I don’t hate his (-150) over 1.5 made triples, in what figures to be a shootout. The price is steep but Draymond Green’s (-185) under 0.5 made threes may be worth the price. He often goes a full game without even trying his luck from distance.

The Suns should call about Matisse Thybulle for this one, shouldn’t they?

A three pick money line parlay of Mavs (-240), Clippers (-460), Wizards (-215) pays +152. That’s not bad, but if you have a strong feeling one way or the other about the Suns, you could include them to win as well and get +354 in a longer shot.

James Harden and Tyrese Maxey aren’t playing tonight, the Eagles have a bye, the Phillies prep for the World Series, so it’s a great day to try to turn your five bucks into $22.74 on a wonky four-team parlay on DK. Good luck!

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