Game Time: 7:30 PM ET, Thursday, February 10th, 2022 

Venue:  Capital One Arena, Washington DC

Where to Watch:  TNT

DraftKings:  Spread:  Wizards -1.5

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread:  Wizards -1.5; O/U 221.5

WynnBet: Spread:  Wizards -1; O/U 221.5

An Eastern Conference matchup of two teams that are tumbling down the NBA standings.  One will have to win… That is how NBA games work.  So, which one of these struggling teams can and will do it… and even better will they COVER the spread?.  The point of interest of this game is of course it will take place just a few hours after the NBA trade deadline.  Both the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards are in position to trade their star player.  Both definitely need to.  Both teams however are flirting with the idea of standing pat at the trade deadline.  In the Brooklyn Nets case the trade on the table is for the Philadelphia 76ers' tantruming baby Ben Simmons for James Harden.  There is some debate about who has to include other pieces and what those pieces should be?  The trade would help BOTH teams no matter what… Ben Simmons has completely quit on the 76ers and simply hasn’t played this season… so the addition of 20+ points from anyone would finally give Joel Embiid what he needs to make a Finals run.  The addition of Ben Simmons to the Nets would bring defense and stability until Kevin Durant gets back from injury.  Also let’s make something very clear… James Harden has quit on the Brooklyn Nets.  At his core James Harden is a quitter.  Former MVP or not he is playing badly on purpose.  He is playing with no soul on purpose… He is telling the Nets “I want out!”... “I want as far away from Kyrie Irving as you can get me!”.... For whatever reason the debate will rage.    The Washington Wizards also need a trade or they won’t be able to climb back into the standings.  The big, amazing piece they have is SG Bradley Beal who should have been traded two years ago when he was at the height of his value.  At the moment Bradley is out with a wrist injury which would damage the value of any trade.  It doesn’t make him untradeable… it just saps some of the draft picks or ancillary players that would have been in the mega trade at any other time.  However it doesn’t seem like the Wizards will make the move (never say never).  This team is so used to having a star player AND being in the draft lottery every year… that maybe they like it there?  Maybe the ownership group really loves the weeks long debate between the NBA DRaft Lottery and the NBA Draft over who to take with the #8 pick… or the #11 pick? The team absorbed players last off-season in the Russell Westbrook trade… Maybe the GM thinks they just need one more season of organic growth to create a winner.  Of course this team has to look up and see the Los Angeles Clippers got Norman Powell for virtually nothing and the New Orleans Pelicans got CJ McCollum for virtually nothing… and sadly they see the Pacers and Kings swap their team’s actual best players… and the Wizards can tell their season ticket holders “ If we stay on course, we will get lucky one of these decades.”.

The Brooklyn Nets have lost 9-games in a row.  They have only won 1 of their last ten games… I can’t stress this enough… They are on a 9-game losing streak. The Nets are dropping in the NBA standings… they are dropping in both the offensive and defensive rankings.  Most damningly they started Blake Griffin at the CENTER last game!  They score less and they are giving up more points.  They are losing to the Sacramento Kings, the Boston Celtics, and the Denver Nuggets who are missing 2 of their three best players… The Nets are down and out.  They lose in games that PG Kyrie Irving can not play in because of Covid vaccination status… and they lose in games that Kyrie can play in.  All because SF Kevin Durant went down with a sprained left MCL… and when a team loses THE star player everything has been built around… THE star player that allows the team to sweep the weaknesses under the rug…the star player that holds the other two star players just a little bit accountable even if they are me-first oddballs. Then the team is in deep trouble.  The Nets say Kevin Durant will be back in the latter part of February.  Except this is Kevin Durant!..  who recently took 18 months to rehab and recover from a 9-month injury.  If Kevin thinks he will not be in line for a Championship ring… AND he may hurt himself and jeopardize the rest of his career.  Kevin will shut it down for as LONG as he likes.  Possibly the rest of the year.  It’s a nightmare scenario for first year Head Coach Steve Nash who failed to push for Kyrie’s trade before the season started at the very moment they found out he wouldn’t get vaccinated.  

The Washington Wizards were a big part of the Eastern Conference’s surprise start of the season.  Three teams that had indulged in off-season trades and FA signings were suddenly good.  Those were the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Washington Wizards.  It looked a lot like SF/PF Kyle Kuzma was a perfect fit along with PF/C Montrezl Harrell, and sharpshooting SG Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Three Lakers that came over for Russell Westbrook.  Every Laker decision maker.. From the very small GM Rob Pelinka to the kids of Jerry Buss, to the actual decision maker LeBron James… would undo the trade in a heartbeat!  If the phone rang with a “reverse the trade proposal”  the Lakers would scream “YES!” so loud it would cause a minor earthquake.  Even though the Lakers need those guys back… The Wizards are squandering having them.  They play SG Kentavious Caldwell-Pope at guard where he simply can not keep up defensively, they play SF Kyle Kuzma at PF where he simply is not physical enough to control the paint, and they DO NOT start Montrezl Harrell in favor of C Thomas Bryant… Harrell is good for 14.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg… while Thomas Bryant is good for 6.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg.  I know teams like to bring Montrezl off the bench because he is a former NBA 6th man award winner… but c’mon.  When you are losing you have to put your best foot forward period.  Put these guys in their natural spots and TRADE BEAL… and TRADE Hachimura before he completely loses all value altogether.  The Wizards have only won 2 of their last ten games.  That is it.  They have only won 1 more game than the Brooklyn Nets who are in complete freefall. 

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The Nets are 29-25 on the season.  They have been stuck at 29 wins for three full NBA weeks of play.  They are 20-33-1 ATS.  They used to be favored in almost every matchup.  They are now consistently listed as underdogs.  They have logged 25 Overs, 28 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 17-11 in road games… though 15 of those road wins came WITHOUT Kyrie Irving.  

The Wizards are 24-29 on the season. They are a virtually identical 20-32-1 ATS.  They have notched 26 Overs, 26 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 13-14 in home games.

The Nets are 11th in scoring with 110.9 ppg, 15th in rebounds with 44.8 per game, and 10th in AST/TO ratio.  They are shooting 5th in FG%, 16th in 3PT%, and 4th in FT%.  They are 21st on defense while allowing 111.1 ppg from opponents.

The Wizards are 22nd in ppg, 20th in rebounds with 44.1 per game, and 11th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8.  They are shooting 12th inFG%, 28th in 3PT%, and 13th in FT%.  They are 17th on defense while allowing 109.9 ppg.

Our prediction for Thursday, February 10th is…. Wizards 118 - Nets 107

The Wizards are a team that I normally would never recommend.  They are missing Bradley Beal.. they are unsure of who should play where and why?.  The Wizards are a bad team and they are historically a bad franchise… HOWEVER.  In this geam the Nets will be missing 4-7 of their best players.  The result will be a basketball version of a scrum.. Where it is sloppy and unconventional no matter what team has the ball… In a game like that you have to favor either the younger squad or the healthier squad… The Wizards are both right now.  Plus if the Wizards trade Beal at the deadline hours earlier… he wasn’t in the lineup anyway.  

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Brooklyn is 1-6 ATS after a division game this season.
Washington is 55 OVER and 33 UNDER when playing a team with a winning record the last 3 seasons.
Washington is 3-1 ATS versus Brooklyn at Washington the last 3 seasons.

Nets: SG James Harden (hamstring/ holding out/ could be traded any minute) Quest ** PG Kyrie Irving (personal) Quest ** PF Nic Claxton (hamstring) Quest *8 SF Kevin Durant (knee) Out ** SG Joe Harris (ankle) Out ** C LaMarcus Aldridge (ankle) Out ** PF Paul Milsap (personal) Out

Wizards: PF Daniel Gafford (illness) Out ** SG Bradley Beal (wrist) Out

Nets: PF Kessler Edwards, SF DeAndre’ Bembry, C Blake Griffin, SG Bruce Brown, PG Patty Mills

Wizards: SF Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, PF Kyle Kuzma, C Thomas Bryant, PG Aaron Holiday, SG Spencer Dinwiddie

Nets

Points: Kevin Durant 29.3

Assists: James Harden 10.2

Rebounds: James Harden 8.0

Steals: James Harden 1.3

Blocks: Nic Claxton 1.1

Wizards

Points: Bradley Beal 23.3

Assists: Bradley Beal 6.6

Rebounds: Kyle Kuzma 8.7

Steals: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 1.0

Blocks: Daniel Gafford 1.5

Nets: Steve Nash

Wizards: Wes Unseld Jr