This article is part of our NBA Picks series.
Alex Barutha
Stephen Curry over 39.5 points+assists (-108) vs. DEN -- FanDuel (12:47 PM CT)
After 11 straight games scoring over 30 points, Curry flopped against the Wizards on Wednesday, as he produced just 18 points on 7-of-25 shooting. That's not scaring me off today. The fact that Curry still took 25 shots (14 threes) means that he just had an off night shooting, not that his volume was down. Bad shooting nights can happen even if the opponent is awful defensively. The Nuggets, even more so than the Wizards, lack the personnel to match up with Curry effectively. Facundo Campazzo and Will Barton are not slowing down the two-time MVP.
Joe Bartel
Darius Garland under 20.5 points at CHA (-127) -- DraftKings (1:28 PM CT)
On the one hand, Garland has been a more prominent force in the Cavaliers' offense as of late, averaging 22.5 points, and perhaps more importantly for this context, 18.3 field-goal attempts, over the last four games. On the other hand, the Hornets somewhat surprisingly hold opposing point guards to the second-fewest points per game, and just limited the 2019 first-round pick to a mere 17 points last Wednesday. That staunch defense comes in large part from the Hornets' ability to keep point guards from hitting the charity stripe, and indeed the aforementioned contest was just the second time in the last nine games Garland failed to even attempt a free throw. It seems hard to imagine Garland will somehow outperform his season average (17.4) to such a large extent in this matchup.
