Not many NBA fans might be thrilled to know that we’ve officially reached two thirds of the regular season. The All-Star Break is finally upon us, meaning we won’t have the best basketball on Earth for a full week.
Needless to say, that’s terrible news entertainment-wise, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to get a glimpse of great hoops this weekend. As a matter of fact, we have the All-Star Game to get some fun in the meantime.
This time, the game will go back to the West vs. East format, and the target score to honor late great Kobe Bryant won’t be featured anymore. We’ll just go back to the same format of old, with the winner being whoever has more points at the end of the fourth quarter.
With that in mind, we’re going to share our picks and best bets for the most entertaining game of the year:
Pick: West -3.5
The Eastern Conference features plenty of talent, but with Joel Embiid out with an injury, their chances of covering the 3.5-point spread take a big hit. On top of that, the Western Conference is absolutely loaded with talent and plenty of players who still feel like they have something left to prove.
LeBron James and Kevin Durant lead the way for the old guard, but both Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic will want to make a statement and prove that they’re ready to carry their torch, and the same goes for Anthony Edwards.
The Eastern Conference’s team is no fluke, but they don’t have the same competitive drive and determination to make a point. Other than local star Tyrese Haliburton, they might take this game rather easily.
Pick: Over 363.5
As much as we love to see this game and the best players on Earth going at each other, we also have to admit that this game isn’t what it used to be. The players don’t compete as hard on defense or at all, leaving the door open for video game-like final scores.
Judging by the personnel and the plethora of firepower both teams boast ahead of this game, we wouldn’t be shocked if we saw a new scoring record in this matchup.
We haven’t had a new record since 2017, when teams combined for 373 points.
We expect that number to go down, with a team setting a new mark for more points to get past the 2016 Western Conference team that scored a whopping 196. This might be the first time a team goes over 200.
