Hornets vs. Wizards prediction and odds for Wednesday, February 8 (Total too high?)
By Peter Dewey
Two teams mired in losing streaks face off on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.
The Washington Wizards’ rollercoaster of a season continues, as the team has now lost three straight games to fall back to the No. 12 spot in the Eastern Conference. This comes right on the heels of a six-game winning streak for the Wiz.
They have a favorable matchup at home on Wednesday against the Charlotte Hornets, who have dropped four straight and sit in 14th in the East.
These teams have played three times so far this season, with Washington taking the first two matchups before Charlotte won the last game.
Kyle Kuzma (did not practice on Tuesday) and Bradley Beal (did practice on Tuesday) are both listed as questionable for this game for Washington. How does this affect the betting market?
Here are the odds and my best bet for this matchup:
Hornets vs. Wizards odds, spread and total
Hornets vs. Wizards prediction and pick
It may not be a fun bet to place for Wizards fans, but I’m going to take the UNDER in this game with the total all the way up at 236.5.
If Beal or Kuzma sit out this game, it’s a massive blow to the Washington offense, and neither of these teams has been great on that end of the floor this season.
Charlotte ranks 30th in the NBA in offensive rating while the Wizards clock in at No. 19. Not only that, but both of these teams have hit the UNDER more than the OVER this season.
I want to stay away from betting the spread in this game because of a couple key trends. First off, Washington is just 4-8-1 against the spread as a home favorite this season. However, the Hornets don’t give me much confidence as road dogs, going 12-12-2 ATS and losing those games by an average margin of 8.8 points.
The UNDER is the play in this matchup, especially since the first three meetings between these teams have all fallen short of this total with 208, 208 and 233 points scored in each matchup.
Even though the last meeting was much closer to this total, I have very little faith in either offense to go off in this game.
Find Peter Dewey’s full betting record here.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.