Parley forecast WEDNESDAY, 04/01/2017

Parley forecast WEDNESDAY, 04/01/2017

CHARLOTTE HORNESTS ATS -2 

ABOUT THE THUNDER (21-14): Oklahoma City's advantages are in the backcourt with Westbrook and at the center spot, where Steven Adams and Enes Kanter share minutes. Adams went 9-of-11 from the floor on Monday but Kanter failed to hold up his end and slumped to two points on 1-of-6 shooting. Kanter averaged 20.2 points on 60.3 percent shooting in the previous five games and is third on the team in scoring (13.4 points) behind Westbrook and shooting guard Victor Oladipo.

ABOUT THE HORNETS (19-16): Charlotte can throw quickness (Walker, Ramon Sessions) and length (Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Jeremy Lamb, Nicolas Batum) at Westbrook defensively, but the combination of those players was not enough to stop Butler from scoring 52 points on Monday. The Hornets are in the top 10 in the NBA in field-goal percentage defense (44.6 percent) but allowed the Cavaliers to shoot 50.6 percent in Saturday's loss before getting torched by Butler. The bright spot was Lamb, who went 7-of-12 from the field in those two games and scored in double figures in four of the last five.

MIAMI HEAT ATS +8.5

ABOUT THE HEAT (10-26): Point guard Goran Dragic scored 24 points against the Suns after missing three of the previous four games with a back injury but Miami had two unexpected absences in forward James Johnson (food poisoning) and guard Tyler Johnson (migraine). Shooting guard Dion Waiters (groin) missed his 20th straight game but is close to returning, and forward Justise Winslow (shoulder) missed his third straight game while coach Erik Spoelstra is hopeful Whiteside can return later on the road trip. "He is getting better," Spoelstra told reporters. "He's going to see the doctor (Wednesday) again to see how his eye looks."

ABOUT THE KINGS (15-19): Point guard Darren Collison posted a season-best 26 points and also had seven assists against Denver and appears to be breaking out of a slump. Collison is averaging 21 points over the past two contests after averaging only 6.3 on 15-of-47 shooting over a six-game span but his focus is on winning, not scoring. "Every win on the road is important, especially given the circumstances," Collison said after the Denver contest. "We're trying to hold onto the eighth spot and try to move up, so every win from here on out is important."

ATLANTA HAWKS ATS -3

ABOUT THE HAWKS (18-16): Millsap battled through a shooting slump that saw him go 18-of-66 from the field over a four-game stretch before breaking out for 26 points in a win over the Detroit Pistons on Friday and continuing with the stellar outing against the Spurs. "Overall, big picture, it’s good for us mentally," Millsap told the Atlanta Journal Constitution of beating the Spurs. “We beat a really good team. That’s the mentality we have to have going forward. If we play with that mentality, playing to win, I think we’ll be all right." The Hawks are opening a four-game road trip on Wednesday but will not face a winning team on the excursion, with stops at New Orleans, Dallas and Brooklyn after Orlando.

ABOUT THE MAGIC (16-20): Vogel put his team through a film session after a 117-104 loss at Indiana on Sunday and pointed out several weaknesses that the team managed to correct in Monday's triumph. "This is the NBA and sometimes teams come out and don’t play with the necessary energy," Vogel told reporters. "The teams that play with it most consistently are the teams that win 50 games and go on playoff runs. The teams that don’t they home every year. So we’ve got to bring that energy every night." Ball movement was one of the issues discussed in the film session, and Orlando handed out 35 assists on 45 field goals in Monday's triumph.