Two Out of Three Should Be Enough for Nets

With first place in the Eastern Conference essentially out of reach, the Brooklyn Nets will be preoccupied with hanging on to the No. 2 spot as they host the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night. Brooklyn (45-24 SU, 35-34 ATS) enters its meeting with the Spurs (33-35 SU, 37-30-1) two games back of Philadelphia, with the 76ers playing two of their final three games vs lowly Orlando.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The Nets kicked off the betting cycle as 5-point favorites, but you can now find some -4.5s out there. The total opened at 231.5 but has since risen two points at the majority of sportsbooks.

San Antonio News & Notes

There are still plenty of Western Conference playoff permutations in play, but the Spurs appear to be all but locked into the 10th seed in the West, earning them a road play-in game appearance – possibly against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Spurs are 2.5 games behind the ninth-place Memphis Grizzlies and sit 2.5 games clear of the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings.

Look for the Spurs to try to handle their own business here, needing just one win over their final four games to secure a spot in the play-in round. They’re coming off a franchise-record 87 first-half points in a one-sided win over Milwaukee but still rank just 21st in the NBA in first-half points per game at 55.6, down slightly from the 55.9 mark they posted last season.

Brooklyn News & Notes

The Nets’ injury carousel continues to spin out of control as it has for the majority of the season. Just when it appears that guard James Harden might return to the lineup after missing the previous five weeks with a hamstring injury (he’s considered a game-time decision), backcourt mate Kyrie Irving has been downgraded to questionable after taking an elbow to the face last time out.

Whatever configuration the Brooklyn starting lineup takes for this one, bettors and daily fantasy players should key in on forward Kevin Durant, who is looking as dangerous as ever after moving past his own injury concerns. Durant has scored 30 or more points in six of his past 11 games while shooting 50 percent or better from beyond the arc in 10 of those contests.

Betting Pick: Nets -5 (-110)

Even if we don’t see the entire big three in action for Brooklyn, having either Harden or Irving in the lineup alongside Durant should be enough to lead Brooklyn to a comfortable win over a Spurs team that is just 12-25 SU vs teams with winning records.