The San Antonio Spurs will take on the Minnesota Timberwolves at 8 p.m. ET Thursday at Target Center. Minnesota is 5-9 overall and 3-6 at home, while the Spurs are 4-10 overall and 2-6 on the road. The Spurs have lost three consecutive games while the Timberwolves have split their last four games.
The Spurs won two of the three matchups between the teams last season. Minnesota is favored by two points in the latest Timberwolves vs. Spurs odds from Caesars Sportsbook, and the over-under is set at 218.5. Before entering any Spurs vs. Timberwolves picks, you’ll want to see the NBA predictions from the model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $9,000 in profit on its top-rated NBA picks over the past three-plus seasons. The model entered Week 5 of the 2021-22 NBA season up over $900 on all top-rated NBA picks this season. It’s also on a stunning 113-75 roll on top-rated NBA picks against the spread that dates back to last season. Anyone following it has seen huge returns.
Featured Game| Minnesota Timberwolves vs. San Antonio Spurs
What you need to know about the Timberwolves
Minnesota netted a 107-97 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. Anthony Edwards (26 points) was the top scorer for Minnesota and he scored 16 points in the fourth quarter. Karl-Anthony Towns had 22 points on 75 percent shooting.
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Minnesota forced 20 Sacramento turnovers on Wednesday and leads the league with 18.3 forced turnovers per game. The Timberwolves held the Kings to 36.6 percent shooting from the field and they are allowing 43.8 percent on the season. The biggest problem for the Timberwolves has come on the other end of the court as they are shooting just 41.5 percent which ranks 28th in the league.
What you need to know about the Spurs
Meanwhile, San Antonio lost to the Los Angeles Clippers on the road on Tuesday, 106-92. Doug McDermott put up just seven points on 3-for-10 shooting. Dejounte Murray had a near triple-double with 26 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists, while Derrick White scored 19 points.
Gregg Popovich is fielding his youngest team ever. The average age on this season’s Spurs roster is 24.5 years. He’s also coaching a team that is going against the trends of the current NBA as the Spurs have attempted the fewest three-pointers but also attempted the most two-pointers.
How to make Spurs vs. Timberwolves picks
The model has simulated Timberwolves vs. Spurs 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Under, and it’s also generated a point-spread pick where one side of the spread has all the value. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
Fans of the New Orleans Pelicans have been eagerly anticipating the start of the 2022-23 season.
It’s not just because the team did surprisingly well last year and it feels like great things are on the horizon.
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No, followers of the Pels are elated because 2022 will mark the return of the team’s centerpiece, Zion Williamson.
Williamson has been away from the game for more than a year as he has rehabbed from a serious foot injury but he looks ready to go.
Now we know when he will fire up his engines once again.
Notable opener on NBA schedule: New Orleans at Brooklyn on Oct. 19, sources tell me and @WillGuillory, featuring the regular-season returns of All-Stars Zion Williamson and Ben Simmons.
On October 19, the Pelicans will face off against the Brooklyn Nets in New York.
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This will be the first time that fans have seen Williamson play in ages – and it will also be the first time that Ben Simmons has ever suited up for his Nets.
This is going to be must-see TV.
Winning With Williamson
There is a lot riding on Williamson’s return to his team.
The squad showed an awful lot of promise without him but they are very excited to have him back, healthier and stronger than ever.
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If the team was able to make the playoffs last season without Williamson, imagine what they can accomplish when he is back and tearing through the competition like a runaway freight train.
As for the Nets, opening night will be interesting because it will have Simmons finally playing for the team – but he might be missing his two biggest co-stars.
We don’t know what is happening with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving but there is a good chance neither player is on the Nets’ roster when the new season starts.
As you can see, this scheduled game will have plenty of reasons to watch.
The Denver Nuggets have assembled a very strong squad over the last few years.
They boast two-time reigning regular season MVP Nikola Jokic, a throwback wide-bodied center who is a load to deal with in the paint but can also handle the ball and facilitate a bit like some other modern big men.
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In the backcourt, they have Jamal Murray, who has become an All-Star caliber point guard and has shown some ability to go off in big games.
Many expect the Nuggets to be one of the top teams in the Western Conference, assuming Murray and Porter, both of whom are coming off serious injuries, return to their pre-injury form.
But are the Nuggets legitimate championship contenders, or just a bit short of that category?
They can win it all, but there is a checklist of things that would need to happen.
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Jokic Needs To Maintain His MVP Form
Jokic, the 27-year-old Serbian native, is one of the most unique players ever, as he doesn’t just score and rebound at a high level.
He is also one of the league’s best passers, despite being a 6-foot-11, 284-pound center who isn’t too mobile.
He averaged 7.9 assists per game last season, and the year before that he put up 8.3 dimes a game.
Outside of perhaps Wilt Chamberlain, who actually led the entire NBA in assists one year, and Bill Walton, Jokic is probably the best passing big man ever.
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I hope Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown are watching all the Nikola Jokic film they can and getting ready to run out so he can feed them (cheeseburgers, as Paul Millsap would say) when he crashes that defensive glass. #Nuggets@CaldwellPope@BruceBrown11pic.twitter.com/bYrGRz42k2
One thing Jokic can and should improve on is his 3-point shooting, which has fluctuated throughout his seven-year career.
In the 2021-22 season, he made just 33.7 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc, but the year before, he shot a robust 38.8 percent from deep.
Murray Needs To Be His Best Self
In the 2019-20 season, his last fully healthy season, Murray put up fine regular season numbers of 18.5 points and 4.8 assists per game.
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But during the playoffs, he went into volcano mode, averaging 26.5 points a contest on 50.5 percent overall shooting and 45.3 percent from 3-point range.
In that postseason, he had four 40-point-plus games, as well as two 50-point outings.
When Denver upset the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 7 of the second round and overcame a 3-1 series deficit, Murray led the way with 40 points on 15-of-26 shooting.
He improved to 21.2 points a game the following season while significantly boosting his 3-point shooting accuracy before an ACL injury ended his year late in the schedule.
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For the Nuggets to win the world title, Murray has to continue where he left off in 2021 while putting up huge playoff games when they really need him to.
Better Depth
The Nuggets are not a particularly deep team, and so, they will need some unheralded men to step up.
The backcourt and wing rotations look solid, but they could use some better depth up front.
As of now, Jokic’s main backup will be DeAndre Jordan, who is 34 and coming off a season with the Los Angeles Lakers in which he looked washed.
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If Jordan doesn’t cut it, Denver will be at a sizable disadvantage when Jokic is resting.
The team could also use one more serviceable forward with legitimate forward height.
As of now, Bruce Brown is slated to be its backup 3, and even though he’s a solid 3-and-D player, he is just 6-foot-4.
Thanks to the recent slide of the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers now have the best record in all of baseball and are dominating everybody in their path.
After signing Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers became instant favorites to win another World Series title, just as they did in 2020.
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They’re in a good position to potentially do that again.
Last night, they opened up a series against the struggling Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field.
They had learned of some tough news earlier in the day when it was revealed that Walker Buehler would be out for the rest of the season.
But that didn’t stop Julio Urias, who dominated the Brewers for five innings and led the way as the Dodgers became the first team in all of baseball to reach 80 wins.