Charlotte Hornets at Milwaukee Bucks u198 (-117)
The machines call for the Hornets to deliver 95.1-96 points tonight when they travel to the BMO Harris Bradley Center to face off aganist the Milwaukee Bucks. The computers see the Bucks modestly besting Charlotte's output, scoring 97.4-98.7. Thus, this approach points to a total of between 192.5 and 194.7.
Numbers the Hornets and Bucks have put up so far this season support a play on the UNDER and hint at a total between 193 and 197.
Charlotte SG, Lance Stephenson, is reported as questionable by CBS Sports, however, Rotoworld definitively indicates Stephenson will not go tonight.This would be the fourth consecutive game the fourth-year pro has been sidelined. As predicted by his -3.50 Offensive Real Plus Minus, the Hornets have not suffered in the scoring department without Stephenson. In fact, Charlotte has posted triple-digit scores in each of the three games he missed. Of note though, these games pitted the Hornets against the Sixers, the Jazz and the Nuggets -- all well below average defenses. While the Bucks are not exactly stoppers, they allow fewer points than either of these teams, on average, and are therefore expected to put up more of a fight on defensive.
Also, consider that the Hornets played just last night. While Charlotte is a younger than average NBA team, and conventional wisdom posits that youth is an offset to the fatigue commonly associated with the second game of back-to-backs, we observe that of the seven instances this season where the Hornets had two games scheduled in as many nights, the second game featured a below-median score on all but two occasions (one of th exceptions came recently against Philadelphia, the the league's fifth-worst defense).
Happy betting!!