NBA: Frank picks points for Kings @ Celtics & Timberwolves @ Jazz

Kings (+7.5) @ CELTICS (227)
Pick: Kings +7.5

This number came out even higher than the 7.5 that the Celtics are currently giving and it’s easy to see why it was bet down. Sacramento has to be almost perfect down the stretch to make the playoffs. They’ve slipped back to an even 33-33 on the year and are 4.5 games behind the Clippers for the final playoff spot in the West. With just 16 games left, it’s asking a lot, but not yet insurmountable to think Sacramento to play beyond its 82-game regular season schedule. Boston is in a race of its own with Philadelphia and Indiana in the middle of the Eastern Conference standings. Those three teams are almost certainly going to be seeded 3-5 in the playoffs meaning two of them will play each other in the first round and one team will not have home court advantage in the opening round. That makes the three seed pretty important and Boston is two games behind both Philly and Indiana. For a Celtics team that had expectations of getting to the NBA Finals this year, finishing fifth in the conference would be a disappointment. Our guess is we get two desperate teams here which should lend itself to a close game like it was last week when Gordon Hayward won it for the Celtics at the buzzer. That makes 7.5 points pretty valuable, so we’ll take the Kings.

Timberwolves (+8) @ JAZZ (221.5)
Pick: Timberwolves +8

The last couple seasons, Utah has been one of the better home court advantages in the NBA. But in sports betting, markets always adjust accordingly. We’ve detailed in several handicaps about Golden State’s struggles ATS this year, and Utah has become a trickier bet at home. The Jazz are 16-16-1 ATS in 33 home games and are actually better against the number on the road than they are in Salt Lake City. On the second night of a back-to-back for Utah, we think eight points is too many to lay here. Minnesota has been a tricky team to handicap recently as well at 4-6 in its last ten games with four of those six losses by double figures and the Timberwolves did not cover in the other two losses either. While Minnesota is not a playoff team, we don’t think they’re bad enough to keep losing by significant margin, so we’ll take them to slide inside the eight here.