Free Picks: Charlotte Hornets vs. Milwaukee Bucks

Both of these squads are coming off of games on Friday, with the Milwaukee Bucks dropping to 11-7 after a rough loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on the road while the Charlotte Hornets outlasted the Indiana Pacers to improve to 8-11 on the season. Even though the Hornets have the advantage of staying at home while the Bucks have to travel to North Carolina for this tilt, the Bucks still seem like the way to go on Saturday night.

The Bucks have not been playing like it for most of this season, but they’re an elite team in the NBA with top-notch talent. The best teams bounce back just as fast as they go down, and the Bucks are 4-1 against the spread this season following a loss after going 12-9 ATS in the same spots last season. The Bucks have only lost consecutive games once so far this season, and no doubt Giannis Antetokounmpo and company want to keep it that way.

This Charlotte team certainly doesn’t have much in the way of a Greek Freak stopper, and while they have been a decent defensive team so far this season, the youth of the Hornets will likely prevent them from implementing the ‘Giannis Wall’ that has become famous for stopping the reigning two-time MVP with much consistency.

Milwaukee has been raining down threes this season, nailing 15.2 shots from downtown per game (fourth in the NBA) at a 38.6 clip (sixth). That will be a huge plus in this matchup, as sharpshooters Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, and Robin Lopez will get to feast against a Charlotte defense that is giving up the third-most three-pointers per game (14.6).

The well-drilled Bucks have also gone 9-4 ATS when playing on no rest over the past two seasons, which bodes well for this matchup of two tuckered out teams, with the Bucks playing their third game in four nights and the Hornets playing their fifth in seven days. Holiday, one of the premiere guard defenders in the league, could also prove to be an x-factor in the game, forcing Charlotte’s young backcourt into frustrated errors with his hounding defense.

Charlotte is a very exciting team with a ton of intriguing young talent, but they’re going up against one of the big boys on Saturday night, and the big boys are coming in angry, which is why this is one of our top picks on Saturday. Milwaukee played an awful first half on Friday, falling behind by 23 at the break, and even 81 second-half points couldn’t net them the win. With experience and emotion on their side, we’re going with Milwaukee -7 on an NBA point spread play at -120 odds (22Bet) against the Hornets at the Spectrum Center on Saturday night.

• Charlotte has gone 0-5 SU in the last five meetings
• Milwaukee has won each of the past 5 meetings by 8+ points
• Milwaukee is 4-1 ATS following a SU loss this season
• Charlotte is 4-5 ATS at home this season