In today’s SportSense Entertainment Newsletter…

Additional Model Predictions ⬇️

NHL Model Predictions- Click Here

There were plenty of model predictions to go around yesterday across the NBA, with our model focusing in on one of those predictions in our Featured Matchups. That prediction went 1-0 overall, and you can see how the rest of the model performed below.

Money Line Predictions: 4-1

Over/Under Predictions: 2-3

Spread Predictions: 4-1

Featured Matchup: 1-0

Ten NBA games are scheduled to take place today. Our model’s predictions for all ten matchups can be found below.

Washington Wizards @ Indiana Pacers

Model Predicts- Pacers ML, UNDER 252.5, Wizards +7.5

The Washington Wizards will begin a short two-game road trip on Wednesday, traveling to Indianapolis, Indiana to take on the Pacers.

Washington enters tonight’s battle with a rather poor 6-30 record, which includes going 0-5 across the last five games. That record places the Wizards in 14th in the Eastern Conference, while the Pacers sit in sixth in the East with a 21-15 record.

These teams are nowhere close in the standings, but our model belives Washington can keep the deficit manageable due to a key absence for Indiana. Let’s take a look at why that is.

Washington Wizards

• Enter tonight on five-game losing streak

  • Loss to Hawks, Cavaliers (twice), Knicks and Thunder

  • Average margin of defeat is 18.2 points

• Have found some success against Indiana this season

  • 1-1 overall

  • Offense looked great- 115.8 Offensive Rating, shooting 51.1% overall and 43.1% from three

• Injuries- No players listed on injury report

Indiana Pacers

• Own 4-1 record since January 1st

  • Beat Bucks (twice), Hawks, and Celtics

• Offense has looked unstoppable

  • 124.4 Offensive Rating in last 5 games- 3rd in NBA

  • Struggling to shoot from deep though- shooting 34.0% from three in that time

• Injuries- Tyrese Haliburton (OUT)

What’s the Play?

Indiana has looked close to unstoppable over the last week and a half, but we agree with our model that Washington can make this game interesting.

The Pacers’ biggest flaw is their weak defense, ranking 26th in Defensive Rating this season. That has enabled Washington to average 133 points per game this season against the Pacers in only two matchups, a number we will likely see again as Washington is at full strength while Indiana is missing its best player and perimeter defender.

The absence of Haliburton greatly affects what the Pacers can do on both ends, and we think an already poor defense will be put in a bad spot because of it. We’ll take Washington on the spread here.

The Play: Wizards +7.5 (-105)

Money Line Trends 💰

• Indiana Pacers- 21-15 overall this season, 4-1 in last five games

• New Orleans Pelicans- 22-15 overall this season, 10-7 as the away team

Over/Under Trends ⬆️⬇️

• Boston Celtics- Over is 20-16 overall this season, 9-8 as the home team

• Los Angeles Clippers- Under is 21-14-1 this season, 12-6-1 as the home team

Spread Trends ➕➖

• Oklahoma City Thunder- 23-11-1 against the spread (ATS) this season, 9-6-1 ATS as the away team

💰 Heat sign Spoelstra to record extension. The Miami Heat extended head coach Erik Spoelstra's contract for eight years, a contract reportedly exceeding $120 million. The deal is the largest coaching deal in NBA history, surpassing Monty Williams' previous record with the Detroit Pistons. Having been with the Heat for 16 seasons, Spoelstra trails only Gregg Popovich as the NBA's second-longest-tenured head coach, and under his leadership, Miami has reached six Finals, winning consecutive championships in 2012 and 2013.

💪 Davis has strong game in win over Toronto. Anthony Davis led the Los Angeles Lakers with 41 points, 20 of which came in the fourth quarter, securing a narrow 132-131 victory against the Toronto Raptors. Davis's stellar performance included 11 rebounds and crucial late-game plays, compensating for the absence of the Raptors' injured starting center Jakob Poeltl. While Davis shone for the Lakers, the Raptors, despite solid performances from Scottie Barnes (26 points) and Pascal Siakam (25 points), suffered their second loss in five games since acquiring RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley from the New York Knicks.

Today’s trivia requires you to dig into multiple pockets of your brain, testing your knowledge of recent events as well as those that happened decades ago.

See how many of the below questions you can get correct. Answers are provided at the end of the newsletter.

Question #1- Who was selected with the first overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft?

Question #2- Only one player selected in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft has been named to an All-Star/All-MLB team. Who is that player?

Question #3- What team originally drafted Vince Carter before trading him to the Toronto Raptors on draft night?

Anyone know what has happened on January 10th throughout history? We didn’t have a clue either, but it appears that it has been a busy day.

On January 10th…

1986- NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scores his 34,000th career point. Kareem achieved the milestone in a 124-102 Lakers win over the Indiana Pacers, becoming the only player in NBA history to reach the elusive mark. He would end his career with 38,387 points, which now sits as the second-most in NBA history behind LeBron James.

2003- The city of Charlotte, North Carolina is granted an NBA expansion team. That team would later become the Charlotte Bobcats, who began their run in the NBA at the start of the 2004-05 season. Now, the Bobcats are known as the Charlotte Hornets, a name that came to be at the start of the 2014-15 season.

2022- The Georgia Bulldogs defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide to win the NCAA National Title. The Bulldogs took home the win by scoring 33 points to Alabama’s 18, a result of outscoring the Crimson Tide 20-6 in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Stetson Bennett was named offensive MVP, while Lewis Cine was named defensive MVP.

1. Cam Newton

2. Trevor Rogers

3. Golden State Warriors