One More Day Until the NBA

Two More Days Until The Four Nations Championship...

Author

Michael Mohorovich
February 18, 2025

In partnership with

NBA Returning, Countdown to the Four Nations Championship, Partner Plays in the NCAA

One more sleep until the LA Lakers and Charlotte Hornets bring the NBA back from the lull of the All-Star Break, two sleeps until Canada and the US fight in a rematch for the Four Nations Championship, and College Basketball has another night reigning supreme in the North American sports circuit.

Let’s kick things off with a thought for the NBA’s return tomorrow night.

Two things stick out about the Lakers and Hornets kicking off the second half of the season: Luka Doncic's head-to-head against Charlotte in his career and the rest he had over the All-Star break.

In his time in Dallas, Luka was a beast against the Hornets. We register 5 games for Luka against Charlotte dating back to 2022. In those 5 games, these were his averages:

  • 34.6 points

  • 7.6 assists

  • 10.0 rebounds

  • 5.2 threes

  • 52.5 points, rebounds, and assists per game

Doncic’s head-to-head PRA

Since joining the Lakers, he has 23 and 24 PRA in two games. But in those games, he played under 24 minutes, and post all-star break Luka should be in line for a large increase in minutes, even if it takes a couple of games. Regardless, we should see him play 25 or more minutes tomorrow night.

His PRA line on Wednesday night is 38.5, and this is how he splits against that line this season depending on how many minutes he plays and how often he goes over that line:

  • 24 or less - 3 games, averages 22.7 PRA, 0% hit rate

  • 25 to 32 minutes - 4 games, averages 29.9 PRA, 50% hit rate

  • 22 to 29 minutes - 7 games, averages 36.8 PRA, 71% hit rate

  • 40 to 53 minutes - 7 games, averages 44.6 PRA, 86% hit rate

Minutes pending, Luka’s history and his rest during the all-star break should be considered tomorrow night.

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The best rivalry in sports, without question, is Canada Hockey vs USA Hockey in best-on-best action. And on Thursday Night, Canada gets a chance at revenge while the US gets a chance to close this chapter with resounding back-to-back wins. We have one thought for each team ahead of the big game, starting with the US.

Keep Shooting, Brady!

Brady Tkachuk has played 2 and 1/8 games in this tournament thus far and has gone over his shots on goal prop in all three games. Yes, he only played 1/8 of their third game against Sweden, leaving after racking up two minutes of ice time. But in those two minutes of ice time, he still managed three shots on goal.

Brady’s shots on goal over his last 5 games, the last three in this tournament

His shots on goal prop is 2.5 for Thursday’s game, and in all three games thus far he has 4 or more shot attempts. This season with the Ottawa Senators, when he has 4 shots attempted or more per game, he’s averaging 4.4 shots on goal per game and going over this line in 80% of his games.

Brady this season with 4 shot attempts

Can Brady come through one more time in the biggest game of his life?

The 🐐’s Apprentice

Sidney Crosby only has one goal through the first three games of this tournament, but he’s racked up 4 assists to tie Zach Werenski for the tournament lead in points (5). He’s been Canada’s best player, exactly as advertised. But his Nova Scotian apprentice, Nathan MacKinnon, has (arguably) been Canada’s second-best player.

Nathan MacKinnon’s points this tournament

Nathan MacKinnon has 10 shots on goal in three games, 3 points in three games, and scored 2 goals in a must-win game against Finland. He had just one shot on goal against the US and didn’t register a point, but gets a second chance to come through on Thursday.

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College Basketball Plays

Throughout the NBA break, several of our partners on X have switched their focus to College Basketball, so we thought we’d highlight a couple of those plays here, in case you’re looking for a Competitive Edge in tonight’s college basketball slate.

Mitchell Lee

LockSmiths

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See you Thursday!