Rating: 2 Units

Houston’s Christian Wood is dealing with ankle and quad issues and he indicated on Sunday that he could miss a couple of games. Wood has been a rare bright spot for Houston and there is no need to push the guy as the Rockets are dead last in the West. Philly will be trying to get that Number One seed in the East and these are the kind of games they must have. Of the 6 games after this one, the Sixers have 4 games against teams that are not in the playoff picture. Philly was in a tricky spot when they placed Houston in February. They were in the first game back home after going 2 and 2 on the road and they beat the Rockets without Ben Simmons. The Rockets also got a big game that night from DeMarcus Cousins, who has since moved on to the Clippers.

Rating: 2 Units

A two-game win streak for Orlando. Will wonders ever cease? They actually began the season 4-0 and then injuries and losses piled up, then trades. The most they’ve won consecutively is three (New York, Golden State, Detroit), one time, in late February. They’ve lost by 27 and 16 points to Celtics so far, when Boston played without Jason Tatum and Kemba Walker the first time, then held the Magic to 38.1% shooting when those guys played and Orlando still had Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier in the starting lineup.

Rating: 5 Unit NBA Game of the Week

Lots o’ guys on the Blazers can put the ball in the hole, from many different places on the floor. The Cavaliers, not so much. They score the fewest points per game in the NBA (103.9). Although they are scoring at a better rate lately (1.097 points per possession the last two weeks, better than eight other teams), their defense in this span has been the worst: 1.194 points per possession for the other guys. Cavaliers’ head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, Mr. “Good Problem to Have,” has asked the team that has made the fewest three-pointers per game in the league to take more of them. Nothin’ like taking a bad team and asking it to do more of something it hasn’t done well -- 34% on that shot, next to last on the season and only 34.5% in their 1-9 SU stretch the last 10 games, which includes last night’s overtime loss vs. Phoenix in which they took +12.5 points and did not cover. That’s what bad teams do – lose in a manner you’d think is close to impossible.

Rating: 4 Unit

The Nationals beat Max Fried 10-4 last season. They beat him 7-6 about a month ago, getting 8 hits and 5 runs in 2 innings against him. Fried followed up that start with 4 innings of work against Miami in which he allowed 9 hits and 8 runs in a 14-8 loss. Hey, at least the Braves can hit their way back from deficits if Fried form holds in his first start since then. Atlanta has been horrible against left-handed pitching, but just fine against righties, which is Erick Fedde’s side and Fedde doesn’t seem to have a Hall of Fame tag hung on that arm. The Braves who’ve faced him have partied to a .384 Batting Average and .611 Slugging Percentage.

Rating: 2 Units

The Royals are sizable underdogs after losing the first two games of this series, squaring off against Cleveland ace Shane Bieber. But KC is averaging 5.5 runs per game vs. righthanders (+$310), and they have a capable arm in Brady Singer, who checks in with a 3.09 ERA in his five appearances this year. The Indians average just 3.8 runs per game vs. righties, so we'll look for the Royals to get on track at Kaufman Stadium.

Rating: 2 Units

This isn’t Koufax-Marichal or Bieber-Cole. It’s Hyeon-Jong Yang in his Major League starting debut for Texas, against Lewis ‘Don’t Call Me Jim’ Thorpe. Yang spent 14 years in Korean baseball so he’s no kid, but still. Meanwhile, Thorpe is a lefty and the Rangers actually average about 7.0 runs per games when the other side starts a southpaw. That includes last night, when they got only 1 run in 5 1/3 innings against lefty JA Happ. But Happ had been pitching well and even if Yang does likewise, this Twins bullpen is a mess. They’re afraid to put Alex Colome in games now, with good reason. But they don’t have great options whoever they turn to. Thorpe’s most recent start lasted 4 innings and although he allowed only 2 runs in 4 innings, the Twins’ bullpen came in and did its usual lousy job in a 10-3 loss.

Rating: 2 Units

The Mets fired their two batting coaches, and now Jacob deGrom’s Tuesday start was missed due to a sore lat muscle. Lucky for them yesterday was rained out. But their hitters who aren’t hitting are still facing a stranger, whether it’s Johan Oviedo or Kwang-Hyun Kim. Both are doing just fine so far. Marcus Stroman is fine, too, but the Mets couldn’t support him well enough vs. Philadelphia last time out in a 2-1 loss. Tonight, a lousy hitting team with two days off since they last swung the bats shows up with some rust on them, too.

Rating: 2 Units

Not only did Braves’ righthander Huascar Ynoa pitch 7 shutout innings of 4-hit ball against the Nationals last night, but he also hit a grand slam in their 6-1 win. That’s ridiculous. Today the Braves throw a lefty at the Nats, who sport the best team batting average against southpaws (.305) and the second best OPS (.869). Max Fried has been no ordinary lefty but he was much less
than ordinary against Washington and Miami on April 7 and 13, his two most recent starts, allowing 17 hits and 13 runs in 6 total innings. Yow. Welcome back. Hope to see you improve in your next start in five days. Erick Fedde, after giving up 6 runs in 1 2/3 innings vs. the Braves on April 7, has allowed only 6 runs total in his four starts since.