Be in a hurry to bet on Murray

We hope you had a wonderful Thursday night watching both Brayden Point and David Pastrnak deliver us some goals. While there's some merit to striking while the iron is hot on the ice, we'll navigate over to the hardwood to send us into the weekend with some wins.

Everything we see says to back Jamal Murray

Denver guard Jamal Murray is on an absolute tear right now with his shots, particularly from long range. He's chucked up 10+ threes in six of his last seven games, averaging 4.3 threes made during that stretch.

It's the type of volume that when you see it, you know you have to back it. Aiding Murray's case for threes tonight is his opponent, the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies play fast, which always helps out the cause for points props such as these. Memphis has the third-fastest pace of play in the NBA and is allowing the seventh-most made threes per game this season.

So, in comes Murray, shooting like it's going out of style. His line tonight is set at 2.5, juiced to the over. That's a totally acceptable number, considering he's covered it in seven of his last nine games and six of his past seven. We'd like to skip past that number and load up the plus-money play instead, if that's OK by you.

Murray has netted four or more treys in two straight and four of his last seven, and he's compiled 16 total threes made the last three games he's had two days of rest. For what it's worth, we've seen a few recent guards have some big three-point shooting nights against the Grizzlies: Austin Reaves and Lonnie Walker both had 4+ threes on Tuesday, and James Harden made six last week.

Interestingly enough, it seems that the return and presence of Aaron Gordon has some type of causal impact on Murray's long-range shooting. Gordon returned to the Denver lineup two games ago after missing a few weeks, and in those two games, Murray made four and five threes. It's more than that though. In the two games prior to Gordon's injury, Murray made seven threes in each. Who are we to deny the deluge of data dumped on our doorstep?

We love Murray's volume and how this game is projected to unfold. Give us that alternate line and here's to a big night from the Nuggets guard.

Betting: Jamal Murray 4+ threes (+200 FanDuel)

In the news ...

Anthony Richardson stock continues to rise at the Combine — Reports out of Indianapolis suggest that Florida QB Anthony Richardson is "crushing" his pre-draft interviews. Multiple scouts have reportedly expressed that Richardson has been one of the best interviews they've had in years as the quarterback's draft stock continues to rise. We've seen Richardson's ascension more and more as we've kept an eye on the NFL Draft odds, and this latest has his odds climbing closer to the top. Richardson has leaped Will Levis on the board for first QB taken and first overall pick, putting him third at the position behind Bryce Young and CJ Stroud. The Carolina Panthers are the current betting favorite to land Richardson at +350. Carolina currently sits at No. 9 and has a new coach in Frank Reich who needs a quarterback. 

Bruins re-sign David Pastrnak to eight-year deal amid sensational season — The Boston Bruins are the NHL's best team this season, already with 101 points, with the next closest team at 86. Boston made sure to secure a big reason for its success, signing star winger David Pastrnak to an eight-year, $90-million deal. It's one of the biggest contracts in NHL history and well-deserved, as Pastrnak is second in the NHL in goals (43) and fourth in points (83). It's nearly impossible for anyone to usurp Connor McDavid (52 goals, 118 points) for the Hart Trophy at this point, evidenced by his odds at a whopping -4000 to win the award. Pastrnak is +3500 should you like to bet on a crazy final two months and McDavid quieting down, but the more apt bet is likely on Boston to win it all, sitting at +400.

LeBron James' injury worse than expected — After further tests, it's been confirmed that LeBron James has a right foot tendon injury and will be reevaluated in three weeks to a month, compared to an initial timetable of two weeks. The prognosis coming back worse than initially feared is a blow for Los Angeles, who have 19 games left in their season and sit just one game back from the play-in tournament. The Lakers are still +165 to make the playoffs, better odds than we were expecting. Avoid that one and look elsewhere, perhaps to the Pelicans at +110 who should hopefully be getting Zion Williamson back soon.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll