Best bets for Wednesday's NBA games 🏀
Best bets for Wednesday's NBA games
ESPN PLUS ($ MATERIAL)
With the NBA crossing the halfway point of the regular season, trends are starting to emerge throughout the league.
The power balance in the NBA continues to shift because of injuries and a variety of roster moves, and staying ahead of the curve can allow for profitable betting conditions on any given night. With a big slate of games every Wednesday, we've asked a few of our NBA experts -- Doug Kezirian, Jordan Schultz and Andre Snellings -- to give their best bets for the night.
Lines displayed are from Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook on Wednesday afternoon. As always, shop around for the best price.
Utah Jazz (-1) at Portland Trail Blazers
Total: 217
Schultz: The Blazers have found themselves, winning five of their past six, including a rare road victory over the Jazz. And, after CJ McCollum notched his first career triple-double, first-team All-NBA point guard Damian Lillard -- out against Atlanta -- will flank him once again against visiting Utah. The keys to defeating the Jazz are twofold: Load up on Donovan Mitchell -- especially in pick-and-roll situations -- and get quality looks in transition to help mitigate Utah's fourth-ranked defensive rating. With the second-best home record in the West, though, Portland will successfully accomplish both.
Pick: Blazers ML (money line)
Dallas Mavericks (-6.5) at New York Knicks
Total: 215
Kezirian: One of my favorite spots is to back the better team that already lost at home to the inferior team. That situation applies here for the Mavericks, who also own the league's best record against the spread. Plus, they are 17-9 ATS off an outright loss, which fits this scenario. The Knicks play hard most of the time, but they have been a giant embarrassment this season. They've lost 10 straight games and 23 of 25. This feels like too short of a number, especially with New York competing with so many other teams for a high draft pick.
Pick: Mavs -6.5
Charlotte Hornets at Boston Celtics (-7.5)
Total: 214.5
Snellings: The Celtics have won 10 of their past 15 games with a scoring margin of +8.0 points per game, and the Hornets have gone 7-8 with a margin of +1.2. This is reasonably consistent with their performances for the whole season (Celtics +6.3, Hornets +0.7). If you factor in roughly three points for home-court advantage, the Celtics should be giving nine or 10 points here, so 7.5 is a good number for them.
Pick: Celtics -7.5
Memphis Grizzlies at Minnesota Timberwolves (-4.5)
Total: 208.5
Snellings: The Grizzlies have been in free fall for quite a while now, having lost nine of their past 10 games and 15 of 17. The Timberwolves have been inconsistent, but on the whole they have been the much better team over the past month-plus of the season. Over the past 15 games, the Timberwolves have a scoring margin of +0.6, while the Grizzlies are at -9.8. This difference holds pretty steady over the past 10 games (Timberwolves -1.7, Grizzlies -10) and the past five as well (Timberwolves +5.2, Grizzlies -6.8). Based on these numbers, with the Timberwolves playing at home, they should be favored by double digits, so five points would appear to be a manageable spread.
Pick: Timberwolves -4.5
Chicago Bulls at Miami Heat (-9.5)
Total: 208.5
Snellings: Over their past 15 games, the Bulls are 1-1 with a +6.5 scoring margin against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and 0-13 with a margin of -14.8 against everyone else. The Heat are a generally solid team, with a +0.2 scoring margin on the season, +0.3 over the past 15 games, -1.8 over the past 10 and +1.8 over the past five. The Bulls, over those same time windows, are -9.9 on the season, -11.9 for the past 15 games, -11.3 for the past 10, and -3.4 over the past five (which includes their one double-digit win over the Cavaliers). This price seems cheap for the Heat.
Pick: Heat -9.5
ESPN PLUS ($ MATERIAL)
With the NBA crossing the halfway point of the regular season, trends are starting to emerge throughout the league.
The power balance in the NBA continues to shift because of injuries and a variety of roster moves, and staying ahead of the curve can allow for profitable betting conditions on any given night. With a big slate of games every Wednesday, we've asked a few of our NBA experts -- Doug Kezirian, Jordan Schultz and Andre Snellings -- to give their best bets for the night.
Lines displayed are from Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook on Wednesday afternoon. As always, shop around for the best price.
Utah Jazz (-1) at Portland Trail Blazers
Total: 217
Schultz: The Blazers have found themselves, winning five of their past six, including a rare road victory over the Jazz. And, after CJ McCollum notched his first career triple-double, first-team All-NBA point guard Damian Lillard -- out against Atlanta -- will flank him once again against visiting Utah. The keys to defeating the Jazz are twofold: Load up on Donovan Mitchell -- especially in pick-and-roll situations -- and get quality looks in transition to help mitigate Utah's fourth-ranked defensive rating. With the second-best home record in the West, though, Portland will successfully accomplish both.
Pick: Blazers ML (money line)
Dallas Mavericks (-6.5) at New York Knicks
Total: 215
Kezirian: One of my favorite spots is to back the better team that already lost at home to the inferior team. That situation applies here for the Mavericks, who also own the league's best record against the spread. Plus, they are 17-9 ATS off an outright loss, which fits this scenario. The Knicks play hard most of the time, but they have been a giant embarrassment this season. They've lost 10 straight games and 23 of 25. This feels like too short of a number, especially with New York competing with so many other teams for a high draft pick.
Pick: Mavs -6.5
Charlotte Hornets at Boston Celtics (-7.5)
Total: 214.5
Snellings: The Celtics have won 10 of their past 15 games with a scoring margin of +8.0 points per game, and the Hornets have gone 7-8 with a margin of +1.2. This is reasonably consistent with their performances for the whole season (Celtics +6.3, Hornets +0.7). If you factor in roughly three points for home-court advantage, the Celtics should be giving nine or 10 points here, so 7.5 is a good number for them.
Pick: Celtics -7.5
Memphis Grizzlies at Minnesota Timberwolves (-4.5)
Total: 208.5
Snellings: The Grizzlies have been in free fall for quite a while now, having lost nine of their past 10 games and 15 of 17. The Timberwolves have been inconsistent, but on the whole they have been the much better team over the past month-plus of the season. Over the past 15 games, the Timberwolves have a scoring margin of +0.6, while the Grizzlies are at -9.8. This difference holds pretty steady over the past 10 games (Timberwolves -1.7, Grizzlies -10) and the past five as well (Timberwolves +5.2, Grizzlies -6.8). Based on these numbers, with the Timberwolves playing at home, they should be favored by double digits, so five points would appear to be a manageable spread.
Pick: Timberwolves -4.5
Chicago Bulls at Miami Heat (-9.5)
Total: 208.5
Snellings: Over their past 15 games, the Bulls are 1-1 with a +6.5 scoring margin against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and 0-13 with a margin of -14.8 against everyone else. The Heat are a generally solid team, with a +0.2 scoring margin on the season, +0.3 over the past 15 games, -1.8 over the past 10 and +1.8 over the past five. The Bulls, over those same time windows, are -9.9 on the season, -11.9 for the past 15 games, -11.3 for the past 10, and -3.4 over the past five (which includes their one double-digit win over the Cavaliers). This price seems cheap for the Heat.
Pick: Heat -9.5