NBA Odds & Best Bets Today: Schedule, Picks for Saturday
The New Year’s Eve NBA slate offers a healthy mix of favorites and underdogs. Read on for our NBA best bets based on the latest odds.
The New York Knicks will look to snap their current five-game skid on the road against the Houston Rockets on Saturday. Meanwhile, can the Nets make it 11 consecutive victories in Charlotte on the back of Kevin Durant? The Utah Jazz host the Miami Heat and will look to cover in front of the home crowd, and the Thunder will aim to pull off a home upset over the visiting Philadelphia 76ers.
Here are our NBA best bets for Saturday (odds via PointsBet, DraftKings Sportsbook, and FanDuel Sportsbook; Pick confidence is based on a 1-to-5-star scale).
Check out our NBA best bets and Pelicans-Grizzlies pick.
Saturday’s NBA Schedule and Odds
(Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook)
- Clippers (-3.5) vs. Pacers
- Nets (-7) vs. Hornets
- Cavaliers (-2.5) vs. Bulls
- Knicks (-4.5) vs. Rockets
- Mavericks (-7.5) vs. Spurs
- Pelicans (+6) vs. Grizzlies
- Pistons (+7.5) vs. Timberwolves
- 76ers (-4.5) vs. Thunder
- Heat (+3.5) vs. Jazz
Saturday’s NBA Best Bets
- Moneyline: Jazz (-156 via FanDuel)
- Spread: Knicks -4.5 (-110 via PointsBet)
- Upset: Thunder (+170 via DraftKings)
- Prop: Kevin Durant Over 29.5 Points (+105 via FanDuel)
NBA Top Picks
Moneyline: Jazz (-156) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Jazz are small favorites at home against the visiting Heat. But Utah hasn’t been a great team against the spread in 2022-23 this season, so we’ll target the moneyline. The Jazz are much better at home than on the road, going 12-5 in Salt Lake City compared to 7-14 as the visitors. Utah is 6-4 straight up as the home favorite.
The Heat are 3-8 as the underdog and just 2-7 as the road underdog, which doesn’t bode well for their chances in this one. While Miami is 3-3 when on the second game of a back-to-back set, the team will face a tough task playing Utah on no rest without Jimmy Butler.
Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, and Co. may be able to make this one interesting if they can get hot. But our money is on the Jazz to prevail.
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Spread: Knicks -4.5 (-110) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Knicks have lost five straight, but they’re due for a bounce-back effort on Saturday in a favorable spot. Their last five losses have been close, despite the team missing RJ Barrett and Jalen Brunson for some of those games. New York is a solid 3-1 ATS as the road favorite in 2022-23.
The Rockets have been good ATS as the home underdog, posting an 8-4-2 record in that situation. New York can take advantage of Houston’s suspect defense, especially when shooting from deep. Houston allows the most 3-pointers per game (14.3) and second most at home (14.1). The Knicks knock down 12.2 triples per outing on the road, which ranks 12th in the Association.
Julius Randle has been on a scoring binge lately, averaging 32.8 points and four triples across his last five contests. He'll be a key factor in New York covering.
The -110 odds here are standard across most books. But FanDuel is offering this one at -112, so look at DraftKings or PointsBet.
Check out our best sport-betting sites for New York.
Upset: Thunder (+170) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Over should hit here, but we can get better value from a moneyline wager on Oklahoma City. The Thunder have been great ATS in 2022-23 due to competitive performances, and they can take it a step further with a win in front of the home crowd. Oklahoma City went 4-3 during its recent homestand and suffered a pair of two-point losses. The team is 7-5 straight up as the home dog in 2022-23.
Meanwhile, Philly is 4-4 as the road underdog. The club is playing its second game in as many days. While the 76ers are 3-2 on no rest, Joel Embiid has only played both games of a back-to-back set once in 2022-23. He’s not on the 76ers' early-morning injury report, but there’s still a chance he takes this one off in the midst of Philly’s current road trip.
The Thunder’s Moneyline odds vary across major books (as short as +142 on FanDuel), but our best value by far comes from DraftKings at +170.
Prop: Durant Over 29.5 Points (+105) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Durant and the Nets find themselves in a favorable spot heading into a road matchup with the bottom-of-the-barrel Hornets. After winning 10 straight, Brooklyn will look for another victory and lean on its superstar scorer to get it. Durant has scored 30-plus points in 17 of 34 matchups in 2022-23, including eight times on the road. He’s appeared in nine New Year’s Eve games in his career and scored at least 30 points in five.
The Hornets allow the third-most points at 117.9 per contest, and Durant posted 27 and 29 points against them in two prior matchups in 2022-23. Durant’s points prop is set at 28.5 across most major books, but we can always turn to FanDuel and PointsBet for alternate lines and better value. PointsBet is offering Durant at 29.5 for -105 odds, but FanDuel is posting it at +105. That's a big change from the -115 odds offered for 28.5. Sell that point and reap the benefits!
NBA best bets made 12/31/2022 at 8:39 a.m. ET.
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