What's even sweeter than eating some delicious Halloween candy? How about cashing some NBA best bets and player props? October 31st brings us 3 NBA games on the board and we're reading to rock and roll.
Check out our 2 NBA best bets and 3 player prop parlays below. Have a Happy Halloween and best of luck with all of your picks!
Best Bet: Magic +6.5
The 2-1 Orlando Magic suffered their 1st defeat of the season last night at the hands of the LA Lakers 106-103. Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs combined for 31 points and 16 boards while Markelle Fultz added another 14 on 7-16 shooting.
Paolo Banchero struggled from the field as he finished with just 9 points on 4-14 shooting. Gary Harris ended up leading the Magic in scoring with 17 points off the bench and was a perfect 6-6 from the field, including 5 threes.
However, they could not contain D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Davis who scored 28 and 26 a piece while Davis also gathered a game high 19 boards. As a team, the Magic were only able to shoot 40% from the field which negated the +5 turnover differential they had in the game.
The big news in the Clippers organization was what transpired early in the morning hours when they acquired James Harden from the Philadelphia 76ers. The players they shipped to Philadelphia had yet to see the floor this season so the dynamic for this game should not change too much.
The Clippers are 2-1 on the year and Paul George and Kawhi Leonard have been leading the way. George is averaging 27.3/3.7/4.0 per game while Leonard is holding down with 23.0/5.7/5.0 per game.
The addition of Harden is likely to create an interesting dynamic on a team that has 4 players now that like the ball in their hands. However, Harden will not be playing tonight. Zubac, their lone big man on the team, is questionable for tonight’s tilt.
If Zubac does not play, then we love the Magic in this spot. Without any inside presence, the Magic should be able to dominate the glass and get a good number of buckets deep inside the paint.
Even if Zubac does play, we still feel comfortable backing this Magic on the back-to-back. There was no travel as the game will be played in the same arena. The Magic should shoot a bit better in this one and force turnovers as they rank 14th in the league in that category.
Key Betting Trends for Orlando at LAC
- Orlando is 12-3-1 ATS in their last 16 games.
- Orlando is 7-0 ATS in their last 7 games against an opponent in the Western Conference
- LAC is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against the Magic
- LAC is 4-11 ATS in their last 15 games when playing at home against Orlando.
Best Bet: Suns -7
The Spurs are just 1-2 on the season with losses to Dallas and the Clippers which bookend their lone win over the Rockets. The one thing this Spurs team is doing which most Spurs teams in the past have done, is share the ball. They rank 5th in the league and are averaging 28.7 assist per game as a team.
The issue with that, is that no one is really scoring outside of the assisted buckets. They are 20th and average just 109ppg. Devin Vassell is the only Spur averaging 20ppg and is shooting an impressive 55% from the field.
The Suns have yet to have their full lineup in this season as Bradley Beal is still nursing a back injury. Devin Booker is also likely out for this game while he deals with an injured foot. Despite that, the Suns are 2-1 with a win over the Warriors in the season opener.
They are 5th in the league in rebounding as they average 49.3 boards per game. Newly acquired big man, Jusuf Nurkic, has been a big part averaging 10.3 boards per game. With no Booker and Beal, Eric Gordon and Josh Okogie will need to step and score more than usual.
The Suns being without 2 of their top 3 players here but still being decent favorites stuck out to us. The Suns have already been playing without Beal and Booker has only played in the opener so this lineup will not be too foreign. We believe the oddsmakers are trying to push the public to the Spurs in this one and we are not going to take that side.
Key Betting Trends for Spurs at Suns
- SAS is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against Phoenix.
- SAS is 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games.
- PHX is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games.
- PHX is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games against an opponent in the Southwest Division.
Eric Gordon 12+ Points & RJ Barrett 17+ Points (-125)
Gordon is averaging 15.3ppg on the season. Granted the lineup has been different from game to game with Devin Booker already missing 2 games. That said, he has only fell short of the 12-point plateau once this season and that came on opening night when he finished just 4-16 from the field for 10 points on the road against Golden State.
RJ Barrett’s scoring has been a bit of a surprise early in the Knicks season. After averaging 19.5ppg last year, he has upped his number to 22.7ppg this season.
As far as the 17-point total, he has surpassed that number in all 3 of the games thus far. We look for him to continue his efficient scoring again here on the road against Cleveland.
Julius Randle 8+ Rebounds & Victor Wembanyama 5+ Rebounds (-125)
Julius Randle has been off to a rough offensive start this season. He is shooting just 27.7% from the field and averaging less than 14ppg. However, he has picked up his play in other ways while his shooting form rounds into shape.
One way has been on the boards where he is averaging a career high 11.7rpg. Through 3 games this season, his lowest total has been 11 and we expect him to gather 8 at the very least tonight.
The #1 pick has had a lot to live up to in his rookie season and to this point, he has not blown anyone away but also not fell short of expectations. He is 2nd on the Spurs in PPG and leads them in rebounding, steals, and blocks.
Here we are looking for just 5 boards in his matchup against the Suns. While he is averaging 7.3rpg, it is a bit deceiving as he has had 2 games of just 5 boards and another where he broke out for 12. We believe he can keep his minimum total the same and grab a half dozen boards tonight.
Donovan Mitchell UNDER 7.5 Assists & Zach Collins OVER 2.5 Assists (-120)
Mitchell has put up some serious numbers in terms of points this season (35ppg) but his assist numbers are nothing special with games of just 6 and 5. He is going to need to focus on scoring once again here when his Cavs host the Knicks which should keep his assist numbers lower than 8 here.
Zach Collins, power forward for the Spurs, does not immediately intrigue most in terms of thinking of assist men but he has done a nice job to this point in handing out dimes from the blocks.
Through the 1st 3 games, he has yet to have a game with less than 3 assists and is averaging 5 of them per game. We believe that streak will continue here on the road in Phoenix.
