How about a little NBA action to get the new week off on the right foot? We've scoured the board and found 2 best bets and a few extra player props to get this party started. Good luck with all of your bets tonight, folks!
Best Bet: Miami Heat -1 (Caesars)
The Lakers have gone just 3-3 after their 1st six games of the season. They are coming off a 120-101 road loss to Orlando on Saturday. The Magic used their +9 differential on the offensive glass and the 17 turnovers they forced to fuel their victory.
Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero combined for 51 points, nearly half of their total in the game. Goga Bitadze chipped in with a double-double of 10 points and boards. In the loss, Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 28 points on 10-15 shooting and grabbed 13 boards and blocked an incredible 7 shots.
Lebron and Austin Reaves were the only other Lakers with 20+ points. They combined for 44 points and 5 steals. While they are near the top of the league in blocked shots per game (7.3, 2nd in league), they are near the bottom in 3-point percentage (29.7%, 29th in the league). They will need to shoot better from range in this one against Miami.
The Heat are off to a slow 2-4 start on the season. They picked up that 2nd win on Friday when they hosted the Washington Wizards. Tyler Herro led all scorers with 24 points in 121-114 win. While the Wizards were able to shoot an impressive 56.8% from the field, they were outdone by the Heat who finished with 60% shooting.
Herro missed out on a triple double by just 1 assist. Duncan Robinson came off the bench for some instant offense and shot 7-11 from the field, including 4-8 from deep for 168 points.
The win over the Wizards snapped a 4-game losing streak for the Heat and they will keep things rolling here at home over the Lakers. In today’s NBA, shooting tends to rule over most other stats.
The Heat are shooting the 4th best 3-point percentage and are shooting over 80% from the free throw line. In a game that should be tight down the stretch, we like having the strong shooting home team.
Key Betting Trends for Lakers at Heat
- LAL is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games on the road.
- LAL is 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games.
- Mia is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games when playing at home against LA Lakers.
- Mia is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games played on a Monday.
Best Bet: New Orleans Pelicans +6.5 (BetMGM)
The Pelicans suffered just their 2nd loss on the season Saturday when they hosted the Hawks. At 4-2, the Pelicans are enjoying their time with a relatively healthy Zion and Brandon Ingram. Leading by 7 at the half, the Pelicans were outscored 70-45 in the 2nd half.
As a team, the Pelicans shot just 8-31 from long range and were outrebounded 52-35. Zion Williamson led all scorers with 25 points on 9-16 shooting and collected 5 boards. Brandon Ingram added 16 points of his own and 7 boards.
Jordan Hawkin came of the bench for 15 points and 5 boards. On the season, the Pelicans have taken care of the ball well enough to rank 5th in turnovers.
The defending champion Nuggets are off to a hot 6-1 start to the season. Their latest win was over Chicago 123-101. Jokic looks to be in MVP form already and finished with 28 points, 16 boards, and 9 assists in the win.
Michael Porter Jr. added another 27 points on 9-16 shooting, including 5-10 from distance. Aaron Gordon picked up double-double in the with 15 points and 12 boards. As we spoke about earlier, shooting rules all in the NBA anymore and the Nuggets are 1st in field goal percentage with 51.2%.
With both CJ McCollum and Jamal Murray OUT for this game, the team that will lose more from this will be Denver. While CJ can light it up with his scoring, Murray is a much stronger player all-around, including on the defensive end.
Also, the Pelicans have been doing well against the spread on the road and that is likely to continue here. Nuggets win but don’t cover.
Key Betting Trends for Pelicans at Nuggets
- NO is 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games on the road.
- NO is 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games when playing on the road against Denver.
- Den is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games played on a Monday when playing at home.
- Den is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against an opponent in the Southwest Division.
Ben Simmons OVER 8.5 Rebounds (-108 at FanDuel)
While Simmons’ is still not a primary scorer, he is seemingly back to his old ways of stuffing the stat sheet. He is averaging 10 boards per game on the season and is being projected for 9.5 boards tonight.
Cam Thomas and Mikal Bridges have assumed the top scoring roles while Ben has been doing his best work on the boards and assists.
Points & Rebounds Parlay(-115 at Draftkings)
- Cade Cunningham 18+ Points
- Mikal Bridges 15+ Points
- Damian Lillard 18+ Points
- LeBron James OVER 5.5 Rebounds
Cunnigham is averaging 23.1ppg and Rotowire has his projection for tonight at 20.4 points. Bridges projection is set for 22.4 points while he is averaging 20.3ppg. Mikal has gone all season, 6-games, where is exceeded this total.
Dame has been putting up an average of 23.0ppg and has a projection 23.9 points. LeBron is being projected for 8.8 boards while averaging 9.2 rebounds per game.
Assists & 3s Parlay (-135 at Draftkings)
- Kawhi Leonard OVER 1.5 Assists
- Jalen Green OVER 1.5 Assists
- Khris Middleton OVER 1.5 Assists
- Malik Beasley OVER 0.5 3s
Kawhi has been holding steady with an average of 4.6 assists per game on the season. Tonight, Rotowire has him projected at 2.8 assists. On the season, Kawhi has gone over this number in all 5 of his stsrs Jalen Green is projected for 3.4 assists and is averaging 2.6 assists per game.
Middleton is averaging 3.3 assists per game and is projected for 3.1 assists. Middleton has also gone over this number in 3 of 4 games.
Beasley has been hot from long range and is averaging 2.4 made threes per game while he is being projected at 2.7 threes for tonight. He is coming off the only game this season in which he failed to knock down a 3.
