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NBA odds and picks
The NBA season rolls out Thursday night with a five-game lineup featuring two intriguing domestic televised clashes: Miami Heat vs. Houston Rockets (7:30 p.m. ET) and Philadelphia 76ers vs. Portland Trail Blazers (10 p.m. ET).
Our NBA analysts are betting on the spreads of two more games on tonight’s list. You can find their analysis and picks on these games below.
Raptors vs. Celtics
Raheem Palmer: The Toronto Raptors finally seemed to have hit their stride this season, winning five of their last six games, including back-to-back games against the Grizzlies and Wizards. Sadly, the same can’t be said for the Boston Celtics who have lost two in a row, including five of their last seven.
When you dig deeper, you realize that these teams didn’t play exactly the same times. The Celtics have played some of the best teams in the league (Spurs, Lakers, Suns and Jazz) while the Raptors have been able to beat weaker teams (Grizzlies, Wizards and Magic). Nonetheless, it is telling that punters have the Celtics having 3.5 points of favorites in this game given the way these two teams played.
I’m okay with the market here as this showdown has always been bad for the Raptors given Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s length on the wings against the Toronto small guard combination. While Marcus Smart is out for this game, I think it’s a good place for the Celtics against a Raptors team who are in their last game of a six game road trip.
With the Raptors playing in Washington last night and Memphis on Monday night, the Celtics have a rest advantage against a numbered team. Unfortunately for Raptors fans, I see no revenge for their loss in the Eastern Conference semi-finals in the bubble. I will play the Celtics here.
Pacers vs pistons
Brandon Anderson: The Pacers have lost nine of their last 13 games, including six by at least eight points. Indiana has lost four straight games – its last loss came last night against the Nets (without Kevin Durant) who overtook them in the first period.
The Pacers remain shorthanded with TJ Warren and Caris LeVert sidelined, and now they’re playing the second night back-to-back. So, there are a lot of reasons to be careful here.
Now let me give you my counter-argument: they play for the Detroit Pistons.
At 6-18, the Pistons have the fewest wins in the NBA. They’re probably not as bad as their record looks – they tend to hang around for a while before falling apart late once their opponents show up – but the Pistons are certainly no good. The Pistons are young and inexperienced, and they just traded one of their few positive players to Derrick Rose.
Here are the opponents of those nine losses of the Pacers in this recent period: Clippers, Mavericks, Raptors, Hornets, 76ers, Bucks, Pelicans, Jazz and Nets. It’s not really embarrassing. The only two bad losses on the list are the Hornets and the Pels, and both were from a bucket.
The Pacers have played seven games this season against teams outside the play-in threshold in every conference. They are 6-1 in those games, winning comfortably in four of them.
The Pacers are better than the 4-9 squad they’ve been in recent weeks, and the Pistons are the perfect opponent to get them to win and get back on track. It probably won’t be easy, but I’ll trust Malcolm Brogdon, Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner to pull off a late win if things are close.
I would play Indiana at -3.5.
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