As we head into the first weekend of NBA action, we ready up our NBA best bets today: expert picks for Saturday’s slate.
Featuring the Miami Heat facing off against the Timberwolves and the Pacers in a matchup with the Cavaliers amongst many more, our experts have lined up their picks on a moneyline and over/under tonight.
NBA Best Bets Today | Expert Picks for Saturday
Click on the team logos for any of the matchups below to navigate to a specific best bet discussed in this article.
There’s no shortage of NBA games that should be put on your radar on Saturday. But, of course, we can’t let you head into the day without providing best bets from our experts.
By Matt Moore
I have this at -242 and am comfortable with anything south of -200. Home favorites on a back-to-back in the first 20 games are 71% SU since 2014-15. That number drops below 70% as the season progresses once fatigue sets in.
Even with Garland and Allen still expected to miss this game (and Garland may play), the ‘Cavs should be considerable favorites over the Pacers.
To boot, Tyrese Haliburton popped up on the injury report with an illness. If he misses this game, the number skyrockets.
Pick: Cavaliers ML
By Jim Turvey
These two teams, if you combined their season opening scores, were well below 200 total on Wednesday.
Now, I am not working off that one-game sample, but rather I was already looking to these two as under teams early in the season.
For Miami, they have long been a defensive team that plays at a snails pace. Naturally, that begins to get baked into their totals, but even still, they went to the under more than the over last season. Then they lost Max Strus and Gabe Vincent in the offseason, while Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler each got a year older (funny how that works, right).
But it’s the Minnesota side of this equation that interests me even more. With their full starting five now in place, they are one of the top defensive units, rolling out Rudy in the paint, Conley at the point of attack and McDaniels on the wing. However, the issues with spacing have been well documented, and in their debut we saw a stout defensive effort (97 points allowed) but poor offensive showing (just 94 points). It was the tiniest of samples, but their 92.1 offensive rating was second-worst of any team’s opening game. They now draw an even tougher defense in game two.
I’d play this down to 216.
Pick: Heat-Timberwolves Under 219 | Play to 216
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