NBA Odds, Picks & Predictions: Saturday (1/11)

The National Basketball Association (NBA) had seven games on the schedule for Saturday, but unfortunately, the two games at Intuit Dome and Crypto.com Arena in the Los Angeles area have been postponed due to the awful wildfire situation in Southern California. Good luck to all of those impacted by that unfortunate and terrible situation.

We’re left with five games, and two have tip-off times of 5:00 p.m. ET or earlier. We’ll focus on the night slate of games with tips of 7:00 p.m. ET or later.

Let’s get that bankroll in the black with our best NBA picks for Saturday, January 11.

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Saturday’s Best NBA Picks

NBA odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook | All NBA picks are for 1 unit

Toronto Raptors (+172) at Detroit Pistons (-205) | O/U 230 (-110/-110)

The Raptors (8-30) and the Pistons (19-19) do battle at Little Caesars Arena, with the tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.

Toronto is basically where Detroit was last season, so there is hope for the Raptors to be revitalized. The Pistons have enjoyed a resurgence this season, led by Cade Cunningham. He leads the team with 24.3 points per game with 9.3 assists per game and 6.6 rebounds per game, and he is hitting 45.7% of his field-goal attempts while going 37.6% from behind the three-point line.

The Pistons suffered a 107-104 setback against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, just missing a cover as a 2.5-point underdog as the under (221) cashed. That halted a five-game win streak for the Pistons. Still, Detroit is only 3-4 against the spread (ATS) in its past seven games.

These teams have met twice already this season, with Detroit winning 99-95 in Toronto as a 2.5-point favorite, while winning 102-100 at home on November 25th, however, the Raptors covered as a 5-point underdog in that one. Detroit has won four in a row in the series since December 30th, 2023, with the Pistons going 3-1 ATS in the past four in the series and 7-3 ATS in the past 10 outings since March 3rd, 2022. The under has connected in three in a row and five of the past seven in the series.

Toronto is coming off a 132-126 loss at Cleveland, but it was able to cash as a 13.5-point underdog as the over (234.5) cashed. Still, the Raps are just 1-3 ATS in the past four games and 2-7 ATS in the previous nine outings. The over and under have alternated in the past six games.

Let’s back the Pistons to get the job done laying the points. We’ll also roll with the under, as 230 is quite a high number. The Pistons have cashed low in four of the past six outings.

Picks: Detroit Pistons -4.5 (-112) & Under 230 Points (-110)

Miami Heat (-166) at Portland Trail Blazers (+140) | O/U 219 (-110/-110)

In what is now the standalone late-night game in Rose City thanks to the L.A. cancellations, the Heat (19-17) and Trail Blazers (13-24) tangle at Moda Center at 10 p.m. ET.

The Miami Heat swept the season series in 2023-24, but that’s not the headline story. While Miami won 106-96 on February. 27th in Portland as a 7-point favorite, it was the March 29th matchup that was embarrassing for the boys from PDX. The Heat blasted the Blazers 142-82 as a 14-point favorite in South Florida, winning by a whopping 60 points.

The Heat have had a pretty decent road trip out west so far. It lost 123-118 in overtime on Monday, before rebounding 114-98 at Golden State with a win as an 8.5-point underdog as the under (217) cashed. Miami topped Utah 97-92 in Salt Lake City, too, just missing as 5.5-point favorites at most shops as the under (222) easily connected. Miami is still just 3-4 ATS in the past seven games and 5-8 ATS in the previous 13 outings.

The Blazers lost 117-111 to the short-handed Dallas Mavericks last time out on Thursday, but it covered as a 7.5-point underdog. Portland is a respectable 2-2 straight up (SU) and 4-0 ATS in the past four games, while the over is 2-1 in the past three contests. The Blazers are also 4-4 SU in its past eight games while going 5-2 ATS in their previous seven tries.

We’ll back the Heat laying a little bit of points, as they simply need to get it done by two buckets. They are still without Jimmy Butler, who was suspended due to conduct detrimental to the team but continues to play pretty well. The Heat seem to have Portland’s number lately, too.

We don’t really have much of a feel for the total, but the lean would be to the over if you wanted to build a same-game parlay card. We’ll stick with Miami as the lone play, however.

Pick: Miami Heat -3.5 (-110)

Daniel E. Dobish is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Daniel, check out his archive and follow him @danieledobish.