Top 3 NBA Betting Picks for Thursday, October 14th (2021)
We are now just days away from the 2021-22 NBA regular season as the first tip is now officially inside of a week. While there’s never much to glean from preseason play, we have got to see some stars in new uniforms as every team looks to begin building chemistry for what is a daily grind from here on out.
Let’s take a closer look at what will be our final preseason slate of bets.
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1. Heat +11.5 | -110 at DraftKings Sportsbook
It means next to nothing, but the Heat have been on a torrid pace to start this year, going 4-0 to this point in the preseason while scoring 112.8 points per game. Bam Adebayo led all scorers their last time on the floor, scoring 18 points in 26 minutes as the Heat went deep into their bench against a Hornets team who did the same.
In this one, they get a Hawks team likely to sit out their stars just as they should sit their own, but I like for the Heat bench to be competitive and keep this one close into the second half.
2. Nuggets -3 | -110 at DraftKings Sportsbook
Both the Nuggets and Thunder come into this one off of a back-to-back, and it was against each other. In Wednesday night’s contest, also in OKC, Denver got out to an early lead but went down late in the first and never led again ultimately losing 108-99. Nikola Jokic led all scorers with 22 points in 30 minutes of play, as the Nuggets were content with playing many of their regular starters.
In this one, I like for both benches to see the majority of the action tonight, and I give Denver the edge when they have to go 8-9 deep.
3. Lakers -3 | -110 at DraftKings Sportsbook
In five games of preseason play, the Los Angeles Lakers are at the very bottom with no wins and a point differential of -17.2. While they’ve certainly gotten no favors from the scheduling, having to face the Suns and Warriors in the same week, it hasn’t been from a complete lack of trying.
Both Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook have seen extended time, in addition to LeBron seeing 26 minutes in their last time out.
In this one, I like for them to look to finish the preseason strong, and beat up their notorious little brothers up north.
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