Tuesday’s Best Bets: NBA, College Basketball & NHL (2/28)
No matter your sport of choice, there’s always sports betting action to be had. We’ll have you covered each and every day with our daily best bets. Here are all of our best bets across each major sport in action today.
Today’s Best Bets
Here are today’s best NBA bets.
NBA Best Bets
NBA Same Game Picks
Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Los Angeles Clippers
- Leg 1: Timberwolves +6.5 (-110)
- Leg 2: Anthony Edwards o28.5 Points (-105)
- Leg 3: Kawhi Leonard o25.5 Points (-125)
The Wolves have lost three straight, and all losses can/ should be classified as inexcusable…but this number is too high. The spread has been bet down from MIN +7.5 at open, and it wouldn’t be so shocking if it continued to dip. There are only two games separating these two teams in the standings, and some season-long Advanced Metrics rate these teams as fairly even. Further, the Clippers haven’t been so great out of the All-Star break and may be playing on tired legs after having played three overtimes in two games. Let’s back the Wolves to keep it close.
Edwards had an off game in Golden State, but he’s still one of the NBA’s best young scorers, and the Clippers can’t stop anybody right now. Every recent roster move the Clippers have made (Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon, Bones Hyland) negatively affects their defense, and this is inarguable if one has watched their past two games. The issue is that none of their guards are above-average defenders (see here for 538’s RAPTOR Player Ratings), with the exception of Terance Mann, whose minutes have been ceded to Russell Westbrook– one of the NBA’s worst defenders.
We’ll keep it brief regarding Kawhi: he is playing impeccable basketball right now. Leonard looks as good as ever and has consistently crossed this number since January. There’s no defender on the Wolves capable of keeping Kawhi off his game, if the shots fall this should cross with ease.
Parlay Odds: +571
- Tommy Jurgens
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NBA Game Picks
Los Angeles Lakers vs. Memphis Grizzlies
No one is giving the Lakers a chance now. With LeBron James expected to miss a lot of time, the Lakers’ playoff hopes are in danger. Plus, D’Angelo Russell is expected to miss tonight’s game as well.
The Lakers are just 29-32 on the season and 12th in the Western Conference. Los Angeles still has plenty of time to get back into the playoffs. It’s just going to be complicated.
The Grizzlies are one of the best defenses in the NBA, holding teams to 110.1 points per 100 possessions. Opponents also shoot a 52.2% effective field goal percentage while earning over 15% of turnovers. Memphis rarely gets into foul trouble, and while the Grizzlies don’t dominate the defensive glass, the Lakers haven’t been dominating the offensive glass very much this season. Adding Jarred Vanderbilt should help their case, but the Memphis defense should have its way overall.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies won’t see the foul line at a high rate. Ultimately, the Lakers will also do an excellent job at limiting turnovers. But the Grizzlies have always been very good on the offensive glass, earning second chances. Limiting turnovers will give the Grizzlies more shots and second chances opportunities.
Back the Grizzlies at -8.5 in tonight’s game.
Bet: Grizzlies -8.5 (-110)
- Jason Radowitz
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First Basket Scorer
Golden State Warriors vs. Portland Trailblazers
Both of these teams struggle to win the tipoff. That means the most consistent scorers will have the most betting value tonight. The most consistent scorer right now is Damian Lillard.
Dame is coming off a 71-point scoring performance and is one of the best scorers in the league. He also has a good support cast. That means defenders can not focus solely on Dame. The Warriors are missing their two best defenders, with Green and Wiggins both questionable. That means Dame has the most betting value tonight.
First Basket: Damian Lillard (+500 FanDuel)
- Cameron Lynch
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NBA Prop Bets
Walker Kessler Under 25 Pts + Ast + Reb (-125 DraftKings)
Despite the Spurs and their worst defense in the league – I do not see Kessler deserving of such a bump in any of his props to be projected at 25 for these combinations of stats.
Kessler has gone under this line in nine out of the last 15 games and is due for some major regression in all three categories. He has seen an uptick in minutes, but his production levels are not sustainable. His usage has sat below 15 percent each of the last five games, and I imagine it will stay around then tonight.
While he is a solid rebounder, I do not trust his scoring and facilitating ability. I expect his point total to stay below double-digits and, thus, his combo points prop to go under tonight.
- Ryan Coleman
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College Basketball Best Bets
Arkansas vs. Tennessee
Arkansas will not have Trevon Brazile back as he suffered a torn ACL in the season’s ninth game. But the Razorbacks are considerably healthier than they once were, as standout freshman guard Nick Smith has returned from a knee injury that kept him out 19 games this season. Smith has played in just ten games this year, but when he has played at least 20 minutes, the Razorbacks are 6-1, with their only loss coming in their last game by three points at Alabama. Arkansas had an 11-point lead in the first half of that game and did a masterful job stifling the Crimson Tide from 3-point range, allowing 3-for-22 (13.6%).
Running teams off the 3-point line has always been its strength, as the Razorbacks allowed the fewest percentage of 3-point attempts per field goal attempt (28.8%) in league play. Considering the Volunteers rank 229th in the country in the percentage of their points coming from inside the arc (49.6%), that could spell doom for their chances of offensive success.
Arkansas has played well on short rest, covering 11 of 19 games when it has had 2-3 days off. Meanwhile, Tennessee is just 2-6 ATS in its last eight, so we are backing the underdogs, who have more momentum and reason for optimism entering this matchup.
Bet: Arkansas +6.5 (-110 at DraftKings)
- Mike Spector
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Check out our best NHL bets.
NHL Best Bets
NHL Game Picks
Detroit Red Wings vs. Ottawa Senators
The Senators are playing solid hockey right now, so much so that if they can pick up another two points tonight, they'll wedge their way right into the middle of this log-jammed Eastern Conference Wild Card race. They won last night's game against the Red Wings (64 points) with a 6-2 final, moving them to 62 points on the year. Detroit and Ottawa are two of seven teams separated by seven points or less in the standings, with everyone looking up at New York (I) (69 points) and Pittsburgh (67 points). Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET from the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON.
There's one factor that sticks out above the rest as these two teams square off for the second night in a row, and that's that Ville Husso gets the nod between the pipes for the Red Wings. Derek Lalonde opted to save his starting netminder for the second night of the back-to-back, giving him an extra day of rest.
The Finnish goaltender is having a great season, posting a 23-14-5 record to go along with a 2.83 GAA and .907 SV%. He's been even better in nine games since the All-Star break, dropping his GAA to 2.23 and increasing the SV% to .926. There's no doubt that Detroit is much more structured when he's in the crease, and I think his presence alone will be enough to secure a much-needed two points tonight. Let's take the Wings as slight underdogs.
Bet: Detroit Red Wings Moneyline (+110 via PointsBet)
- Trenton Pruitt
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NHL Same Game Parlay
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Nashville Predators
Every game down the stretch is crucial for the Penguins. They're clinging to the last playoff spot with five teams within four points of them.
The offense has seen some of their best players recently go quiet. Jake Guentzel has just two points in his last five games, the same as Rickard Rakell. Thankfully the long-time reliables are still excelling, including Evgeni Malkin, who has four goals and four assists in the previous five games.
The Predators had a busy few days as they began to unload some assets. They sent Nino Niederreiter to the Jets and their breakout young star from last season, Tanner Jeannot, to the Lightning for a hefty return of picks.
The offense has been abysmal all season, with defenseman Roman Josi leading the team in points and no one having 20 goals.
It will be up to Juuse Saros to play flawlessly in the crease because he will not get much offensive support.
Even with the top lines of Pittsburgh not playing their best, it will be enough to grab a win.
Parlay Odds: +762
- John Supowitz
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