The NBA season rolls on Tuesday with a pair of nationally televised games on TNT and five other games to bet on. Our Action Network NBA staff has identified three best bets for Tuesday – two spread picks and one prop. Check out Raheem Palmer, Kenny Ducey, and Brandon Anderson's best bets and analysis below.
NBA Odds & Picks
Miami Heat vs. Toronto Raptors
Raheem Palmer: The Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat met Saturday night in what was one of the best games of the season with the Raptors pulling out a victory in a triple overtime thriller. Saturday’s game had the Raptors in an advantageous spot being the rested team against a Heat team on a back-to-back and playing their third game in four nights.
Nonetheless, both teams come into tonight’s game coming off a game on Monday night so there is no rest advantage for either. However, Jimmy Butler and PJ Tucker are questionable for this matchup.
Butler had to deal with the length of OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam and still put up a monstrous stat line Saturday night with a 37-point triple double with 14 rebounds and 10 assists. You have to assume he won’t repeat the same effort tonight even if he does play. Fred VanVleet made big shots down the stretch, but he was just 7-of-22 (31.8%) from the field and 5-of-14 (35.7%) from behind the arc, well below expectation.
The Raptors got out in transition on Saturday night scoring 7.9 points per 100 possessions, an area where the Heat rank just 21st, so I’m expecting more of the same in this matchup. The Raptors as a whole have been in decent form recently, holding teams to just 109.7 points per 100 possessions, seventh among NBA teams over the past two weeks. I’m expecting that to continue here. I’ll lay the 2.5 points with the Raptors.
Orlando Magic vs. Chicago Bulls
Kenny Ducey: You may view this number as too high for a rookie who has gone 5-for-19 from the field over the last two games for a total of 11 points, but I see the perfect buy-low opportunity.
The Bulls’ backcourt defense has really been lacking in the past four games. They’ve surrendered a 31-point outing to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 29 to CJ McCollum, 29 to Dejounte Murray and 32 to Gary Trent, Jr. While Suggs has a ways to go before he can raise his game to that level, we’re not looking for a 30-point outing here. We just need 15.
Suggs just scored 15 points against the Bulls about a week ago and earlier in the season dropped 14 on Chicago. This is a defense that is slightly more vulnerable now without Alex Caruso to help slow opposing guards, and Suggs is a talented guard who has seen his Usage Rate reach as high as 33% this month.
He is a big part of what the Magic are trying to do, and he should be able to get up at least 10 shots in around 30 or 32 minutes given he has averaged 11 field goal attempts in his last eight games. I like our chances.
Golden State Warriors vs. San Antonio Spurs
Brandon Anderson: It took a while for the Warriors to find their footing without Draymond Green, but Golden State ripped off six wins in a row to end the month, and the Warriors are humming along again.
Slowly but surely, the Warriors are finding their way out of this offensive funk. Steph Curry's shots are starting to fall again, and it's clearly helped to have Klay Thompson back out there and Jordan Poole scoring big points off the bench. Of course, it never hurts to have the best defense in the league. This is what the Warriors do.
The Spurs have sort of hung around in this zone for a couple seasons now, right on the fringe of the play-in race, beating the bad teams but not quite having the talent to match up with the best of the best.
Just look at San Antonio's results over the last 10 games. The Spurs have wins against the shorthanded Clippers and Bulls and against the lowly Thunder and Rockets. But they lost to the Cavs, Suns, Nets, 76ers, Grizzlies, and Suns. It's not too tough to spot the difference there. San Antonio is losing to the best teams on its schedule.
The Spurs have won only six of their last 20 games. This is a tough schedule spot for the Warriors on a road back-to-back, but that's buying us some value on the line so we only need to win by a bucket. I'll trust Golden State to get the job done and play to -2.5.
