We continue the final week of 2021 with eight NBA games on the schedule for Tuesday night.
COVID-related absences have made their impact on this slate, but our experts see value on two matchups tonight. They are eying one prop and the spread in two of those games.
You can find their analysis and best bets for Tuesday below.
NBA Odds & Picks
Washington Wizards vs. Miami Heat
Joe Dellera: The Miami Heat are down a few big men with injuries to both Bam Adebayo and Dwayne Dedmon. This has created an opening for the rookie Omer Yurtseven, who has been incredible over his last few games.
I wrote about Yurtseven at length in our Fantasy Basketball Forecast with Dan Titus, and it’s easy to see that the books have not adjusted his prop lines based on his performance. In his first career start on Sunday, Yurtseven scored 16 points, secured 15 rebounds, and dished out two assists in 33 minutes against the Orlando Magic. That marked five consecutive games where Yurtseven surpassed 12 rebounds.
While both of these teams play at a slower Pace, the Wizards have the 20th ranked Rebounding Percentage at just 49.4%, and they allow their opponents to shoot 65.1% at the rim and 44.8% from short-midrange, the two areas that Yurtseven takes the majority of his shots from.
Even if PJ Tucker returns to the lineup, Yurtseven remains the only true center left on the Heat’s roster. With his current prop lines sitting at 11.5 points (+110) and 9.5 rebounds (-145), I think the better value is on a double-double prop (+130 Caesars). I’ll take Yurtseven to record a double-double at plus money.
Philadelphia 76ers vs. Toronto Raptors
Raheem Palmer: The Toronto Raptors have a laundry list of injuries and absences including Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes and potentially Gary Trent Jr. This makeshift lineup is likely to struggle against the Philadelphia 76ers who are relatively healthy and have won two out of the last three games.
The Raptors are just 17th in Offensive Rating, scoring 110.3 points per 100 possessions in their non garbage time minutes, and it’s tough to imagine this team scoring efficiently without three of their top four scorers. The Raptors are just too depleted to reasonably compete here, and I’ll lay the 6.5 points with Joel Embiid and the process.
