NBA Odds, Best Bets and Experts Tips

Miami Heat @ Detroit Pistons

The Heat are hot. After a relatively indifferent first quarter of the season, they have really found their groove over the past few games, winning their last four games on the trot. It started with a dominant 41-point win over the Lakers, and since then they have beaten the Suns by ten points, Cavaliers by nine points and most recently, the Raptors by ten points. Granted all of those victories have been at home, where they have undeniably been a better team this season, but their proverbial tail is well and truly up. The Pistons have certainly been a plucky team so far this year and look set to make a push for a spot in the Play-In Tournament, but they have not been firing on all cylinders of late. Just two games ago they impressively beat the Knicks, but that is their only victory in their past five games and each of the other four has been a double-figure loss. In fact, those four defeats have come by a hefty average of 17.5 points – not exactly a great run of form. That’s probably to be expected for a young team such as them, and despite their solid form so far this season it’s worth keeping in mind that they are still a fair way off being a legitimately decent side. The Heat are far from world beaters, but they are a solid, experienced and well-coached side, and one that has hit their straps over the past week or so. Having won each of their last four games by at least nine points – most of them against better teams than the Pistons – and with Detroit having put in four poor performances in their last five games, the 4.5-point line set by NBA betting sites looks pretty generous for the Pistons.

Cleveland Cavaliers @ Brooklyn Nets

Cavaliers -9.5 | $1.88 with PlayUp

This is a similar situation to the above game, albeit with a bigger line. The Cavaliers have been one of the best teams in the league this season – actually the best, based on win-loss records alone – and have not exactly slowed down of late. They have lost just one of their past six games, that being a disappointing defeat to the Heat, but outside of that they have won four of the other five by double-figure margins – one against the Nuggets – and in the other win, beat the Celtics. That is a pretty good run of form, and up against a struggling Nets team that will be playing its first game post-Dennis Schroder – who they traded, in effect, because he was playing too well for their tanking needs – they look set for another double-figure margin victory. While the Cavaliers have lost just one of their last six games, the Nets have won just one of their last six, and are coming off a hefty 16-point defeat to the Grizzlies. In that six-game period they have also lost to the Bulls by 26 points, and the Magic by 23 points. The Cavaliers are better than all of those teams, and given how consistently they have been winning comfortably there is no reason to think that they will not be able to continue that sort of form in this game against a team which has been losing comfortably more often than not. The Cavs are genuine title contenders and with such a well-rounded starting lineup, it’s unsurprising that they rarely put in a poor performance. The Nets, meanwhile, might not have any of the top four players on the floor in this game. This should be a pretty easy win for the Cavaliers, and the 9.5-point line set by betting agencies looks a little too low.

Utah Jazz @ Los Angeles Clippers

Keyonte George to score 15+ points | $1.86 with Unibet

Keyonte George has been reasonably highly rated by the Jazz since being picked up with the 16th pick in the 2023 draft, and has to an extent been handed the keys to the offence despite not really performing that well at the top level. He has shot sub-40% from the field in both of his two seasons in the league to date and just around 33% from three-point range, but it’s a bit of a win-win for both parties. The Jazz are non-competitive at the moment and realistically want to give themselves as good a chance as possible of securing a high pick – wins do not help that. George, thus far in his career, has not exactly helped them to win courtesy of his inefficiency, but his talent is clear and minutes on the court is the best way for him to improve. So that’s exactly what they give him, and lo and behold, signs of that improvement are beginning to appear. George is averaging 16 points so far this season – up from the 13 he managed last season – and in his last ten games that is up to 17.4. He is still at around even money to score 15 points in this game though, despite having hit it in seven of his last ten games – and getting to 14 in one of the other. What’s more, he’s scored at least 16 in each of his last four games, and that’s without doing anything too out of the ordinary from an efficiency standpoint. It’s not as though he’s been on an unsustainable run of three-point shooting, for example – he is 10-28 from long range in those four games at a rate of 35.7% - and is going at bang on 50% from the field. He’s taken either 13 or 14 shots in each of those games, so it’s safe to say that we can expect a similar number in this one. Basically, it seems as though George is gradually beginning to feel more comfortable at the level, and the roughly 15-point line that betting sites currently have pegged as a reasonable number for him will likely be edging up towards 16 or 17 at least as the season wears on. This is a good chance to capitalise before they do. Admittedly the Clippers are a good defensive team, but he put up 16 against the Thunder just a few games ago and they are even better. Don’t expect George to romp past this number, but he should be taking enough numbers to scoot past it barring a really poor shooting performance.