Week 3 NFL Picks, Predictions & Best Bets | NFL Picks Against the Spread | NFL Props | Survivor
Chris Meaney
We have five days of regular season NBA action remaining, and there’s a small five-game slate for Thursday. The Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz are all playing without their usual starting five, who are all going to sit out. The sportsbooks do not have any props listed yet for those teams and very few for the players playing against them.
The Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers might be the only game where a win or loss could matter to both teams. The problem is it does not matter much, as the Sixers would need to either win out and have the Celtics lose out, or the Sixers would need to lose all of their remaining games for any of them to really move up or down in the standings. So far, the main players are all listed as playing, but we may see that change before tipoff.
The only team with something to really play for Thursday is the Oklahoma City Thunder. They currently are hanging on to the final play-in spot, and a loss would drop them behind Dallas and out of the picture. As you can probably expect, that is the game we will try to concentrate on in Thursday’s NBA best bets.
Best NBA Points Prop Bet
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Over 32.5 Points
(-120, BetMGM)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has had an amazing season. The Thunder currently own the final playoff spot over the Dallas Mavericks, which means they are one of the few teams still motivated to win. This is essentially a playoff game for them as a loss would have them on the outside looking in at the final play in spot. That also means the Thunder have to let their best players play as many minutes as they can handle to ensure the win. You cannot say that about many teams remaining at this point of the season.
Best NBA Moneyline Parlay Pick
Thunder, Magic, Spurs ML Parlay
(+180, DraftKings Sportsbook)
The Magic play the Cavaliers Thursday. The Cavs are sitting all of their key players as they are locked into the playoffs. The San Antonio Spurs take on the Portland Trail Blazers who are playing without Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons, Jusuf Nurkic and Jerami Grant. Oklahoma City actually needs to win to stay in the playoff picture. A loss puts them behind Dallas. All three are at least 4-point favorites, but I prefer to just take them together for the wins.
