NBA Picks

The Miami Heat will be trying to extend their winning streak to 5 games when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday evening. Miami is coming off victories over Atlanta, Indiana, Denver and Detroit. Head coach Erik Speolstra’s team has been doing it with offense, scoring at least 126 points in 3 of those 4 contests — including 142 or more on 2 occasions. I expect the Heat to keep it rolling, so my Timberwolves vs Heat pick is Over 238.5.

Minnesota poured in 136 points during Monday’s victory over Chicago before giving up 126 in a setback against Atlanta on Thursday. The Timberwolves have dropped 3 of their last 4 outings, largely due to a relatively weak defense. Fortunately for the visitors, they are fully healthy — not something that is often the case with this particular unit. Led by Anthony Edwards, the T-Wolves have a ton of offensive firepower. Combine that with Miami’s current scoring binge and I think another high-scoring affair is in the cards.

Timberwolves vs Heat prediction: Over 238.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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Trae Young plays the Hawks are garbage. Trae Young does not play, the Hawks beat the Timberwolves and Knicks by double-digits. The pattern has become obvious this season and it’s only a matter of time these two get a divorce. Atlanta is in Toronto on Saturday, playing on a 2nd night of a back-to-back against an average at best Raptors team that just lost to the shorthanded Nuggets. All eyes will be on the injury report ahead of tip-off, if Young does not play the Hawks’ chances of winning increase significantly.

Toronto really fumbled the ball in their last game losing to a Jokic-less Nuggets team. They’ve been very inconsistent from a bettors’ perspective, covering only 5 times in 17 games. Their form has been a rollercoaster over the past 10 games. On some nights they’ll score 81 points and lose by 15 to the Brooklyn Nets, but then just 3 games later they’ll put up 141 on the Warriors and win by 14. You just never know what you’ll get from this team, at home they are just 10-8 SU in 18 games played, failing to cover the spread in 12 of those 18 games.

As I said earlier, if Young does not play, the Hawks should be winning this one. He’s currently listed as out on the injury report due to a quad problem. The return of Kristaps Porzingis has boosted their interior presence as well as three-point shooting. Jalen Johnson is playing at an elite level, so I’m backing Atlanta to cover.

Hawks vs Raptors prediction: Atlanta +3.5 (-115) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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The Charlotte Hornets and the Chicago Bulls will go head-to-head for the third time this season. The Hornets won the first matchup 123-116 on November 28 and the Bulls won the second meeting 129-126 on December 12. The Hornets have a record of 11-23 this season, and a record on the road of 4-13. Charlotte has lost its last 3 games with their last loss coming against the Milwaukee Bucks 122-121. Kon Knueppel led the team in scoring with 26 points. Knueppel has averaged 19.5 points per game on 48.5% shooting in his rookie season. The Bulls have a record of 17-17 and are 10-8 on their home floor. Chicago has won their last two games with their last win coming against the Orlando Magic 121-114. Matas Buzelis led the team in scoring with 21 points. Buzelis has averaged 14.3 points per game on 48.4% shooting in his second year in the NBA.

Despite Coby White and Josh Giddey both sitting out with injuries, the Bulls have strung together two straight victories against the Pelicans and the Magic. The Bulls shot over 50% in both games, and they saw a jump in production from Matas Buzelis, Isaac Okoro, and Tre Jones. They will get the chance to keep the offense rolling against a Charlotte Hornets’ team that ranks 26th defensive rating, and 22nd points allowed per game. Chicago’s win streak should not be surprising without their best players. The Bulls are one of the deeper teams in the NBA. They rank 2nd in the NBA in bench scoring at 45.1 points per game. Players getting the opportunity to start or take on a bigger role include Ayo Dosunmu, Patrick Williams and Kevin Huerter. And all of those effective role players have Nikola Vucevic if the team ever needs a bucket.

Hornets vs Bulls prediction: Chicago -1.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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With 4 wins on the bounce the Rockets are right where they belong, holding the 4th seed in the Western Conference. Alperen Sengun’s absence didn’t cause too big of a disturbance as his teammates were able to compensate and win 4 games in a row. It wasn’t the hardest of schedules, but winning 3 of the 4 games by double-digits without arguably your best player is an impressive feat. Now the Rockets head to Dallas for an all-Texas affair against the struggling Mavericks, looking to get revenge for a 13-point defeat the last time these two played in this building. Houston has not had the best of times against its division rival, winning just 6 of 18 meetings and covering in only 1 of the last 6 games in Dallas.

Once again the Mavericks offense has gone ice-cold, especially from three-point land and they’ve now lost 4 games in a row and 7 of their last 10. During this stretch they rank 24th in offensive efficiency, while making the least threes per game (8.2) and shooting the lowest percentage (31.2). How fast can they fix all this? We just saw them get destroyed by the 76ers at home 123-108 in their last game, despite having Anthony Davis healthy and available. As things stand the play-in tournament is 3 games away, the Mavs will soon have to make a decision whether or not they’ll continue pursuing a play-in spot or tank and basically give up on the season.

The atmosphere around the Mavericks just isn’t good right now. Houston looks like a well-oiled machine, with Sengun back they might go on a run in the next couple of weeks with the schedule looking very favorable. I’ll take the Rockets despite the not-so-good head-to-head record in Dallas.

Rockets vs Mavericks prediction: Houston -8 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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After a frustrating loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Golden State Warriors will host the Utah Jazz this Saturday night. The Warriors have a record of 18-17, and they are 10-5 on their home court. Golden State has won three of their last five games, but they did lose their last game against the Thunder 131-94. Al Horford was the team’s leading scorer with 13 points as the Warriors were playing without Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green. The Jazz have a record of 12-21 this season and are 4-10 when playing on the road. The Jazz have lost their last two games with their last loss coming against the Los Angeles Clippers 118-101. Kyle Anderson led the Jazz with 22 points and 8 rebounds.

The Warriors are hopeful that they should get their big three of Curry, Green, and Butler back for this matchup. With none of these three playing yesterday, the Warriors should be fresh despite playing in the second half of a back-to-back. The Jazz should also be well-rested heading into this game. They last played on Thursday against the Clippers. Utah has some key injury concerns heading into this game, including the team’s leading scorers Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen. Both players are listed as questionable heading into this matchup. With the Warriors being one of the older teams in the NBA, they will look to take advantage of a game where their three best players are rested and ready to play. I like the Warriors to win big at home tonight.

Boston ends a rather successful 6-game road trip this Saturday in LA, taking on the Clippers in their final game hoping to improve to 5-1 during this stretch. Over the last 15 games only the Spurs have a better record than the 11-4 SU Celtics, who are first in offensive efficiency. Jaylen Brown is finally repaying the massive contract 5-year contract he signed in 2023, he has become one of the league’s best mid-range scorers this season. Once/if Tatum decides to return from injury, the Celtics could become a legit threat in the wide open Eastern Conference.

Speaking of threats, you could say that the Clippers are also one in the Western Conference with them being on a 6-game win streak. This sudden change of fortunes could be attributed to a couple of things. One of them is the injury to Ivica Zubac, the Clippers are able to spread the floor a lot better with Brook Lopez in the middle as he is a three-point threat unlike Big Zu. The other factor is Kawhi Leonard going nuclear. Over the past 6 games he looks like the player who led the Raptors to their legendary 2019 championship – Kawhi is averaging 39 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2.7 steals during this win streak. He’s also doing it on extreme efficiency from the field at 53.2% and 44.1% from three.

In order to beat the Celtics you have to have a stable three-point shot and by all accounts the Clippers have had that in their last 6 games averaging 16.7 made per game on 40.5%. This feels like a completely new team, although it’ll be tough beating the Celtics I still give the Clippers the benefit of the doubt playing at home here.

Boston Celtics vs LA Clippers Predictions: Clippers -1.5 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.