NBA Best Bets Today: October 28 Picks & Predictions
A huge night awaits us in the NBA with a total of 24 teams hitting the hardwood. ESPN’s double-header will feature the 76ers vs Pacers game from 1 pm ET, followed by a massive clash out West with the Thunder vs Mavericks game at 9.30 pm ET.
I’ve singled out my three favorite NBA Best Bets for Wednesday’s slate, but as always we got you covered with expert analysis and NBA Picks for all 12 games being played. Let’s jump straight into it!
NBA Best Bet: Philadelphia 76ers -4.5 over Indiana Pacers (-115)
Whenever you have a player coming off an Achilles injury, you always want to ease him back into the action as much as possible. Tyrese Haliburton has appeared in all four games for Indiana, logging 33 mins per game and carrying a massive load on offense. It’s only a matter of time the Pacers shut him down for a game, due to precautionary reasons and as painful as it might sound it could be Wednesday’s ESPN game against Philly. Haliburton is officially listed as questionable with hamstring tightness, with the injury bug hitting teams league wide in the opening week, the Pacers might be better off just resting their star here.
Philadelphia did that with Joel Embiid as he took the game off against the Pistons, which was a 2nd night of a back-to-back scenario. Without him the team stood no chance, scoring just 93 points and losing the battle on the boards 54-37 despite the Pistons being without Jalen Duren. Embiid should return here, he matches up really well against Jay Huff who is starting instead of the already injured Ivica Zubac. Philadelphia dominated the regular season series last year winning all four games, I just think they’re in a much better shape health wise at the moment, so let’s back them to cover as road favorites in this one.
Read our full Philadelphia 76ers vs Indiana Pacers Predictions
NBA Best Bet: Jonathan Kuminga 2+ Made Threes vs Golden State Warriors (-106)
The optimism surrounding the Minnesota Timberwolves has taken a massive hit after the team announced their best player and leader Anthony Edwards will be out for two months following a knee procedure. Ant Man had the entire NBA buzzing with his performances in the first week of play, but now his team has to figure things out on the fly as their next opponent comes to town on Wednesday. How do the T’Wolves make up for the 33.2 ppg average of Edwards.
Well, one idea is to increase the workload on offense for Jonathan Kuminga, who faces his old team the Warriors. It’s no secret that players tend to be extra motivated when facing a team that let them go, I fully anticipate that to be the case on Wednesday with Kuminga. He’s scored in double-digits in all four games this season, while also shooting 46% from downtown. If we count the preseason as well, he’s now connected on a pair of threes 4 times in 5 games. Golden State is currently allowing 37.6% of opponent threes to go in, that’s the 6th highest mark in the entire NBA.
Check out our Golden State Warriors vs Minnesota Timberwolves Predictions
NBA Best Bet: Over 228.5 Points in LA Lakers vs LA Clippers (-110)
I was really disappointed in what I saw from the Lakers last night, especially on the defensive end where they allowed the Trail Blazers to go off and score 136 points against them. Just when we thought the Lakers have fixed some of the issues that plagued them last season, they re-appeared when we least expected them. Now Luka and co. have the tough task of playing on a 2nd night of a back-to-back, as they face their cross-town rivals the Clippers. This will already be the 2nd game of the season between the two teams, the first one was played just 5 days ago and we saw a total of 242 points scored.
With the projected total being almost 15 points under that number, I feel like there is solid value in backing the over here. These are the two most efficient teams from three-point land at 41.3% and 40.9% of their shots going in. They also rank 5th and 11th respectively in three-point rate with 46.6% and 44.7% of their shots being from downtown. With the last two meetings finishing 125-117 and 125-122, I feel quite confident we are once again going over the total.
