Another night of exciting basketball is coming our way as a total of 10 teams hit the NBA hardwood. ESPN will have a massive double-header starting at 1 pm ET between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons. If that’s not enough to satisfy your basketball needs, Part 2 of the double-header will see the Denver Nuggets taking on the OKC Thunder at 9.30 pm ET.
I’ve done a deep dive into all 5 match-ups taking place tonight, coming up with an NBA Best Bet for every single game. As always, odds are courtesy of FanDuel, be sure to go over our in-depth NBA Picks for Friday’s slate. Here’s what I’m backing today!
Cavaliers vs Pistons Best Bet: Cade Cunningham to Record a Double-Double (-125)
We’ve seen a different Cade Cunningham following the All-Star break. The Pistons point-guard has notched a double-double in all 4 games so far, averaging 26.3 points and 12.3 assists per game. He’s making a late push for the MVP award and with another stellar performance against a direct rival in the East he can only add to his case. In 25 home games this season he has achieved this feat 16 times, which comes out to a success rate of 64%. You have to like his chances going up against James Harden at the point guard position here.
Nets vs Celtics Best Bet: Noah Clowney 2+ Made Threes (-200)
He’s cleared this line 7 times in 10 games, this bet is at a 62% hit rate for the season (32/52 games played). The Nets have nothing to lose in tonight’s game as most bettors have written them off, this is an excellent opportunity for Clowney to make a name for himself. Boston allows the 2nd most threes to opposing PFs this season and ranks 9th for threes allowed as a team.
Knicks vs Bucks Best Bet: Bucks +7.5 (-110)
When you look at the injury report the Knicks are the more obvious pick here, but I am not sure if I can trust them after watching those two recent losses vs Detroit and Cleveland. The Bucks are punching above their weight without Giannis, they’ve now won back-to-back games and 5 of their last 6 overall. Against East teams they’re 5-2 ATS in 7 played, while at home that record sits at 4-1 ATS in 5 games overall. Despite all the adversity they’ve gone through this season, this team is still above .500 in home games. I have them keeping this one close.
Grizzlies vs Mavericks Best Bet: Khris Middleton 2+ Made Threes (+124)
Khris Middleton might be the best player to take the court in Friday’s game between the Grizzlies and Mavericks. That’s how bad the injury situation is in both camps at the moment. All jokes aside, the veteran Middleton has played really well after the All-Star break, scoring 17, 25 and 18 points in 3 of the 4 games. He’s also cleared this line in 2 of his last 3 games and is shooting almost 42% from deep in the month of February so far. The odds on him to knock down a pair of threes vs Memphis are very tempting, especially since we know he’s done that in his last 3 games at home. Memphis is allowing 37.8% of threes to go in over their last 3 games, for context the league worst Brooklyn Nets are at 37.4% allowed threes this season.
Nuggets vs Thunder Best Bet: Nuggets ML (+240)
Optimism is back in the Nuggets camp following their impressive win over the Boston Celtics the other day. They held the Cs to just 84 points despite losing Jamal Murray early in that game to an illness. Another big win vs OKC would do wonders for the confidence of this team, it’s been a while since we’ve seen a signature performance from the Joker and this is just the ideal opportunity for him to deliver one. The defending champs are still without SGA and Jalen Williams, even though they are considered to be one of the deeper teams in the league this game could be a struggle as it’s their 3rd in 4 nights. For those who aren’t as brave, backing the Nuggets to cover is also a solid bet, but I think these odds are just too good to pass up for an outright win.
Click here to add us to your Google preferred sources and never miss a story
