Philadelphia 76ers @ Charlotte Hornets – 7PM ET
Two Eastern Conference sides on three game winning streaks go head to head as the Philadelphia 76ers head down south to take on the Charlotte Hornets. The Sixers boast a 15-6 record, 2.5 games clear on top of the East while the Hornets have surprised many with their 10-11 record, good enough to be tied for seventh.
The Hornets’ three game streak has come over three playoff teams from last season, Indiana, Milwaukee and Miami. Most recently over the Heat, Malik Monk had a career night with 36 points off the bench while Devonte’ Graham had 24 points and five assists in the 129-121 overtime victory. Charlotte are now 8-7 as underdogs so far this season, the most profitable team in the league, but Philadelphia is an extremely tough test.
No question.#HereTheyCome pic.twitter.com/PK2oXSEnxY
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) February 2, 2021
Philadelphia’s 119-110 win over the Pacers on Sunday was one of their biggest of the season, being their first win from five tries when Joel Embiid hasn’t played. Tobias Harris stepped up offensively with 27 points and eight boards while Ben Simmons had a classic all around game with 21 points, six boards, seven assists, four steals and two blocks.
While the Hornets are great as underdogs and have beaten some very good teams of late, Embiid is expected back for this game and the Sixers are undefeated in 11 games when their five starters all play. They may not play as good on the road as they do at home, but the Sixers are just too good.
NBA Pick – Philadelphia 76ers (-357)
NBA Spread – Philadelphia 76ers -5.5 (-110)
Total Points Pick – Under 223.5 (-110)
Indiana Pacers @ Milwaukee Bucks – 7PM ET
The Indiana Pacers are coming off a massive win over the Grizzlies last night but now have to back it up again tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks. Indiana’s win snapped Memphis’ seven game winning streak and snapped a two game skid of their own while the Bucks are coming off a massive home win over the Blazers on Monday night.
Milwaukee restricted Portland to just 106 points while putting up 134 of their own with six different players scoring at least 13 points. Jrue Holiday led the way with 22 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals and Bobby Portis had 21 points and eight boards off the bench. The Bucks have one of the biggest home and away disparities in the league, being 8-2 at home while sitting at just 4-6 on the road.
Milwaukee is clearly much better at home however the Pacers are 5-3 on the road and shouldn’t be taken lightly. They put up a massive 134 points last night, winning by 18, with Domantas Sabonis making his claim to be an All Star for the second straight year with 32 points on 87% shooting from the field, along with 13 boards, five assists and two steals while Myles Turner had a monster game with 22 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks!
The Pacers played incredibly well last night and have won 75% of their games when on the second night of a back to back, but given this contest is being played in Milwaukee, we have the Bucks coming out on top.
NBA Pick – Milwaukee Bucks (-390)
NBA Spread – Indiana Pacers +8.5 (-110)
Total Points Pick – Over 232 (-110)
Dallas Mavericks @ Atlanta Hawks – 7:30PM ET
The Dallas Mavericks are seriously struggling at the moment, losing their last six games. They now come up against an Atlanta Hawks side that has won five of their last eight and will be looking to bounce back after a tough loss to the Lakers.
Trae Young put up a massive 25 points and 16 assists while Clint Capela had 16 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks, but going up against the best defensive team in the league, the Hawks could only manage 99 points which was enough to keep up. The positive is that the Mavs rank just 18th in defensive rating, meaning Atlanta should be able to play with some more freedom offensively.
Trae dished out a season-high 16 assists last night. Sheesh. 🥶 ❄️
📹 Presented by @KumhoTireUSA @TheTraeYoung x #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/GvBcug8cAc
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 2, 2021
Dallas had their best opportunity to snap their streak late in the game against Phoenix on Monday but allowed Devin Booker to hit a three with 1.2 seconds, losing by one point. Luka Doncic had an inefficient 25 points with eight assists and four turnovers while Josh Richardson had his best game of the season with 24 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals, but it wasn’t enough.
The Mavs actually perform better on the road (6-7) than at home (2-6) while the Hawks are 5-5 at both home and away, but the latter are playing much better basketball right now and Dallas have given us no reason to trust them.
NBA Pick – Atlanta Hawks (+105)
NBA Spread – Atlanta Hawks +1.5 (-110)
Total Points Pick – Over 224 (-110)
Los Angeles Clippers @ Cleveland Cavaliers – 8PM ET
The Los Angeles Clippers are coming off a disappointing loss in Brooklyn last night, but have an opportunity to make amends straight away when they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight. Cleveland managed to overcome Minnesota on Monday night, but that was just their second win from their last six games.
Andre Drummond sat out that game to rest and it allowed Jarrett Allen to explode with 23 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks, while Collin Sexton continued his offensive run with 26 points. The Cavaliers seem to be back to full strength and will be looking to string some wins together as they currently sit seventh in the East, but the Clippers are a perfect 5-0 after a loss so far this season and will come out hard in this one to ensure they don’t drop a second straight.
Kawhi Leonard had a great all around game against the Nets with 33 points, five boards, five assists, four steals and two blocks while Nicolas Batum had the hot hand with 21 points on 70% shooting from the floor. Paul George also had 26 points and six assists but they gave up 124 points, tied for the second most all season.
We are confident in the Clippers in this one as their five wins after a loss have been by an average over eight points per game, the only thing that would slow them down is their stars resting after a long, tough clash last night.
NBA Pick – Los Angeles Clippers (-455)
NBA Spread – Cleveland Cavaliers +8.5 (-110)
Total Points Pick – Over 217.5 (-110)
Washington Wizards @ Miami Heat – 8PM ET
The first of a two game set between these two Southeast Division rivals as the Miami Heat and the Washington Wizards face off in South Beach. Both sides are looking to turn it around after disappointing losses last time out as the Heat fell to the Hornets by eight points in overtime on Monday while Washington dropped a home game to the Blazers by 11 points.
Bradley Beal scored 37 points on 58.3% shooting while Russell Westbrook had a 17 point triple double and Rui Hachimura dropped 24, but the Wizards never looked like winning after falling behind 23-40 at the first break. They ended up allowing the Blazers to score 132 points, meaning they have given up an average of 139 points over their last two.
Bradley Beal doesn’t want a trade from the Wizards, per @FredKatz and @ShamsCharania pic.twitter.com/9nGDR0PF3k
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 2, 2021
The Heat play with a much more slow and defensive tempo but gave up 129 to Charlotte and have now lost six of their last seven. Jimmy Butler led seven different Heat players to score in double figures with 25 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals while Bam Adebayo had 23 points, nine boards and three blocks, but they gave up too many points defensively.
Jimmy Butler has played in just eight of the Heat’s 20 games this season so that may seem as a positive for Miami as they have room to improve, but they are just 4-4 in those eight games, which isn’t what was expected from the reigning Eastern Conference Champs. With that being said, the Wizards are now 2-13 against every team that isn’t the Brooklyn Nets and Miami has already overcome Washington once this season and we like them to be able to do it again.
NBA Pick – Miami Heat (-400)
NBA Spread – Miami Heat -5.5 (-110)
Total Points Pick – Over 229.5 (-110)
New York Knicks @ Chicago Bulls – 8PM ET
One of the rematches from Monday night’s schedule sees the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls run it back in the Windy City. Chicago came out on top in the first of this two game set, snapping a three game losing streak while handing the Knicks their second straight and fifth loss in their last six games.
In their defense, the Knicks were on a second night of a back to back and had the game tied with 45 seconds left but defensive breakdowns and a costly turnover put them away for good. Julius Randle was the star for New York with 23 points, 11 boards, seven assists and two steals but had five turnovers and allowed Lauri Markkanen to score a game high 30 points on the other end.
The Bulls shot better from the field and made five more triples in the game whilst also scoring more points off turnovers. However, the Knicks are a much better defensive unit than that and we expect more than just one of their starters to shoot better than 45% in this contest. We backed New York on Monday to no luck, but we are doubling down and riding the Knicks here tonight.
NBA Pick – New York Knicks (+135)
NBA Spread – New York Knicks +3 (-110)
Total Points Pick – Under 216 (-110)
Houston Rockets @ Oklahoma City Thunder – 8PM ET
Another rematch of a Monday night clash, but this game was nowhere near as close as the Houston Rockets blew the Oklahoma City Thunder out of the water. Houston used a 48-24 first quarter to open this game up and ended up winning 136-106, extending OKC’s poor home record to 1-7.
No Houston player got to 27 minutes, with seven of them scoring in double figures led by Eric Gordon’s 25 points on 5-9 from deep off the bench. Christian Wood continued his good form with 18, 11 and two blocks while Victor Oladipo and John Wall continue to create good synergy in the back court.
🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/pZmfezYkoQ
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) February 2, 2021
The Rockets have now won a league best six straight games and will look to make it seven in the second leg of this set. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 19 points while Darius Bazley and Hamidou Diallo both had 15, but they weren’t able to make stops, allowing Houston to shoot 28/52 from deep, a Rockets’ single game record for made threes.
Despite winning by 30 points two nights ago, the Rockets are just 6.5 point favorites as Wall will be sitting as a scheduled rest game, but we still like Houston to get their job done and get that seventh straight.
NBA Pick – Houston Rockets (-245)
NBA Spread – Houston Rockets -6.5 (-110)
Total Points Pick – Under 221.5 (-110)
Minnesota Timberwolves @ San Antonio Spurs – 8:30PM ET
This will be the third, final and rubber between these sides, with the San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves splitting the first two matchups. The Spurs will be looking to bounce back after dropping two straight games to the Grizzlies while Minnesota split a pair with the Cavs.
The Wolves weren’t able to back up their first win over the Cavs on Monday night, going down 98-100 and no players scoring over 18 points. D’Angelo Russell was that man to led Minnesota but he, Malik Beasley and Anthony Edwards combined to shoot just 37.8% from the floor, something that will have to improve against a better Spurs side and a much better defense.
That defense did take an absolute beating against Memphis, as the Spurs allowed 133 points in a 31 point loss on Monday night. Keldon Johnson top scored with 25 points and 10 boards but DeMar DeRozan had just 14 points, LaMarcus Aldridge had just 12 points while Dejounte Murray and Lonnie Walker combined for 10.
While they may have looked ordinary against Memphis, the Spurs are a much better side than that and we like them to bounce back at home against a Minnesota side that is just 1-8 on the road.
NBA Pick – San Antonio Spurs (-330)
NBA Spread – San Antonio Spurs -8 (-110)
Total Points Pick – Under 223.5 (-110)
Phoenix Suns @ New Orleans Pelicans – 9:30PM ET
The Phoenix Suns took both games against Dallas over the last four days and have now won three straight to sit up in sixth in the West. The New Orleans Pelicans on the other hand followed up a massive win over Milwaukee by dropping two straight games and are all the way down in 14th.
The Pelicans gave up 118 to the Kings on Monday and weren’t able to keep up as just one player managed to shoot over 50% from the field. Brandon Ingram led scoring for the Pels with 20 but shot just 30%. Josh Hart and Willy Hernangomez both had double doubles off the bench but after being up by seven heading into the last quarter, New Orleans could only manage a 15-31 final term to give the game away.
Phoenix welcomed Devin Booker back from a hamstring injury with their young star hitting the game winning triple with just 1.5 seconds remaining but the star of the show was Chris Paul who had 34 points on 70% shooting, nine boards and nine assists with two steals. Deandre Ayton continued his good form with 10 and 17 boards and he will look to have another big game after having a double double the last time these sides met, a 111-86 point win for the Suns back in late December.
✔️ Dallas
🔜 New Orleans pic.twitter.com/8eJjMJd7SF
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) February 2, 2021
The Suns are an impressive 7-4 on the road and will be looking to get a fourth straight win and keep in touch with the top of the West. They are currently only favored by two points but we like them straight up and to cover.
NBA Pick – Phoenix Suns (-140)
NBA Spread – Phoenix Suns -2 (-110)
Total Points Pick – Under 223 (-110)
Boston Celtics @ Sacramento Kings – 10PM ET
The Boston Celtics escaped Golden State with a 111-107 victory last night and will back it up in California’s capital in a matchup with the Sacramento Kings. Boston dominated the second half and led by as many as 10 in the fourth quarter so they will be looking to carry over that momentum tonight.
Jayson Tatum had 27 points and nine rebounds to lead Boston while Kemba Walker had 19, seven boards and five assists in the win. The glaring issue for Boston is that they allowed Steph Curry to explode for 38 points on 57.1% shooting and have to face an inform De’Aaron Fox.
The Kings’ guard put up 38 and 12 in Sacramento’s 118-109 win over New Orleans on Monday night, controlling the play and leading the fourth quarter comeback for the win. Richuan Holmes had another big game with 17 points, 10 boards and six blocks while Harrison Barnes continued to be efficient with 24 and eight.
The Celtics are a perfect 3-0 on the second night of back to backs so far this season while the Kings have just a 5-6 home record. We are taking the men in green to get the job done in the final game of the evening.
NBA Pick – Boston Celtics (-156)
NBA Spread – Boston Celtics -2.5 (-110)
Total Points Pick – Over 229.5 (-110)
If you need more news, information and predictions, head over to our NBA hub page for all your basketball needs.
*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of Bet365.
