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Free NBA Picks Today for Friday, November 19th, 2021

With so many games on each day, we have selected the top five games and made our best NBA predictions for Friday, November 19th.

Free NBA Picks Today for Friday, November 19th, 2021
Picks & Predictions
Fri 19th November 2021

Our free NBA Picks are out for Friday, November 19th, 2021! Make sure you check our NBA Picks before the action kicks off.

Look below to find our free NBA Picks for the five best games on today’s schedule!

Indiana Pacers @ Charlotte Hornets – 7pm ET

In a rematch of both sides’ opening games of the season, the Charlotte Hornets host the Indiana Pacers to kick off our Friday night action. Charlotte won that game 123-122 thanks to a 33-13 third quarter and now there is a three-game gap between the two sides in the standings. 

Denis Kirilov

The Indiana Pacers was one of the teams that started off the season unexpectedly on the negative side. They are 13th in the East with 6 wins out of 16 matches. The Pacers struggle to get more than two wins in a row, which further worsens their situation. Recently, they lost to the New York Knicks and to the Detroit Pistons. The latter loss underlined the fact that this period is one of the worst for the Pacers in the last couple of years. Although they managed to defeat the Utah Jazz and the Philadelphia 76ers in two consecutive matches, the situation in Indiana is not bright at all.

The Charlotte Hornets are on quite the opposite pole. They are on a 4-game winning streak during which they defeated some of the best teams in the NBA. Memphis, Golden State, New York, and Washington fell victims to Charlotte. They proved one thing among everything else. The Hornets know well how to defend in important and clutch moments of their games and they are quite familiar with what they need to do when they lead in a particular match. Gordon Hayward, Terry Rozier, and Miles Bridges are all playing great, but above all I will put their undying spirit as a team. They have proved that everything is possible in the NBA and I am willing to give them a chance to further prove that they are on fire. 

Denis’ NBA Pick: Charlotte Hornets (-136)

Michael Lantz

After scoring at least 100 points in 11 of their first 14 games, the Indiana Pacers have found themselves in a bit of an offensive slump. In their last two games they’ve failed to reach 90 points as they fell 94-82 to the Knicks on Monday and then 97-89 to the 3-10 Detroit Pistons two nights later. In those games their fourth quarter offense was ugly as they were outscored in the final quarter 23-10 to the Knicks and 24-16 to the Pistons. After looking like they were sliding back into the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Pacers have all of the sudden lost their ability to score. Missing rookie Chris Duarte has contributed a bit, but the Pacers still have too much offensive talent to all of the sudden drop off like this—especially to the Pistons. On Friday, they face a Charlotte Hornets team that’s had big back-to-back wins against the Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards.

After a November 8th loss to the L.A. Lakers, the Hornets had slipped to a 5-7 record and were looking like a flash in the pan after their 4-1 start. But, the Hornets have come back to life, winning three straight and having six different players score in double-digits in the past two. They’ll use their newfound confidence when playing an Indiana team that, as of late, has struggled to score. I expect Indiana to find a little light on the offensive end, but will pick the Hornets to take the at-home victory.

Michael’s NBA Pick: Charlotte Hornets (-138)

Noah Dunlap

Two teams that are trending in different directions is what we have in this one. The Indiana Pacers have been somewhat disappointing all season long, but looked as if they were finally turning things around. The defense has struggled mightily, but the offense had started to pick up the slack, and began to resemble what we saw late in the year last season, which was a team that came a game away from making the playoffs. Now, after consecutive losses, one to the Knicks, and an inexcusable loss to the Pistons, and Pacer fans are back to shaking their heads. 

For Charlotte, the offense has been as good as advertised throughout much of the year, with LaMelo Ball, Gordon Hayward, and Miles Bridges leading the way, but arguably more importantly is the fact that the defense has stepped up when called upon, which has led the Hornets to come into this one on a four-game winning streak. I don’t see that streak ending, not at home to a Pacer team that is back to being on its heels. With the line sitting low at 2.5, feel confident in taking the Hornets and the points in this one. 

Noah’s NBA Pick: Charlotte Hornets -2.5 (-110)

Los Angeles Lakers @ Boston Celtics – 7:30pm ET

The two most storied franchises in NBA history, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, face off tonight in the first of two meetings for the season. The Celtics are currently two-point favorites for the clash, with the chance that Jaylen Brown and LeBron James could return for their respective sides.

Denis Kirilov

The Los Angeles Lakers will have yet another inconvenient opponent in the face of the Boston Celtics. It’s been 17 games since they last managed to defeat Boston by a double-digit number. Their most recent matches encompass balance and equality between the two teams and matches going down the wire. On the other hand, the Lakers have been the team that won most of these narrow games and came up clutch in the dying seconds of the matches. The Celtics, however, managed to pull off some great wins over the Lakers defeating them by 32 points in LA’s best season in recent years.

Both teams struggle to find their rhythm in the beginning of the season, but that might be just a strategic move from both coaches. The Lakers’ team is full of experienced and older players that will need to be rested regularly throughout the season. The Celtics, on the other hand, suffered a lot from their high ambitions in the early stages of the previous campaigns and they might have learnt their lesson. They have literally reached their peak form around Christmas and there was nothing left in the tank for the Playoffs. I think this match might be another tight game between these two, so I will restrain myself from predicting the winner. However, I will suggest going for the option for “under points” as I believe both teams are far away from their highest level of play and this will negatively impact their performance tomorrow. 

Denis’ NBA Pick: Under TBA (TBA)

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Michael Lantz

On Friday night, the NBA’s greatest rivalry, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, face off for their 369th total time. Unfortunately this matchup will be missing some key members as the Lakers’ LeBron James continues to recover from an abdomen injury and the Celtics’ stays sidelined with hamstring issues. Still, when these two teams get together it rarely fails to disappoint. 

The Lakers have suffered from James’ absence, as they’ve gone 3-5 (including two straight losses) since the future hall-of-famer went down. The Lakers defense has given up over 100 points in all eight of those games; it’ll be interesting to see if an inconsistent Celtics offense can continue that.

Right as the Celtics started to look like they were coming together, they had a rough away loss to the Atlanta Hawks, where Trae Young and Co. converted 50% of their shots against  the Celtics D. Luckily for the Celtics, the Lakers don’t have the same pure shooters that the Hawks do. L.A. ranks middle of the NBA in three point percentage and are one of the league’s worst from the free throw line. I expect the Celtics to take care of business at the TD Garden; hopefully when these two teams face each other later in the season they’ll be at full-strength. 

Michael’s NBA Pick: Boston Celtics -2 (-110)

Noah Dunlap

This Lakers team is just not good right now. Part of that is certainly due to the fact that LeBron continues to sit with an abdominal injury, but it’s also due to the fact that the team is older, full of players not used to playing together, and with this age comes the need to rest them more than they probably should. They enter this one on a two-game losing streak, and I’m not sure that that improves in this one, especially with LeBron still out. 

Boston, on the other hand, is still reasonably healthy, but just looks pretty terrible to start the year. Shots aren’t falling, the defense isn’t playing well, and their two main pieces, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, are playing decent basketball and putting up good numbers, but it isn’t coming in an efficient enough way for the team to win games. With both teams struggling to start the year, I’m going to lean LA in this one, solely because I think the roster has more talent on it. Yes, it’s older talent, but in this one I think that experience comes in handy, and we see a low-scoring, tight Lakers win. 

Noah’s NBA Pick: Los Angeles Lakers (+108)

Oklahoma City Thunder @ Milwaukee Bucks – 8pm ET

The Milwaukee Bucks welcomed Khris Middleton back into the lineup in their last game and it brought a change in fortune as they beat the Lakers by seven points. They are now tasked with hosting a young and exciting Oklahoma City Thunder side that has won five of their last seven games. 

Denis Kirilov

The Oklahoma City Thunder will travel to Milwaukee for the start of their 3-game road trip. They wrapped up their four straight home matches with a victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. However, Luguentz Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander show some hesitation when they have to play against a top-tier team. Although they defeated the Lakers twice this season, they suffered huge defeats against the Brooklyn Nets, the Miami Heat, the Utah Jazz and the Golden State Warriors. There is something that prevents them from showing their full potential in such games.

On the other hand, the Milwaukee Bucks resemble the Lakers much more than any of the other top teams in the NBA at the moment. They are the hyped reigning champions and everybody expects to see them grabbing victory after victory. Eventually, it’s happening quite the opposite scenario. The Bucks are getting smashed by some of their direct rivals and on top of that, they struggle to win matches that seem to be easy at first sight. It’s clear that without Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton the team won’t stand a chance in defending the title as their strength is not split within the team, but is focused mainly on Giannis Antetokounmpo. Mainly due to the fact that I think the Bucks are quite more like the Lakers than like any other team in the NBA, I expect a hard battle in the Fiserv Forum that might as well bring us an unexpected winner. However, I will go with Oklahoma covering their spread. 

Denis’ NBA Pick: Oklahoma City Thunder +13 (-110)

Michael Lantz

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been a bit of a surprise on the season. Yes, they’re a subpar 5-8, but considering this team has been in full rebuild mode, they’ve shown some impressive grit. They’ve been led by young star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and fan-favorite Lu Dort. With so many draft picks coming their way in the future, this Thunder team will be one to keep an eye on.

OKC’s young core gets to spend their Friday night facing off against the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks. After weeks of injuries and roster depletion, the Bucks are finally getting guys back. After missing a good chunk of time, Khris Middleton returned to the lineup on Wednesday night to help propel the Bucks to a win over the Lakers. This is huge news for the champs, as it brings another big scoring option to the roster, giving Giannis Antetokounmpo a little rest. The Bucks are usually always good for 100 points and being at home against OKC, I’d expect no less. On the other hand, the Thunder haven’t been that high scoring on offense, so even with Milwaukee capable of scoring 100+ I’ll still go with the under here.

Michael’s NBA Pick: Under 214 (-110)

Noah Dunlap

Despite playing better basketball than expected to start the season, this is a game that I believe Oklahoma City realizes early on that they simply don’t want to be a part of. They enter this one at 5-8, which is not terrible for a team as young as their roster is, but they won’t be getting win number six in this one. This roster is one that is going to make noise in the years to come, as they’re extremely young and the franchise has a ridiculous number of draft picks coming up over the next few years, but that does them no good in this one. 

They’re playing a Milwaukee Bucks team that started the year slow, due mainly to injury and Covid issues. However, with the defending champs slowly returning everyone to the lineup, with Khris Middleton returning earlier this week, and Jrue Holiday having returned last week, this is all bad news for the Thunder. I think they hang around early, but eventually Giannis and company pull away in the second half, getting an easy win. The spread does sit a bit higher than I like though, so I look for OKC to keep it within 13.  

Noah’s NBA Pick: Oklahoma City Thunder +13 (-110)

Chicago Bulls @ Denver Nuggets – 9pm ET

One night after a shock loss to the shorthanded Sixers, the Denver Nuggets have to back up again tonight against one of the best teams in the league this season, the Chicago Bulls. That was only Denver’s second loss from nine games at home this season, but they now face a much tougher opponent. The Bulls suffered a shock defeat to Portland last time out, getting outscored 44-64 in the second half, but had won their previous two and will be looking to finish their road-trip on a high. 

Denis Kirilov

After suffering an unexpected defeat against the Philadelphia 76ers at home, the Denver Nuggets will have another try in Ball Arena, this time facing off against the Chicago Bulls. Both teams are in the top 5 of their respective Conference, but both of them lost their last matches. The Bulls had to leave Portland after a 5-point loss that came off after the Blazers’ fantastic performance in the paint. They caught a total of 44 rebounds for the game that gave them enough second chances to score. Otherwise, if the Bulls had been more coordinated in this aspect of the game, they wouldn’t have given Portland a shot at the win.

This game promises to be as exciting as it appears at first sight. However, the Nuggets’ form is slightly changing in the past days as some of their players went injured, while they still miss Jamal Murray. On the other hand, nothing has changed for the Bulls as they follow their path towards the top of the East. This meeting will surely give us a better insight on what is happening within the two franchises and I think the Chicago Bulls have a healthier and more determined team that will get the final victory and worsen the situation for Denver. 

Denis’ NBA Pick: Chicago Bulls (+144)

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Michael Lantz

After winning five straight games, the Denver Nuggets may finally be feeling the burden of not having Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr. As incredible as Nikola Jokic is, this team is having a hard time finding consistent scoring besides him. On Tuesday they lost by ten to the Dallas Mavericks (pre-Luka injury), and while that’s no game to get down about their Thursday night performance is. The Nuggets lost to a Joel-Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers team that had lost five straight since their prized big man went out with COVID. To add insult to injury, they lost by 14—at home. Now 24 hours later, they’ll have to face a CHicago bulls team that’s sitting near the top of the Eastern Conference. 

Despite losing Nikola Vucevic to COVID last week, the Bulls were able to sweep their L.A. road trip beating both the Lakers and Clippers with comfort. They then headed up to Portland to take on a struggling Trail Blazers team—only to lose 112-107. Vucevic’s presence was missed, as Josef Nurkic fiested for 18 points and 12 rebounds. Aside from when they lost back-to-back games to the 76ers, the Bulls have had great bounce backs after losses. I expect this game to be no different, as the Nuggets are showing some fatigue and playing their third game in five nights won’t help that in any way. While Jokic should find similar success to Nurkic in playing against the Bulls bigs, the Nuggets don’t have guys like Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum to help out. 

Michael’s NBA Pick: Chicago Bulls (+144)

Noah Dunlap

Well, Denver managed to do the impossible in their last outing, and lose a game to a Philadelphia 76er’s team without Joel Embiid. This doesn’t bode well for the Nuggets, as they’re already facing some injury issues, and now I’m just not sure how high the confidence for the team is moving forward, at least until they get back to full health. Nikola Jokic is still playing at a phenomenal level, but he’s struggling to get the help needed for Denver to actually resemble a legitimate threat in the Western Conference. 

And then you add in the fact that they play a healthy Chicago Bulls team, in a game that Chicago should be fired up for, as they got bounced by a mediocre Portland team in their last outing. I think the Bulls are a better team already, led by Zach LaVine, Lonzo Ball, and DeMar Derozan, and with them coming off the disappointing loss, I don’t know that they make the same mistakes in this one that they made that ended up letting the Trail Blazers to hang around long enough to get the win. I’m taking Chicago, in this one, and I honestly think this one may get out of hand reasonably early, which is something that not many seem to be expecting out of this matchup. 

Noah’s NBA Pick: Chicago Bulls (+144)

Dallas Mavericks @ Phoenix Suns – 10pm ET

We round out the night the Phoenix Suns hosting the Dallas Mavericks in a rematch of Wednesday night’s action. The Suns were able to overcome a slow start to win their 10th straight game, coming out on top 105-98. Our experts dissect whether the Mavericks can split the two-game series or if the Suns continue their winning ways. 

Denis Kirilov

Many expect the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns will wrap up Friday night in the NBA in high fashion. Both teams are in the top of the table in the Western Conference with Phoenix being 2nd with a record of 11-3, while Dallas chasing behind at 6th place with 9 wins and 5 losses. The Suns had a fantastic last season that fate was once again on the opposite side of Chris Paul and didn’t bring him his first NBA Championship as the Bucks defeated them in the Grand Final after 6 matches. Now, Phoenix is on a mission to break records this year as they are already at a 10-game winning streak. In their last game they defeated the Mavs by 7 points after making a remarkable comeback in the last quarter.

The Mavericks are looking to take revenge for the loss on Wednesday, but among everybody else, they best know that they will need to go through hell to achieve that. Luka Doncic missed the previous match and he will most likely miss this fixture as well due to an ankle injury. He is the driving force of Dallas and it’s quite unlikely to see them grab a win over their direct opponent when he is out of the squad. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kristaps Porzingis will do everything they can in order to compete with the Suns, but I personally think it will be really hard to deny all the quick plays and combinations from Phoenix for the whole game. In my opinion, this match won’t be like their previous meeting and it will be much more like a one-sided show from the Suns. I am going with them covering the spread for the game. 

Denis’ NBA Pick: Phoenix Suns -8 (-110)

Michael Lantz

The Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns face each other for the second straight game, after Phoenix won 105-98 on Wednesday. It was a valiant effort by the Dallas Mavericks, who without Luka Doncic, played competitive ball against the NBA’s hottest team (no pun intended). While Kristaps Porzingis continued to impress, he’s not exactly a number one who can lead teams to wins. His 21 point effort wasn’t enough to get past a Suns team and their dominant big man Deandre Ayton who scored 19 points and hauled in 13 rebounds. I expect Ayton to continue to play a big role in the second game against a Mavericks team that’s sometimes seen as a bit soft down low. 

While Ayton continues his rise as one of the premier big men in the league, Devin Booker and Chris Paul are once again impressing as one of the league’s top guard tandems. Booker is scoring 23 points per game and Paul is once again averaging over 10 assists as the Suns have won 10 straight and look to make it 11 on Friday night. With no Luka and the game being in Phoenix, I expect the Suns to stay on fire, and in this game, cover the spread. 

Michael’s NBA Pick: Phoenix Suns -8 (-110)

Noah Dunlap

These two are certainly going to end the year as playoff teams in the Western Conference, and it’s likely going to be as two high seeds. Which is why this matchup had the potential to be extremely exciting roughly a week or so ago. However, with the Suns winning their last meeting, in each team’s last game on Wednesday, Phoenix used a strong 4th quarter to sneak away in that one, and tonight’s game won’t be any different. 

That’s because Dallas was without Luka Doncic on Wednesday, and it looks like they’ll be without him again tonight. While this Mavericks team is really good, they fall to being simply average without Doncic in the lineup. Kristaps Porzingis hasn’t shown the ability to be a number one option on a good team, and that’s a role he has to embrace with Luka out if Dallas wants to succeed in his absence. Additionally, Tim Hardaway, Jr. is a decent NBA player, but that’s when he’s able to flourish behind a guy like Luka (and Kristaps when both are healthy) which spreads the defense and gives him more room to work. With the offense likely to flow almost exclusively through him in this one, especially at the perimeter, I have questions as to how he handles that against a red hot Suns squad. Look for Phoenix to ramp up the energy on the defensive end, as they simply try to swallow a Mavs offense missing their best player. With this one being in Phoenix, I like the Suns to win and cover. 

Noah’s NBA Pick: Phoenix Suns -8 (-110)

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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.

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