Our free NBA Picks are out for Thursday, December 2nd, 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!
Chicago Bulls @ New York Knicks – 7:30pm ET
Following their incredibly close battle with the Nets on Tuesday, the New York Knicks turn their attention to another one of the East’s best teams, the Chicago Bulls. While New York has struggled of late and is just one game above 0.500, the Bulls are 14-8, good enough for equal-second in the East. Can the Knicks restore the balance in this one of will Chicago keep on rolling?
Denis Kirilov
The third game for the season between the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks promises to be yet another spectacle in Madison Square Garden. They have played twice in United Center with both teams sharing one victory. The competition in the East has escalated this campaign in the NBA as the Knicks are 11th in the Conference with a positive win-ratio which is outrageous. The team from the “Big Apple” won 11 out of their 21 games so far, making their statement with victories over top teams like the Lakers, the Hawks, the Bucks, the Bulls, and the 76ers.
The Bulls are looking fantastic this year as they are 2nd in the East with a 14-8 record. However, they have been quite inconsistent recently losing to one of the worst performing teams in the NBA – the Houston Rockets and the Indiana Pacers. They even had Nikola Vucevic and Alex Caruso back for the match against the Rockets and they still managed to somehow lose it. Chicago is a franchise with a fantastic history and traditions and the current roster definitely have a potential to return the title in Chicago for the first time since Michael Jordan’s era. I think the Bulls will defeat the Knicks as RJ Barrett, Derrick Rose, Nerlens Noel, and Taj Gibson are uncertain for the upcoming fixture.
Denis’ NBA Pick: Chicago Bulls -2 (-110)
Michael Lantz
When the Bulls and Knicks faced off at the end of October, the game ended in classic fashion—coming down to the final shot. The Knicks ultimately prevailed, winning 104-103 after the Bulls’ DeMar DeRozen air-balled the final shot. Now these two rivals face off again on Thursday night.
The Knicks are coming off a heartbreaking loss to their New York rivals the Brooklyn Nets. Despite it being a two-point defeat, the Knicks never gave up; even when they were down 16 at one point, they still crawled back. But, ultimately they just didn’t have enough to stop Kevin Durant and James Harden. They’ll look to bounce back against a Bulls team that’ll be looking to avenge their loss earlier in the season.
Zach & DeMar in November:
Zach:
25.3 points
5.2 reb
3.4 ast
48.9% FGDeMar:
26.8 points
5.1 reb
4.1 ast
50.5% FG pic.twitter.com/Rv8Q8hhQAe— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) December 2, 2021
On Monday night, Chicago was unfazed by the NBA’s top scoring team, the Charlotte Hornets. Sure, the Hornets were able to drop 119 on them, but Chicago’s offense thrived, putting up 133 thanks to 25+ points from DeMar DeRozen, Zach LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic. Now, after a few days’ rest, they’ll look to bring that same offensive display against the Knicks.
I want to think Chicago will be able to provide some payback, but I think the Knicks will use their Tuesday night against the Nets as some fuel to grab a big win at home. I’ve picked the Knicks a lot of times this year, only to be disappointed, but I’ll give them another shot.
Michael’s NBA Pick: New York Knicks (+108)
Noah Dunlap
After a hot start to the year, the New York Knicks enter this one struggling over the past three weeks or so, and it doesn’t get any easier for them, as they get a Chicago Bulls team that has shown that they have the potential to be one of the best teams in basketball this year. They’ve also shown the ability to slip, but with DeMar Derozan and Lonzo Ball to go along with Zach LaVine, the offense has been consistent, and the defense has primarily been decent. When these two first met early in the year, we got an instant classic that saw New York sneak away with a one point victory. This one doesn’t go the same way, as I think Chicago is just playing better basketball, with a better roster. Give me the Bulls to win this one, and take them with the 2 as well.
Noah’s NBA Pick: Chicago Bulls -2 (-110)
Milwaukee Bucks @ Toronto Raptors – 7:30pm ET
One night after a nail-biting victory over the Hornets, the 14-8 Milwaukee Bucks will be hoping to take care of another Eastern Conference foe, the Toronto Raptors. Milwaukee will be putting their eight-game winning streak on the line in this clash while the Raptors are looking to avoid a fourth-straight loss.
Denis Kirilov
The Milwaukee Bucks are off to an amazing run in the last two weeks, defeating each single opponent they had faced. This led them to gaining some places back in the standings as they are now in 3rd place. The Raptors, on the other hand, have struggled in the second part of November, losing 7 out of their last 9 matches. They are currently 12th in the East with 9 wins and 13 losses falling more and more behind the Playoffs places. Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet will need to come up together and lift the whole Raptors team so that they might have a shot at reaching the best of 7 series in the spring.
The Bucks seem to be quite certain in terms of playing beyond the regular season. Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo have a hard task of defending the Championship with all that competition coming from the East and the strong Suns, Warriors, Jazz, and LA teams coming from the West. This will surely go down as one of the most intriguing seasons in NBA history with plenty of records getting broken. That’s why I think the Bucks have a chance at contesting their 20 wins in a row from 1970-71. The team is looking great and looking at their schedule, it seems that the Miami Heat will be the main obstacle on their way to breaking records. I am willing to trust the Bucks in their visit to Toronto as they are by far the better team in terms of balance, consistency, and individual skills.
Denis’ NBA Pick: Milwaukee Bucks -4.5 (-110)
Michael Lantz
The Milwaukee Bucks outlasted the NBA’s top offense in the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night, winning 127-125. Giannis Antetokounmpo continued to prove that he might be the best player in the world as he scored 40 points and had 12 rebounds, leading the Bucks to victory after they were down by 16 after the first quarter. Now Milwaukee travels even farther north to take on the Toronto Raptors.
Toronto is coming off three straight losses, including a 98-91 defeat against a Ja Morant-less Grizzlies team that has the worst defense in the NBA. It has to feel like a low for the Raptors, who started off the season with a solid record and were thrilled to see some of their young players flourish with big games. Now, they’ll try to bounce back against a Bucks team that’s won eight straight and are looking hungry to repeat as champs.
Even though the Bucks played a tense game just 24 hours before this one, I can’t pick against them. The Raptors have been struggling and they’ll be no match for a confident Bucks squad.
Michael’s NBA Pick: Milwaukee Bucks (-190)
Noah Dunlap
After dealing with Covid and injury issues early in the year, the Milwaukee Bucks have picked up right where they left off last year, when healthy. Having won eight straight, they’re showing why they won the title last year. Giannis continues to lead the way, but Kyrie Middleton and Jrue Holiday have shown that they’re extremely valuable for this team as wel, as without them, Giannis struggled to carry the load by himself.
Toronto finds themselves in a similar spot, just flipped. After a red hot start to the year, the Raptors have struggled as of late, including getting beat rather easily in their last outing to a Ja Morant-less Grizzlies squad. With Fred VanVleet still on the roster leading the way, Toronto is getting decent play 5-6 spots down the lineup, but it hasn’t been equaling out to wins. I don’t think that changes against a healthy Milwaukee team, as I like the Bucks to win a close one, but enough to take them and the points, giving them their ninth straight victory.
Noah’s NBA Pick: Milwaukee Bucks -4.5 (-110)
Oklahoma City Thunder @ Memphis Grizzlies – 8pm ET
The Memphis Grizzlies host the Oklahoma City Thunder in what looks to be a lop-sided affair. Despite losing their star, Ja Morant, to a serious knee injury, the Grizzlies have won both games without him in the lineup. Meanwhile, the developing Thunder have dropped seven straight games, including two in a row to the Rockets, who are the worst team in basketball this season.
Denis Kirilov
The Oklahoma City Thunder started off the season moderately well, but they are on a 6-game losing streak recently which also adds to their 1-8 run in the last 9 games. They even lost to the worst team in the NBA, the Houston Rockets, who have only 4 wins out of 20 matches. The team is 13th in the Western Conference with 30% win-ratio. Winning six games for a month and a half is simply not enough to contest for the top 10. Gilgeous-Alexander has gone out of rhythm in his last few games and he will need to step it up if he wants to develop his skills in a way that he will be a main point guard in the NBA for the upcoming years.
The Memphis Grizzlies lost their superstar in the making, Ja Morant, who suffered a left knee injury in the game against the Atlanta Hawks and will miss an indefinite part of the season. The team will need to find a new way to win their games using mainly Jaren Jackson, Desmond Bane, and Dillon Brooks. The Grizzlies are currently in the mix in the West with 11 wins out of 21 games. They are 7th and they will need to pull something out of the hat in order to keep this position throughout the season. However, I think they will be able to defeat the Thunder with ease as their opponents are in a really bad form recently.
Denis’ NBA Pick: Memphis Grizzlies -9.5 (-110)
Michael Lantz
Even without Ja Morant, the Grizzlies continue to excel. It’s been an excellent time for Memphis role players such as Desmond Bane, Dillon Brooks, and Jaren Jackson Jr. to prove they can lead the team with Morant sidelined. So far, so good: the Grizzlies have won their last two and are building confidence that should pay off both now and when Morant returns later on. On Thursday they’ll look to make it three straight as they face an Oklahoma City Thunder team that’s grown comfortable with losing.
The @memgrizz have won consecutive games without ever trailing in either contest (Nov. 28-30).
According to @EliasSports, the last time the Grizzlies won consecutive games wire-to-wire within a season was from April 6-7, 2012. pic.twitter.com/JJ9hlmXW8A
— Grizzlies PR (@GrizzliesPR) December 1, 2021
OKC have lost seven straight, including their last two to the lowly Houston Rockets. You can’t really blame the Thunder: everyone expected them to be bad, and with so many draft picks over the next two years, they’re winning even when they’re losing. If there are silver linings, it’s that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looks like a stud and Lu Dortz looks pretty good himself. They have a foundation, they just need some more pieces to develop . On paper, a Morant-less Grizzlies team would look like a good chance for Oklahoma City to break their streak, but this Grizzlies team has really impressed me over the last week with their ability to play through adversity. I’ll stick with Memphis.
Michael’s NBA Pick: Memphis Grizzlies (-460)
Noah Dunlap
The Grizzlies host OKC in their third game since Ja Morant went down with a knee strain. They’ve cruised in their first two since the injury, knocking off Sacramento and Toronto, and now they get one of the league’s worst teams coming to town. Even without Ja, I like Jaren Jackson and Desmond Bane to lead the way for Memphis in this one, while getting a decent inside presence from Steven Adams.
Oklahoma City just isn’t very good, as the lineup quite simply can’t compete as it’s currently constructed, but the good news for Thunder fans is that the franchise has a ludicrous number of draft picks over the coming years that should help them in the future. Coming in at 6-15, I see them dropping yet another here, quite possibly by a pretty big number, on the road in Memphis.
Noah’s NBA Pick: Memphis Grizzlies -9.5 (-108)
Detroit Pistons @ Phoenix Suns – 9pm ET
The Phoenix Suns are now officially the best team in basketball, winning 17 straight games and sitting on top of the West with an 18-3 record. Coming off a big clash against the Warriors, which they won by eight, they now host the Detroit Pistons, who have just four wins to their name from 21 games, and have lost seven straight.
Denis Kirilov
The Detroit Pistons will have a hard task ahead of them trying to stop the Suns’ remarkable winning streak. Phoenix won 17 games in a row which equaled their franchise record. They are one game away from rewriting their history and the obstacle couldn’t have been easier – a Detroit Pistons team crawling back in the East with a 4-17 record. The Suns are an out-of-this-world team during this run as each one of them included in the rotation played a significant role for their victories. It’s not only about Devin Booker or Chris Paul. It’s all about their balance, consistency, and teamwork.
The Pistons are on a 7-game losing streak as they came up just short against teams like the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, and Los Angeles Clippers. They are second-to-last in the East having close to 0 hope in making the Playoffs. Their main goal for this season is to build and adapt this team to one another so that they can further work on the progress in the upcoming years. It’s clear that it will be such a huge upset if the Pistons manage to defeat the Suns, but nothing is impossible in the NBA. Knowing that the Suns will have to play the Warriors in their next game, I will expect a bit more effort put in the defense so that they won’t need to waste the energy of their best options on offense. Hence, I will go with the option for “under points” in what promises to be a game for the history books for Phoenix.
Denis’ NBA Pick: Under 208 (-110)
Michael Lantz
The Phoenix Suns got their definitive win of the season on Tuesday night. The Suns beat the 17-2 Golden State Warriors by double digits to win their 17th straight game and officially overtake Golden State as the best team in basketball. After a fierce competition against Steph Curry and Co., the Suns will have a bit of an easier matchup against the Detroit Pistons.
The Pistons had a chance to get a solid road win on Tuesday night, as they played a Dame Lillard-less Trail Blazers team in Portland. Unfortunately, the rest of Portland’s players failed to sense any fear in this Pistons team, as Detroit ended up losing by 18 points. Luckily, first overall pick Cade Cunningham had a great game, scoring a career-high 26 points while shooting 10-13. He continues to look stronger each game, which has to be a sigh of relief for Pistons fans everywhere.
Although that “sigh” will be short lived, as Detroit faces the streaking Suns at home on Thursday night. Not much analysis is needed here; the Suns just stifled the NBA’s best team, they shouldn’t have any issue with the Pistons.
Michael’s NBA Pick: Phoenix Suns -12.5 (-110)
Noah Dunlap
Phoenix picked up the biggest win of the year on Tuesday night, as they knocked off the Golden State Warriors at home. I think that was probably a preview of the Western Conference Finals, and that’s a matchup that we could all appreciate come late May, as they’ve been the two best teams all year long. It didn’t come without issues though, as Devin Booker tweaked his hamstring, and his status remains questionable for this one against Detroit.
The good news for Suns fans is that Booker not playing (if indeed he doesn’t) shouldn’t affect the outcome here, as Chris Paul, De’Andre Ayton, and Cameron Johnson should be able to lead the way past a lowly Detroit Pistons team that has looked like one of the league’s worst. They’ve remained competitive in a few of their losses, which is a good sign for the future, but that doesn’t hold up against a Phoenix team that is playing the best basketball in the league. The Suns keep rolling in this one, picking up their 18th consecutive victory, in relatively large fashion against a team that they simply overpower.
Noah’s NBA Pick: Phoenix Suns -12.5 (-110)
San Antonio Spurs @ Portland Trail Blazers – 10pm ET
The Portland Trail Blazers are nothing if not consistent. Despite being 1-10 on the road this season, they sit at 0.500 due to their 10-1 home record. They will be hoping to add to that tonight when they host the San Antonio Spurs. With just a 6-13 record, along with a 2-7 road record, the Spurs will be hoping for a miracle to beat the Blazers, even though Damian Lillard has already been ruled out of the clash.
Denis Kirilov
The San Antonio Spurs and the Portland Trail Blazers are two really different teams. The Blazers hope to get something out of their best players, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, in what seems to be one of their last good seasons in the NBA. They have been part of the franchise for several years already and they are yet to achieve something big. The Spurs, on the other hand, had to make a swift change in their roster after the end of Duncan-Parker-Ginobili era. They are now in a rebuilding stage as their team is one of the youngest ones in the NBA without much experience.
The Spurs are 12th in the West with 6 wins and 13 losses. They managed to win their last two matches against the Celtics and the Wizards in a comfortable fashion. The Blazers are 9th with a perfectly balanced 11-11 record. Losing three in a row really hit them hard, but this was highly expected since all of these were away games. An interesting fact for the Blazers is that they are 10-1 at home, and 1-10 on the road. Portland is on a 10-game winning streak at Moda Center and is looking to further prolong this run. In my opinion, they are the clear favorites in this one, although Lillard, Little, and Powell are still uncertain for the game. However, I will go with the option for “over points” as I expect the Spurs’ defense to have a hard time stopping Portland’s 3-pointers.
Denis’ NBA Pick: Over 216.5 (-110)
Michael Lantz
The Portland Trail Blazers got a nice win against an upstart Detroit Pistons team on Tuesday night. Even without Damian Lillard, the team was able to put up 110 points thanks to CJ McCollum’s 28 points. They’ll look to make it consecutive wins, as they host a young San Antonio Spurs team at home.
We are still undefeated in our City Edition uniforms 🎥 pic.twitter.com/YU3IckMraY
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) December 1, 2021
Last week, the Spurs were an atrocious 4-13 after an 18-point loss to the Atlanta Hawks. But, after that loss, they won consecutive games beating two playoff worthy teams in the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards. Will these be confident boosters for a young Spurs squad? Dejounte Murray is looking like a potential all-star as he’s averaging 19 points and 8.5 rebounds per game this year. The Spurs young core definitely has a chance against Portland, especially with Lillard out for a few more days. Even though I don’t think this young San Antonio is quite playoff ready, I expect them to give this Lillard-less Blazers team a tough time. This one smells like my upset of the day.
Michael’s NBA Pick: San Antonio Spurs (+132)
Noah Dunlap
This is an interesting matchup between one of the league’s worst teams, and a team that has been disappointing all year long. The Spurs have been simply atrocious for much of the year, and it isn’t really shocking to many people. The roster isn’t very good, and there’s no depth, which only makes matters worse.
For Portland, they were supposed to be a decent team, however an average start to the year made many people question that. It looks as if they may be getting things back on track, as they’re playing slightly better basketball as of late, with Damian Lillard finally looking like the Dame we all know and expect to see. However, it’s been announced that he is going to be sidelined in this one with an abdominal injury, which is bad news if you’re a Blazers fan. Even with CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic running the show, they should be able to knock off San Antonio, but they haven’t played well when it comes to them leading the team so far this year, and I question how that works out in this one too. I actually like for the Spurs to come out and get a win on the road in Portland, against a slightly beat up Trail Blazers squad.
Noah’s NBA Pick: San Antonio Spurs (+132)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.
