A quiet Tuesday evening across the league with just five games of NBA! The big news is that Kevin Durant is out due to COVID-19 protocols and our NBA picks have to adjust accordingly!
We have two rematches from Sunday night games and we are backing both teams who won to get another tonight, while Portland is looking to bounce back from letting Steph Curry drop 62 points on them in a loss.
Check out our NBA picks for money line, spread and game totals markets for all five games below!
Utah Jazz @ Brooklyn Nets – 7:30PM ET
The big news for this one is that Kevin Durant is out due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols. This has come at the worst possible time as Brooklyn has just a 3-4 record and has lost four of their last five games.
Last season in Kyrie Irving’s 20 games, the Nets went 8-12 and come up against a 4-2 Utah Jazz team that has won their last two, six points over the Clippers and 21 points over the Spurs. Bojan Bogdanovic broke out of his shooting slump with 28 points on 10/13 shooting while Donovan Mitchell had 22 points and 9 assists in the win over the Spurs.
The Nets will have to rely heavily on Irving, who has shot 50% or better from the field in just one of the last three games. This is already after the Nets had to fill a starting role when Spencer Dinwiddie went down with an ACL injury. Caris Levert seems to be the obvious one to step up but they seem set on keeping him as the sixth man and they are now getting really thin in the rotation.
Utah should be winning this one while the Nets adjust to their new lineup.
NBA Pick – Utah Jazz (-191)
NBA Spread – Utah Jazz -4.5 (-110)
Game Totals Pick – Under 225.5 (-105)
Los Angeles Lakers @ Memphis Grizzlies – 8PM ET
A rematch of Sunday night sees the Los Angeles Lakers attempt to win their second straight in Memphis. This was actually a very tight game, with the Grizzlies trailing by just two points heading into the last quarter. LeBron James then scored 10 straight for the Lakers before assisting on a Wesley Matthews three and the Lakers were up by seven and never looked back from there.
Logo LeBron making it look too easy 🎯
Catch the @Lakers vs. Grizzlies at 8:00pm ET on NBA TV! #CenterCourt pic.twitter.com/74DaR6eRsu
— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 5, 2021
James ended with 22 points, 13 boards and 8 assists while Anthony Davis had 17 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks in the win and the Lakers are beginning to look very comfortable in their rotation.
Memphis once again struggled without Ja Morant. Dillon Brooks who had taken over most of the scoring only managed nine points on 3/15 shooting with Kyle Anderson’s 18 points being the most for the Grizzlies.
The Lakers will be wary of the Grizzlies wanting to come out harder in this one given it is the second leg of the set, but Los Angeles shouldn’t be dropping these games and will get the win here.
NBA Pick – Los Angeles Lakers (-420)
NBA Spread – Los Angeles Lakers -9 (-110)
Game Totals Pick – Under 218 (-105)
Minnesota Timberwolves @ Denver Nuggets – 9PM ET
Another rematch of a Sunday night fixture, this time the Timberwolves and Nuggets do battle in Denver. The Nuggets got the 15 point win in Minnesota two nights ago but they were actually trailing after three quarters. A 17-2 run to start the quarter gave them a nice cushion that they were able to maintain for the last seven minutes of the game.
Jamal Murray was the lead scorer for the game with 36 points on 65% shooting while Nikola Jokic had another triple double. The important thing for the Nuggets was three different players off the bench scored in double figures and they had more assists and rebounds than the Wolves.
Malik Beasley continued to score with ease, dropping 25 points, 7 boards and 5 assists while Jarrett Culver had the fourth highest scoring game of his career and most this season with 20 points.
This was a better performance from Minnesota but it was a fourth straight double figure loss since losing Karl-Anthony Towns and with this game being in the Mile High City, Denver should have another easy win here.
NBA Pick – Denver Nuggets (-631)
NBA Spread – Denver Nuggets -10.5 (-110)
Game Totals Pick – Under 225.5 Total Points (-105)
San Antonio Spurs @ Los Angeles Clippers – 10PM ET
After backing the Clippers to put a halt to Phoenix’s dream run, we are backing them to win in convincing fashion when hosting the Spurs tonight.
Paul George went off on Sunday with 39 points on 62.5% shooting with seven threes and played with an edge that will allow him to have the confidence to let it fly this season. The one worry for the Clippers was giving up a big lead yet again.
Last time out, the team hit 16+ threes for the fourth time this season, shooting 58.6% from beyond the arch vs. Phoenix.
📼 Clippers CourtVision pres. by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/v9o9XmxzRD
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) January 5, 2021
After being up by 20 points at half time, the Suns cut the lead to just one point early in the last quarter and the Clippers can’t continue to do this. They managed to win the game and hopefully they can take the momentum of their rally moving forward and into this contest.
The Spurs have no momentum whatsoever, losing four straight and most recently by 21 points to the Utah Jazz. Keldon Johnson once again led the team in scoring with 22 points but Dejounte Murray had just 4 points on 1/13 shooting and the Spurs are lacking consistent effort and ability on both ends of the floor.
There will be some feel in this one with Kawhi Leonard going up against Gregg Popovich and the Spurs, but the Clippers are a better team, at home, and will be winning this.
NBA Pick – Los Angeles Clippers (-460)
NBA Spread – San Antonio Spurs +9.5 (-110)
Game Totals Pick – Under 228 Total Points (-105)
Chicago Bulls @ Portland Trail Blazers – 10:30PM ET
The Bulls are in the middle of a COVID-19 contact tracing situation meaning Lauri Markkanen won’t be with the team on the upcoming road trip and he is a big out for Chicago.
The Bulls are coming off a 10-point win over the Luka Doncic-less Dallas Mavericks where Zach LaVine went off with 39 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals and Coby White contributed 23 points and seven rebounds.
The fully healthy Portland Trail Blazers are much tougher competition, especially coming off an embarrassing 15-point loss to the Warriors where they allowed Steph Curry to explode for 62 points. Damien Lillard scored 66 points in the two games against the Warriors and will be wanting to keep his good form going against the Bulls.
Portland will enjoy getting back home and coming up against an undermanned Chicago side who have had to travel across the country for this contest. Take the Blazers at home
NBA Pick – Portland Trail Blazers (-460)
NBA Spread – Chicago Bulls +9.5 (-110)
Game Totals Pick – Under 232 Total Points (-105)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of PointsBet.
