Our free NBA picks are out for Wednesday, December 1st, 2021! Make sure you check our expert NBA picks before the action kicks off.
Look below to find our free NBA picks for the five best games on today’s schedule!
Atlanta Hawks @ Indiana Pacers – 7pm ET
Two of the East’s most underperforming sides face off tonight, hoping that a new month will bring them better fortune. The Indiana Pacers are yet to reach 10-wins and have won only one of their last four games, while the Atlanta Hawks, who the Pacers host, are only one-game above 0.500 and that is after the fact they’ve won seven of their last eight.
Denis Kirilov
The Atlanta Hawks face the Indiana Pacers in a really promising match on Wednesday in the NBA. They will travel to Bankers Life Fieldhouse where the fans are eager to see 8th straight win for the Pacers against the Hawks at home in the League. Both teams have shown their weaknesses in the beginning of this season, but with some fantastic runs, they managed to climb some way back. The Hawks are 7th with a positive record, while the Pacers are 13th in the East with 9 wins and 14 losses.
Atlanta managed to clinch onto 7 straight wins before losing against the New York Knicks on Monday. Indiana is in a bit of trouble, as they are still looking for their first 3-game winning streak this season. They are coming into this game after two losses, an expected one against the Milwaukee Bucks and a disappointing one against the Minnesota Timberwolves who have once again proved that they are a tough team. In my opinion, exactly their most recent game will have a great negative impact on the Pacers as they will face plenty of difficulties against Trae Young and his teammates. Although Bogdan Bogdanovic and De’Andre Hunter are unavailable for the Hawks, I think they will close out this one and cut the Pacers winning streak against them.
Denis’ NBA Pick: Atlanta Hawks (+102)
Michael Lantz
After seven straight wins, the Atlanta Hawks hit the end of their path of glory, losing to a New York Knicks team that seeked revenge for last year’s playoff loss. The Hawks lost 99-90, as the Knicks brought back the defensive intensity that made them such a problem for opposing teams last season. The Hawks will get a few more cracks at the Knicks this year, but for now their focus shifts to the Indiana Pacers.
Trae Young’s last 12 games:
33 PTS – 7 AST
31 PTS – 10 AST
31 PTS – 11 AST
30 PTS – 6 AST
19 PTS – 9 AST
18 PTS – 11 AST
23 PTS – 6 AST
42 PTS – 10 AST
30 PTS – 9 AST
27 PTS – 6 AST
28 PTS – 9 AST
31 PTS – 13 AST pic.twitter.com/aT1ObjDHJm— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) November 28, 2021
On Monday night, the Pacers fell short to the Minnesota Timberwolves, 100-98, despite a triple-double from Domantas Sabonis and 25 points from Malcolm Brogdon. Now, at 9-14 on the season, the Pacers are starting to fall away from the pack and look more like a lottery team than a playoff contender. Luckily, the season is still young and this Pacers team has so much talent; they could turn it around at any point. Wednesday would be a great start as they hope to take out a Hawks team that’s starting to look a lot like last season’s breakout squad.
The Hawks go big at the three-point line, as they currently sit in fourth for three-point percentage. Indiana on the other hand, hasn’t necessarily prevented the threes from going in, but they have prevented teams from taking them, as they sit in second for fewest opposition three point attempts per game. This will be an interesting aspect of the game to watch, because it may force Atlanta to go more inside, where they have Clint Capela and John Collins, but Indiana has Sobanis and Myles Turner. I think it should be another close one for Indiana, but I’ll pick Atlanta, whose coach Nate McMillan will have a chance to defeat his former employer.
Michael’s NBA Pick: Atlanta Hawks (+102)
Noah Dunlap
Atlanta comes into this one having just seen their seven game winning streak come to an end at the hands of the New York Knicks. They still played reasonably well in the loss, but the Knicks finally came out with the defensive effort that caused problems for teams early in the year. I look for the Hawks to continue the solid play in this one, against a team that just isn’t as good as New York.
Indiana comes in as a bit of a whirlwind basketball team so far this season. After a terrible start in which they played virtually no defense, they looked like they may have found a rhythm and were looking to turn a corner before stumbling once again. The defense hasn’t been as bad as they were early in the year, but they’re struggling again, and the offense is still performing worse than many thought they would coming into the year. I like Trae Young to have a big night, and get a little help down low from Clint Capela, and the Hawks get the win on the road in Indiana.
Noah’s NBA Pick: Atlanta Hawks (+102)
Minnesota Timberwolves @ Washington Wizards – 7pm ET
While teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves and Washington Wizards may not seem like a typical headline act, both of these two sides are extremely exciting and performing above and beyond this season. The Wizards have looked like one of the best teams in the East while the Timberwolves might be the hottest team in the league right now, winning seven of their last eight.
Denis Kirilov
This will be yet another interesting matchup to follow on Wednesday night in the NBA. The Minnesota Timberwolves will travel to Washington in an attempt to prolong their winning streak to 3 games. Surprisingly for many, the Timberwolves are on a 7-1 run recently as they managed to defeat some of the best teams in the NBA including the Memphis Grizzlies, the Miami Heat, and the Philadelphia 76ers. The sheer understanding between Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards, and D’Angelo Russell is what makes the team so dangerous. They draw the opposing defense in such ways that many times throughout the games they will have a chance at an open shot.
The Wizards, on the other hand, are 5th in the current standings in the Eastern Conference with the potential to climb up to the 2nd place, if they win tomorrow and their direct rivals lose their matches. This short-term achievement is not Wizards’ goal at the moment as they are looking a bit far in the future, setting their eyes onto the possible Playoffs in the spring. The situation in the East is quite tight in the top 10 and every team might drop their spot if they enter into a huge losing streak. So, in my opinion that’s what these teams will try to avoid and so far, the Wizards are on a 0-1 run ahead of this game. They surely have players who know how to stop the attacking trio of Minnesota and I believe this will be enough for them to leave Capital One Arena victorious.
Denis’ NBA Pick: Washington Wizards (-156)
Michael Lantz
Before the season started, this game would’ve been easy to overlook, but now an exciting Minnesota Timberwolves team visits a Washington Wizards team that sits near the top of the Eastern Conference. At 11-10 the Timberwolves are proving it’s just a matter of time before they become a legitimate threat in the west. If they’re able to hold onto the likes of Karl Anthony-Towns, Anthony Edwards, and D’Angelo Russell, and surround the rest of the team with a veteran presence, they will make big waves soon. On Wednesday, they’ll travel to the nation’s capital to play a Wizards team that’s mostly been exceeding expectations.
The “mostly” is because they suffered a brutal loss to the lowly San Antonio Spurs on Monday night, falling 116-99. There’s some concern about the interior play of the Wizards, as they’ve depended heavily on Daniel Gafford to handle the inside with Thomas Bryant injured. The Spurs exposed this, out-rebounding the Wizards 51-40 and outsourcing them 72-56 in the paint. The Wizards are one of the top ten rebounding teams in the league, so that was a bit of an uncharacteristic stat, but if the Spurs can take advantage of some down low play, the Wolves with Towns’ 6’11 height and Edwards’ penetrating ability, should be able to as well. The Timberwolves have also sneakily been good on defense, as they lead the league in creating turnover and are seventh in defensive rating.
If this one was in Minnesota, I think the Timberwolves would be mychoice, but the Wizards have been 7-2 at home this year, so I’ll choose them to win a close one.
Michael’s NBA Pick: Washington Wizards (-156)
Noah Dunlap
This matchup very quietly has the potential to be one of the better games we’ve seen in the NBA over the past few weeks. The Washington Wizards come in having surprised many people throughout the league, as they’ve managed to start the year with one of the best records in the Eastern Conference, behind the play of Bradley Beal, but also new additions Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell that they acquired in the offseason. The one area of concern is an ugly loss to San Antonio in their last outing, a game that seemingly virtually no one on the roster seemed all that interested in playing.
On the other side, Minnesota has also found their rhythm, after starting the year relatively poorly. With Karl-Anthony Towns playing great basketball as expected, but also getting tremendous help from Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell, this is a team that, over the past two to three weeks, has looked like one of the better teams in the league. I like Towns to be able to have a big night against an iffy Wizards paint presence, and I think we see Anthony Edwards prove that he’s ready for a big time matchup, as he manages to play step for step with Bradley Beal. The T-Wolves go into Washington, and get a tight, tight win on the road.
Noah’s NBA Pick: Minnesota Timberwolves (+132)
Philadelphia 76ers @ Boston Celtics – 7:30pm ET
The Boston Celtics host the Philadelphia 76ers in a traditional rivalry match-up, however both of these sides are not playing at the heights that we are used to. Both sides are perennial postseason fixtures, yet they both sit at just 11-10 this season and out of the traditional top-8 postseason picture as it stands right now.
Denis Kirilov
The clash between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics will draw many people’s attention on Wednesday in the NBA. Both teams have been one of the top contenders in the East recently as Boston reached the Conference Finals three times in the last five years, while Philly have only managed to get past the First Round again on three occasions. Although people thought that the 76ers are the superior team having Joel Embiid in their roster, they have only disappointed them when it was time for the Playoffs.
The situation right now is not so different as everybody expects to see both the Celtics and the 76ers qualifying for the postseason. However, as of today, Boston and Philly are 8th and 9th with 11 wins and 10 losses each. They have had some troubles in the early stages this season as the 76ers struggled with Covid-19-related issues, while the Celtics’ main players, Tatum and Brown, had a hard time finding their rhythm. For me, Philadelphia has a bigger potential than their opponents as they have players like Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle who want to let everybody know what they are capable of, while the main roster focused around Embiid, Curry, and Harris is hungry for glory. I think they will eventually get the win in TD Garden.
Denis’ NBA Pick: Philadelphia 76ers (+116)
Michael Lantz
In an always fun to watch rivalry game, the Philadelphia 76ers face the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night at the TD Garden. Philly is thrilled to have their squad (aside from Ben Simmons of course) pretty much back to full-strength, and even better: it doesn’t look like Joel Embiid has missed a beat after being out with COVID. In his first two games back he’s averaged 29 points and 13.5 rebounds. He’ll be incredibly important against a Celtics team that’s also back at full-strength and keep looking to be on the verge of taking off.
24 PTS | 2 REB | 2 STL
the Curry was hot tonight. 🌶
🎥 presented by @PALottery pic.twitter.com/Jrko2OB0Z1
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) November 30, 2021
After consecutive losses to the Nets and Spurs, the Celtics got a solid win against a Toronto Raptors team with plenty of talent. They held Toronto to under 38% from the field and 31% from three, and they hope to have the same success against a 76ers team that’s fairly deep with shooting talent. Still, when fully healthy, the 76ers have seemed to have the Celtics figured out, as they’ve won seven of their last eight against Boston. They’ll hope to keep this going, even without Simmons. Both of these teams seem to be getting comfortable with having a full healthy team again, after weeks of various lineup changes. That being said, I like the 76ers to build off their win against Orlando the other night and continue to give the C’s some issues, especially with Embiid.
Michael’s NBA Pick: Philadelphia 76ers (+116)
Noah Dunlap
In a battle of Northeast (supposed to have been league contenders), we get one contender and one team that has been a disappointment all year long. Now that the Sixers are back to (basically) full strength, they’re sure to turn up the heat again on the teams that passed them in the standings while Embiid and company were out. It also doesn’t hurt that in two games back from his Covid absence, Embiid has gone right back to his MVP-level play, as he’s averaging 29 and 14.
Boston has struggled all year, despite having a pretty talented roster. They simply haven’t been able to shoot consistently, and oftentimes their shooting has been downright abysmal. Jayson Tatum has shown flashes of getting back to his potential, but for much of the year he’s been somewhat disappointing, and while Jaylen Brown has played really well, he can’t do it all himself. The C’s lack a good enough presence down low to help stop Embiid, and I expect him to take full advantage of that, leading his Sixers to a reasonably comfortable win on the road.
Noah’s NBA Pick: Philadelphia 76ers (+116)
Cleveland Cavaliers @ Miami Heat – 7:30pm ET
While these two franchises are most famous recently for one man, they are both exceeding expectations without him this season, and even performing better than him as well. The Miami Heat host the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight in a matchup between one of the East’s best teams and one of the East’s most overachieving teams.
Denis Kirilov
The Cleveland Cavaliers just began to look like a very dangerous team and their top scorer, Collin Sexton, suffered one of the most unpleasant injuries in the NBA. He will be out indefinitely and on top of that, their rookie, Evan Mobley, who showed huge potential in the opening games, has gone out injured for 4 games which were lost by the Cavs. Since his return, the team has gathered two wins – a 13-point victory over the Magic at home and a surprising 18-point win over the Mavs in their American Airlines Center. The Cavaliers have the convenience of using three 7’0’’ players in the face of Lauri Markkanen, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen and at the same time having quick and fast guards like Darius Garland and Ricky Rubio.
The Miami Heat has struggled to assert their dominance recently as they haven’t won by a double-digit number for 5 games already. Moreover, they lost three of these five matches to tough opponents like the Washington Wizards, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Denver Nuggets. However, the team is missing some of their players recently due to several reasons. Jimmy Butler has been sidelined in 4 out of the Heat last 10 games, while Tyler Herro has been out for two games in a row due to taking some rest. With Bam Adebayo, Kyle Lowry, and Duncan Robinson, I think they still have the upper hand in this duel. For me, if Tyler Herro plays, Miami will be able to cover the spread easily.
Denis’ NBA Pick: Miami Heat -8.5 (-110)
Michael Lantz
After an impressive start to the season, things started to look rough for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Their leading scorer Collin Sexton went down with an injury that ended up costing him the rest of the season and then they lost star rookie Evan Mobley and impact center Jarrett Allen to minor injuries as well. They proceeded to go on a short skid, but as those latter two have healed, they’ve shown some spark all over again. After a close contest against a Suns team that’s seldom lost this season, they went on to beat the Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks by double digits. Allen is making big steps at his position since returning from injury and a lot of that has to do with the assistance he’s getting from newly acquired 7’0 Lauri Markkanen, who gives him some assistance down low. They’ll look to continue their up-and-coming play against a Heat team that has their eyes on winning the Eastern Conference.
The only problem is, Miami hasn’t looked like that kind of team. After starting out the season looking like they were ready to run away with the conference, the Heat have had their fair share of ups and downs lately. They had a big win against a tough Bulls team, but lost to a young Timberwolves team and then a Nuggets team that they had a heated exchange with in their previous matchup. The Heat cannot look past this Cavs team that’s starting to build a lot of confidence across the floor. I think Jimmy Butler and Co. will take the cake at home, but I like the Cavs to play them tough and cover.
Michael’s NBA Pick: Cleveland Cavaliers +8.5 (-110)
Noah Dunlap
Cleveland looked as if they were going to be the surprise of the league early in the year, as many people expected them to be horrible, yet they came out through the first three weeks or so of the year and looked like an actual contender. And then disaster struck. They lost their best player, Collin Sexton, for the year, and almost immediately after, they then lost star rookie Evan Mobley for roughly three weeks as well. Mobley is finally back, and they’re back to playing decent basketball, but the excitement just isn’t there for this team without Sexton in the lineup.
For Miami, they have the talent to be one of the best teams in the East, and early in the year they showed just that. However, they’ve hit a bit of a skid as of late, despite being virtually completely healthy, and that has some people worried. Despite the rough play of late, Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, and Jimmy Butler just have too much talent, especially playing at home, to fall to a Cleveland Cavaliers squad that’s seen it’s season take a sharp turn with the Sexton injury. Take the Heat at home, and take the points with them.
Noah’s NBA Pick: Miami Heat -8.5 (-110)
Charlotte Hornets @ Milwaukee Bucks – 8pm ET
The Milwaukee Bucks will put their seven-game winning streak on the line when they host the Charlotte Hornets this evening. Both sides have been playing great basketball lately, with the Bucks looking to assert their dominance over an up-and-coming side while the Hornets are looking to go big-name hunting. Who will come out on top? Our experts let you know below.
Denis Kirilov
The match between the Charlotte Hornets and the Milwaukee Bucks will be the last game in the Eastern Conference on Wednesday in the NBA. Both teams are in top 6 of the current standings as Charlotte are a bit behind their opponent. The Bucks are 4th with 13 wins and 8 losses, while the Hornets follow them closely with the same number of victories, but with 2 more losses to their name. The reigning champions have been struggling a lot in the opening stages of the campaign as they had troubles with Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez and even Jrue Holiday. After the team got Khris Middleton back in the roster, Giannis’ game took a huge leap forward as he entered his Playoffs mode.
The Bucks are off to 7 straight wins ahead of this matchup against the Hornets at home. They have been one of the most dominant teams in the NBA, if we only look at the most recent performance. Their excellence on court is further displayed through their winning margin lately. They defeated the Magic by 31 points and the Pistons by 21 points. Later on, the Bucks didn’t give chances to the Nuggets and the Pacers in their home courts as they won the games by 11 points and 18 points respectively. However, the Hornets have proved they can be quite strong and unpredictable and I will trust this surprising factor in tomorrow’s game. My preferences go to Charlotte covering their spread.
Denis’ NBA Pick: Charlotte Hornets +8.5 (-110)
Michael Lantz
Here comes Charlotte: the Hornets have (barely) overtaken the Golden State Warriors as the leaders in points per game, proving they’re one of the NBA’s deadliest offenses. They may still have some kinks to work out on defense, but the Hornets have a 13-10 record and have a lot of exciting players including LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges and Terry Rozier. With some big wins already on the year (Golden State, Washington 2x), they’ll look to add to their resume with a victory against the defending champs.
It has been 144 days since the Milwaukee Bucks lost a game where Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, and Giannis Antetokounmpo played together. pic.twitter.com/S07EtFqBnW
— President Antetokounmpo (@nihilist_bucks) November 29, 2021
After a few weeks of frustration due to COVID and injuries, the Milwaukee Bucks are back wreaking havoc. The Bucks have won seven straight and they don’t even have Brook Lopez back in the starting lineup yet. Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to prove why he might be the best player in the world as he averages 27 points and nearly 12 rebounds per game. But, you better believe he loves having Kris Middleton back in the lineup. Middleton might only be averaging a little over 14 points per game since his return, but having him on the floor makes defenses change their game plan—relieving the burden from Giannis’s shoulders. As much as I think the Hornets could pull off another big win, I just think this Milwaukee team, at home, is too complete.
Michael’s NBA Pick: Milwaukee Bucks (-360)
Noah Dunlap
Charlotte comes into this one as a team that could be extremely dangerous, if they could just play even remotely balanced basketball. They lead the league in points per game, but the defense has been atrocious, which is why they’re sitting at barely .500 on the year. Against a team in Milwaukee that just won a title last year, partially due to solid defense, I think this poses a problem for the Hornets, as I like the Bucks to slow down the high powered Charlotte, while scoring at will on that porous defense.
Milwaukee has struggled at times this year, but that’s due to the fact that they spend the first month or so of the season dealing with injuries and Covid. Since they’ve gotten back close to full strength (minus Brook Lopez) they’ve run off seven straight and are showing how and why they won the title last year. Unless Charlotte finds some defense overnight, which seems unlikely, I like the Bucks to take this one with ease.
Noah’s NBA Pick: Milwaukee Bucks -8.5 (-110)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.
