Happy Wednesday, basketball fans! Nick Marro here, providing you with my best bets for today’s (11/23) NBA slate. I plan to provide these ‘Nick’s Picks’ articles about twice a week for the entirety of the 2022-2023 season. I don’t like playing heavy juice, so all of my picks will be priced at line of (-150) or better. Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter with any questions.
We turned in a perfect 3-0 record last time out, so we improved to 8-4 on the young season. We have a solid slate of NBA action tonight, here are my favorite plays.
MLB Season Record: (57-51)
NBA Season Record: (8-4)
Overall 2022 Bets Record: (65-55)
Minnesota Timberwolves @ Indiana Pacers @ 7:00 EST
Nick’s Pick: Indiana Pacers ATS, PK (-110)
The Pacers are 11-5 Against the Spread (ATS) this season, 6-3 at Home. They’ve won five of their last six games played at Home and tonight they look to build on this momentum as they surprisingly rank top-10 in the NBA in both effective field goal percentage and offensive efficiency.
The Pacers haven’t had to play a back-to-back since October 21st-22nd. They’re as healthy as they’ve been all season with Tyrese Haliburton avoiding an injury scare earlier last week.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are just 6-11 Against the Spread this season. They’ve struggled to space the floor with their offseason addition of Rudy Gobert and their 14.1 Turnover Ratio ranks 23rd in the NBA.
Both teams should be well rested here, and I expect this game will be competitive. Still, I like the value on the Pacers PK (-110) price at Home in this one.
Portland Trailblazers @ Cleveland Cavaliers @ 7:00 EST
Nick’s Pick: Game Total, Under 217.5 Points (-110)
The game total has stayed Under in each of the Trailblazers last five games played. The Trailblazers have seen the Under hit in 60% of their games played this season and they recently lost their best offensive player in Damian Lillard for 1-2 weeks due to a calf injury.
The Cleveland Cavaliers rank 29th in the NBA in Pace Factor. They rank 3rd in Defensive Efficiency, and they’ve seen the game total stay Under in two of their last three games played. The 217.5 point total in this match-up is one of the lowest on the slate, but I still see value on it staying Under (-110).
Chicago Bulls @ Milwaukee Bucks @ 8:00 EST
Nick’s Pick: Milwaukee Bucks, ATS, -7.5 (-110)
The Milwaukee Bucks rank 1st in the NBA in Defensive Efficiency. They’re 10-6 ATS this season, 7-3 ATS at Home. They also just got back one of their better players in Jrue Holiday.
The Bulls rank just 19th in Turnover Ratio, 19th in Effective Field Goal Percentage, and 18th in Offensive Efficiency this season. They’re 1-4 ATS in their last five games played. As long as both Antetokounmpo and Holiday are both in their starting lineup, I like the Bucks to cover the 7.5 point spread (-110) as favorites in Milwaukee.
-Nick Marro
Twitter: @NickMarroDFS