Welcome Back Everyone! The NBA is finally back. Although it’s going to look and feel a lot different than what we’ve been accustomed to watching. There won’t be any home-court advantage or any fans watching the games. In the end, all that truly matters is that everyone stays safe. So let’s get locked and loaded as I break down some of my favorite plays for opening night.
-NBA Schedule-
Utah Jazz vs. New Orleans Pelicans – At 6:30 P.M. E.T.
Los Angeles Clippers vs. Los Angeles Lakers – At 9:00 P.M. E.T
–Best Bets–
Game 1: Jazz Vs. Pelicans
The Pelicans are coming into this season with everything to lose as they are fighting for the last playoff spot. They will be ready for Utah who will be without Bojan Bogdanovic for the contest. He’s a key player in the their rotation and losing him hurts them on both ends of the floor. On the other hand, the Pelicans have Zion listed as questionable going into this one. Either way, New Orleans will look too push the tempo as they play at the 2nd fastest PACE in the NBA. Whereas Utah is ranked 25th in the NBA in PACE.
These two teams played three times this season and all three games yielded at least 248 points. The game total for this game is listed at 223 combined points on DraftKings. Both offenses can pile up buckets in a hurry; so I’m going to put my money on the points tonight.
The Pick: Jazz Vs. Pelicans — O 223 Points (-112) Odds
Game 2: Lakers Vs. Clippers
This is going to be an extremely exciting match-up as we’ll get to see the number 1 and 2 seed in the Western Conference clash in the opening game. This will be the fourth time these teams have met over the past year and the Clippers walked away with the winning record of (2-1) in the regular season series.
On the year, Leonard averaged 26.9 PPG through a total of 51 games played. DraftKings Sports Book has Leonard listed at 26.5 points for this game. Going off that, Leonard averages 30.66 PPG against the Lakers this year through three games. That is almost 4 points higher than his average output across all teams. Clearly Leonard steps it up when LeBron and the Lakers are in town. Overall, I’m going to roll with Kawhi and his points tonight.
The Pick: Kawhi Leonard — O 26.5 Points (-112) Odds
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