Filip Tomic
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I’m looking to land back-to-back bets following Wednesday’s +882 NBA Mega Parlay winner. Good Friday brings us a massive 12-game night with plenty of options to pick from. In the end I’ve settled for 3 teams, find out who made the cute down below.
I would also encourage you to visit our NBA picks page for predictions on the side and total for the rest of Friday’s games.
Now let’s dive into my bet!
LA Lakers ML (+136)
PHX Suns -2.5 (-108)
HOU Rockets -7.5 (-110)
Parlay odds: +767
LA Lakers ML over IND Pacers (+136)
With 5 wins on the bounce, the Lakers are actually tied for the 2nd longest active win streak in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks right now. This team has been on fire offensively during the win streak, averaging 130.2 points per game. Indiana’s leaky offense is the perfect opponent for the Lakers to continue this solid scoring run.
These 2 teams met just 5 days ago in Los Angeles and the Lakers came out on top 150-145 in what was their highest-scoring output in 37 years. In Wednesday’s win over Memphis they were without Anthony Davis, but he is schedule to return to the lineup — which gives LA a huge advantage at the center position. Indiana hasn’t been convincing at all lately, losing 2 of its last 3 games and getting destroyed by the Chicago Bulls 125-99 in the last game. I’ll take the Lakers on the money line.
PHX Suns -2.5 over OKC Thunder (-108)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s absence makes all the difference when betting on this game. Without their leader and best player, the Thunder are in a tough spot against one of the most prolific offenses in the NBA. The Suns are 4-1 SU in their last 5 games and in desperate need of wins to avoid the play-in tournament. They have compiled the better record in head-to-head meetings, as well, winning 8 of the last 12 against OKC.
The Thunder just lost in OT to the red-hot Houston Rockets and they are 1-2 SU over their last 3 games. Although they have beaten the Suns in both meetings so far this season, not having SGA will likely prove to be too much to overcome. Losing to the Wemby-less Spurs on Monday was a wakeup call for Phoenix. We just saw the Suns take down the defending champions on the road a couple of days ago. I have them covering the spread on Friday.
HOU Rockets -7.5 over UTA Jazz (-110)
This should be a slam dunk bet by all accounts. The Houston Rockets are currently the owners of the NBA’s longest win streak at 10 wins in a row, they take on a Utah Jazz squad that is a mere 2-13 SU over its last 15 games. Not only that, but the Jazz are also posting historically bad numbers on the defensive end during this stretch — allowing 122.9 points per 100 possessions. They are 3.6 points worse than the 29th-ranked Raptors. Toronto and Charlotte are the only 2 teams with a worse Net Rating than Utah’s -11.4 during this stretch.
Houston has been a joy to watch ever since Alperen Sengun went down with a season-ending leg injury. Their pace has gone up significantly and the Rockets are just playing with much more fluidity on the offensive end. Only Boston has a better offensive efficiency in the last 10 games; the Rockets are beating teams by an average of 13.2 points during this run. I have them winning this one by at least 8 points fairly easily.
