Andrew Ortenberg
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The weekend is here and we’ve got a great night of betting action to get excited for, with the spotlight on the NBA and college basketball with the NHL on their All-Star break. Having plenty of hardwood games to attack means we can craft a cross-sport parlay, especially after we cashed Wednesday’s parlay at 10/1 odds! I’ve taken two picks each from the NBA and NCAAB, and a winning ticket on those bad boys returns +1232 odds with FanDuel Sportsbook — north of 12/1!
Let’s break down each of these plays.
NCAAB: Oregon Ducks -3.5 (-114) over Utah Utes, 8:30 pm ET
Oregon has been on fire recently, winning eight of their past nine games, and I don’t expect them to slow down here. The Ducks are 7-3 in PAC 12 play, and all three of those losses were by four points or fewer so they easily could be a lot better. Senior guard Will Richardson has been playing at a really high level, shooting 45 percent from deep while playing great defense. Utah on the other hand is in the midst of a downward spiral.
The Utes ‘bounced back’ in their most recent game by beating a 3-16 Oregon State team, but right before that they had lost 10 games in a row. One of those losses was to that same terrible Oregon Sate team by double digits! When these teams played earlier this year Oregon won by 13, and that was before they started playing as well as they are now.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for Oregon Ducks vs Utah Utes
NBA: Oklahoma City Thunder +8.5 over Sacramento Kings (-114), 10:10 pm ET
I don’t care if Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is out for the Thunder, the Kings laying this many points against just about anybody is ridiculous. Sacramento has lost eight of their last nine games, and the only win in that span came against a Brooklyn team that’s falling apart at the seams. Plenty of the Kings’ recent losses have been embarrassing, like when they lost by 53 to the Celtics. On the flip side, OKC has actually won three games in a row since SGA went down.
Other guys have really stepped up for the Thunder in Gilgeous-Alexander’s absence, most notably Lu Dort. Dort is averaging 23.7 points per game in those three contests. They even just beat the Mavericks on the road, so I think they can hang with the lowly Kings here. I’m taking OKC on the spread, and I’m also taking a nibble on the money line.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for Oklahoma City Thunder vs Sacramento Kings
NBA: Milwaukee Bucks -10.5 (-110) over Portland Trail Blazers, 10:10 pm ET
For the next leg of this parlay I’m laying the points with Milwaukee. Portland is an absolute mess right now and they just traded away Norman Powell and Robert Covington for peanuts, signaling they’re officially throwing in the towel on this season. I expect the team to come out somewhat demoralized here, as they’re dealing with a ton of injuries on top of it all. The Trail Blazers have now failed to top 94 points in three straight games, which is pretty hard to do in today’s NBA. Those games were against the Thunder, Lakers and Thunder again. Not exactly a murderer’s row. The Bucks can run up the score in a hurry and each of their past two wins have come by at least 14, so I’m not worried about laying a number this large with them.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for Milwaukee Bucks vs Portland Trail Blazers
NCAAB: Arizona State Sun Devils+10 (-106) over UCLA Bruins, 10:00 pm ET
Heading back to college hoops to wrap up this cross-sport parlay. While I’m laying 10 points with the Bucks, I’m grabbing the 10 points with Arizona State. This is just too large of a number here at home, even though ASU has been a big disappointment this season. UCLA plays at a relatively slow pace and is a defense-oriented team, so their style of play isn’t exactly conducive to blowing teams out. The Bruins have played four road games during PAC 12 play. They lost one of them outright, and the three wins all came by eight points or fewer. Arizona State’s offense has been a disaster but their defense has been very solid, and they should be able to limit UCLA enough offensively to keep this one within single digits.
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