Ricky Dimon
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The first week of the 2023-24 NBA season continues on Friday night with an intriguing slate that is headlined by a doubleheader on ESPN. It begins with the Boston Celtics hosting the Miami Heat before the Golden State Warriors pay a visit to the Sacramento Kings. The opener is a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference Finals, in which Miami upset Boston in 7 games. Both teams are 1-0 heading into Friday’s showdown.
Here is my Same Game Parlay for the festivities, which will be televised starting at 7:30 pm ET on ESPN. You can also find out our NBA picks for each of tonight’s matchups.
Miami Heat +8 (-108)
Tyler Herro to make 4+ 3-pointers (+200)
Jayson Tatum to score 30+ points (+170)
NBA Parlay odds: +1252
Part of the value in a Same Game Parlay, of course, is that all of its components can be correlated if you so choose. That is some of the plan here, as Tyler Herro draining a handful of 3-pointers would obviously work well with a Miami cover. At the same time, plays that aren’t correlated drive up the overall payout of the parlay. That is the case with backing Jayson Tatum to reach the 30-point mark. But even if that happens, there is no reason why the Heat can’t be competitive. Let’s break down each of the 3 legs.
Miami Heat +8 over Boston Celtics (-108)
I will happily take 8 points in this matchup pretty much under any circumstances – and especially at the very start of the season when no team is likely to be a well-oiled machine. Close games can be expected, and that is exactly what these clubs played in their respective openers. Miami scraped past the Detroit Pistons 103-102, while Boston defeated the New York Knicks 108-104. The Celtics just barely won even though Kristaps Porzingis went crazy with 30 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks, and I’m not expecting a repeat performance from him today. The Heat got the best of this matchup in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, winning 3 times on the Celtics’ home floor. This is another winnable game for the visitors.
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Tyler Herro to make 4+ 3-pointers (+200)
Tyler Herro forked up a team-high 24 shots in Miami’s season-opening defeat of Detroit; nobody else on the roster had more than 18 attempts (Jimmy Butler). Seven of those came from 3-point range, of which Herro connected on 2. Given the volume of shots he took and figures to take again on Friday, asking him to double that number should not be too much (especially not at +200 odds). Boston watched New York drain 18 shots from the land of plenty on Wednesday, shooting 43.9% from distance. It’s also worth noting that the Celtics were one of the best teams in the league at defending the interior last season (6th in points in the paint allowed per game), so the Heat may have to do most of their damage from the perimeter.
Jayson Tatum to score 30+ points (+170)
This play really doesn’t conflict too much with Miami covering a +8 spread, as Jayson Tatum will be more inclined to take matters into his own hands throughout the night if the game is competitive or if Boston is losing. Plus, Tatum scoring 30 or more points is commonplace; it’s not like the Celtics are guaranteed to crush opponents whenever the former Duke standout is getting buckets. Tatum delivered 34 points on efficient 13-for-22 shooting on Wednesday, so he already appears to be in midseason form. The former #3 overall pick averaged 30.1 ppg during the 2022-23 campaign and hit the 30-point mark 4 times in 7 contests during last season’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat.
Check out our Warriors vs Kings Same Game Parlay too at +718 odds!
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