The NBA slate is overflowing with games tonight as 22 teams will take the court. Of all the games, the one I will be waiting for is the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers on TNT at 10:00pm ET. LeBron James will be back after missing a few games with an ankle injury, Julius Randle is in a revenge spot and Anthony Davis is coming off of a 40-point game. This has same game parlay written all over it.
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Reggie Bullock to record 3+ made threes (-138)
RJ Barrett to record 3+ made threes (+132)
Los Angeles Lakers ML (-210)
Knicks vs Lakers Over 107.5 *1st Half (-106)
Parlay odds: +1003
© Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Reggie Bullock to record 3+ made threes (-138)
The New York Knicks don’t shoot a lot of three-pointers as they are 27th in the NBA averaging only 29.9 attempts per game. But over the past three games, that number has crept up to 33 per contest. Even with the limited number of three-point attempts, the Knicks don’t have a ton of guys that shoot them. The team leader in long range attempts is Reggie Bullock. In his last 11 games, Bullock has attempted at least five three-balls in all of them. He has hit at least three of those attempt in nine of the games. Look for Bullock to keep shooting and connecting tonight.
RJ Barrett to record 3+ made threes (+132)
Another Knicks player that is bombing threes is RJ Barrett. This is a relatively new development as in his last eight games, Barrett has taken at least seven three-pointers in six of them. He has connected on at least three in seven of those eight games. Tonight against the Lakers, the Knicks will likely have trouble scoring on the interior given the presence of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Andre Drummond. If that is the case, Barrett could jack up 7+ three-point attempts. I like his odds of hitting at least three in that scenario.
Los Angeles Lakers ML (-210)
This is more of a hunch than anything as I almost took the Lakers to cover the 6.5-point spread but thought better of it. The Lakers look to be clear of the play-in tournament but are likely to want to treat this one as a dress rehearsal since this is the last in-the-money playoff team left on their schedule. With LeBron James back, they are just the better team. The Knicks are coming off of a win over the Los Angeles Clippers in this building on Sunday, but that was their first win in three against the upper echelon of the Western Conference. The Lakers should win this game.
Knicks vs Lakers Over 107.5 *1st Half (-106)
The Knicks are not exactly a team that plays “fast” but over their last three games, they are 13th in the NBA in pace in the first half. What makes that even better is, they are middle of the pack in terms of defensive efficiency in that span as well. In fact, they are one spot ahead of the Lakers in that metric so neither team gets after it defensively early on. With LeBron James in the lineup, the Lakers will likely push pace offensively and if they do, we are looking at a 60-54 type halftime score.
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