Phil Agius
Show Bio
There is another fantastic Friday of sports ahead of us today with NBA, NHL, college basketball, tennis and soccer action. Let’s get straight to making your next bet better!
About Last Night
Suns and Pacers pull out wins
There were only 3 NBA games on Thursday but TNT had a great doubleheader with the Suns (a 3-star pick at -2.5) rallying to beat the Mavericks 109-101 before the Pacers (a Pickswise spread selection at +11) beat the Warriors 121-117 in overtime.
NHL Best Bets go 2-0
The Pickswise NHL team had a terrific Thursday, cashing both our 3-star picks on the Stars and Panthers and going 6-3 on the sides overall. That takes our NHL record to 9-3 over the last 2 days and 14-6 over the last 3 days!
Boilermakers beaten by Hoosiers
USC (-1) cashed our only 3-star college basketball pick on Thursday, beating Colorado 61-58, but as usual a top team suffered an upset, with No. 4 Purdue losing 68-65 to bitter rivals Indiana.
Today’s Slate
11-game slate in the NBA
It’s a big night in the NBA with 11 games, featuring Bulls vs Bucks at 8:0opm ET on ESPN. Read previews of all today’s NBA games.
Wild vs Blackhawks on NHL Network
Chicago is also in the national spotlight in the NHL, with the Wild vs Blackhawks game being shown on NHL Network at 8:30 pm ET. Read today’s NHL game previews.
There’s also college hoops, tennis and soccer
You can also check out our picks for today’s top college basketball games, with the game between No. 14 Michigan State and No. 14 Wisconsin catching the eye, and Ricky Dimon has you covered for today’s play at the Australian Open tennis, looking to build on his 8-1 streak over the past 3 days. We also have a pick for today’s EPL game, as Norwich takes on Watford (3:00 pm ET, USA Network).
Best Bet of the Day
Pittsburgh Penguins ML vs Columbus Blue Jackets
7:05 pm ET, ESPN+
The Pittsburgh Penguins are in Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets in a Friday night showdown. The Blue Jackets are coming off a 2-1 win over the Flyers last night, but they have not won back-to-back games since November 24-26. The Penguins are playing great hockey. Since the NHL returned to play after a brief hiatus over the holidays, Pittsburgh is an impressive 7-2-0. With the way the Penguins are scoring, they should be able to put up enough goals to pick up another win. Read our full game preview for Penguins vs Blue Jackets.
Must-watch
Don’t miss the divisional round episode of Pickswise Playbook with Ross Tucker, Chris Rose, and Jared Smith as they aim to pinpoint the best bets for all 4 of this weekend’s NFL playoff games.
You can also check out our daily show Let’s Bet It! on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/Pickswise every day at 10:00am ET.
Must-read
Our NFL playoffs coverage is hitting top gear now and we’ve added our NFL mega parlay, Jared Smith’s Divisional Round best bets and sportsbook insights, plus same game parlays including Bengals vs Titans and TD scorer picks including 49ers vs Packers, plus lots more in our NFL analysis section.
We’ve got great content and plays for today’s NBA games, including same game parlays for Bulls vs Bucks and Raptors vs Wizards, plus JutPicks’ best player prop bets.
Read all our great NFL, NBA, NHL, and college sports analysis as it arrives throughout the day on the Analysis tab.
Stat of the Day
The Heat have won 7 of their last 10 games against the Hawks and covered the spread in 6 of the last 9.
Boost of the Day
The Bulls need their stars to come up big against the Bucks (8:00 pm ET, ESPN), and DraftKings Sportsbook has boosted odds of DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic to score 50 or more points between them from +150 to +170.
Pickswise is the home of free sports picks, news, and best bets. Check out our expert NFL picks, NCAAF picks, NHL picks, Soccer picks, and MLB picks for the latest game picks.
