Thursdays are often relatively quiet days in the NBA. While there are usually high-profile matchups, oftentimes the slate is limited to three or four games.
Today is no different.
With the attention mostly shifted to the NFL’s Thursday Night Football matchup, there are three games on deck for the NBA — the Miami Heat vs. LA Clippers, San Antonio Spurs vs. Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers vs. Denver Nuggets.
Ahead of the slate, we take a look at each one of the games from a betting angle to try and determine which bets are the best to place.
All odds via BetMGM
Miami Heat vs. LA Clippers
If you’ve paid attention to the Heat or Clippers since the team’s superstars joined back in the summer of 2019, you’ll know how often these matchups are injury-depleted.
In the six previous matchups since the superstars’ arrivals, only once have all three of Paul George, Jimmy Butler and Kawhi Leonard all been available to play in these Heat-Clippers matchups. With Leonard OUT (injury management) and Butler listed as QUESTIONABLE, it’ll be another incomplete matchup.
One player who is playing, however, is Paul George. He had a funky 11-point showing against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night and would be a good bet to bounce back and score some points. Consider the over on his 22.5-point player prop as the best bet for this NBATV matchup.
San Antonio Spurs vs. Houston Rockets
Remember when Gregg Popovich told us to all during the preseason to fade the Spurs? Well, after a surprising 5-2 start to the season, the Spurs have lost 16 of 17 games, making Popovich’s previous statement sound genius.
The Houston Rockets are 4-3 over their past seven games (with quality wins over Atlanta, Phoenix and Philadelphia) after getting out to a dismal 3-14 start, so it would appear that they’d be in a good spot to come away with victory No. 8 of the season.
Both teams are young and some of the NBA’s bottom-dwellers, so maybe don’t bet on any spread-covering here given the trustworthiness of these two. But a simple moneyline bet on the Rockets seems like the best move. Play it safe.
Portland Trail Blazers vs. Denver Nuggets
Portland-Denver always brings back some fun basketball memories. I can remember back in the 2019 playoffs when CJ McCollum took over Game 7 of that first-round series to send the No. 2-seeded Nuggets home early. I also remember the 2021 series when Damian Lillard had some ridiculous games, only to fall to MVP Nikola Jokic in six contests.
Today, I’m not sure if we’ll get that level of excitement and entertainment being that this is a regular-season game, but it should be a good game nonetheless.
What are we watching for in this one? Jokic, of course. Denver has lost three-straight games and I don’t think that sits well with the reigning two-time MVP. In the three losses, he’s flirted with triple-doubles — 24/10/8, 32/16/9, 19/8/8 — and I think tonight he’ll get one in the Pacific Northwest.
