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Happy Wednesday, RotoBallers! Tonight, we have nine games on the NBA slate. The game on the schedule to watch tonight is the young, upstart Oklahoma City Thunder playing on the road against the Boston Celtics. Boston is 32-3 in TD Garden this season.
On Monday, I went 2-1 to start the new month. I'll start with the bad first. The Orlando Magic were five-point favorites in the first quarter against the Blazers and lost 23-22. Our wins came with the Suns crushing the Pelicans in the first half and the Boston Celtics somehow staying under 118.5 points.
In this article, I'll be providing my favorite picks against the spread, game totals, parlays, and teasers for the NBA slate that tips off at 7:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 3. Follow me on X, @Jwiesel13.
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Indiana Pacers (-6.5) at Brooklyn Nets (230.5 total)
The Pacers blew out the Nets in Indiana on Monday. Indiana jumped out to a 43-27 first-quarter lead and never looked back. Now, these teams match back up in Brooklyn tonight, and I'm looking for the Nets to have a better start.
Despite not playing great recently in the opening quarter at the Barclays Center, the Nets are still an NBA-best 25-12 ATS this season. I'm looking more toward their potential on defense in this game. In March, Brooklyn played six games at home and held opponents under 20 FGAs in the first 12 minutes of those games. That number was actually an NBA-best, and they will need to find a way to replicate that tonight.
Indiana averages the third-most first-quarter FGAs and is a high-scoring team. Against the Nets on Monday, they scored 43 points while hitting 66.7 percent of their FGAs and going 6-of-11 from three. Those numbers are hard for any team to replicate, and Brooklyn has to make sure it doesn't happen again.
The Pacers are 18-17-2 ATS in the first quarter at home but only 16-22-1 on the road. They also shoot worse percentages and give up a good amount of points. A Nets team that has trouble scoring still put up 27 in the first quarter on Wednesday. If they can hunker down a bit better defensively, I really like them to cover and continue improving that NBA-best mark at home.
Cam Thomas in March: 26.8 PPG
The best of those buckets in under 2 minutes pres. by @CarMax pic.twitter.com/rK47o1JoFC
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) April 2, 2024
The Pick: Nets First Quarter +2.5 (-122 FanDuel)
Portland Trail Blazers (+2.5) at Charlotte Hornets (212.5 total)
This matchup is by no means appointment viewing, but I'm going to roll with it. The Blazers come into this game off of a competitive loss to the Orlando Magic on Monday night. Charlotte lost 118-104 to the Celtics on Monday.
I definitely don't want to tie myself to either team for the full 48 minutes, so I'm going to take Portland to cover in the first half. March was a month to forget for these teams on offense. Charlotte averaged 49.5 points in the opening two quarters of games in March. They did score 53 against the Celtics, but they also had an uncharacteristically hot opening quarter. Portland averaged 52.1 points in March, which isn't great either. The Blazers did shoot slightly better and put up a solid 48 points in the first half against the Magic.
In each team's last five games, they are similar in terms of points per game allowed. The Hornets have done a better job limiting two-pointers, but they are allowing a lot of three-point attempts. Opponents have shot 52.6 percent on FGAs and 43.5 percent on threes against the Hornets, compared to 47.2 percent and 35.2 percent against Portland. The Blazers outscored the Magic 31-20 in the fourth quarter on Wednesday. I'm hoping they come out hungry tonight.
OHHHH DALANOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/ZIxjuPihRr
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) April 2, 2024
The Pick: Blazers First Half +0.5 (-115 ESPN BET)
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NBA Betting Picks: Totals
Orlando Magic (+4) at New Orleans Pelicans (209 total)
New Orleans is looking to avenge its home loss against the Phoenix Suns on Monday. I did take the Suns in the first half, and they used a massive first quarter to hold a 74-54 halftime lead. The Pelicans defense has fallen off a bit recently, but I like them to bounce back tonight on that side of the ball. Despite a drop-off, New Orleans is still ninth in first-half defensive rating in its last 10 games.
Orlando has not been a good offensive team all season and I'm going after them in the first half tonight. The Magic are a bottom-10 first-half scoring team. In four games on the road in March, the Magic averaged 46.8 points while only hitting 43.8 percent of their FGAs and 33.3 percent from three. Orlando's saving grace was being able to get to the foul line a lot, but New Orleans is usually pretty disciplined.
The Magic have gone under their team total in 24 of 36 road games this season. I know this is a first-half only bet, but if they continue that trend, they likely won't score a lot of points in the opening two quarters.
Hawk clamps ✅
Dyson steals ✅
Dyson layup ✅ pic.twitter.com/G0CuzTlcZG— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) April 2, 2024
The Pick: Magic First Half Team Total Under 52.5 (-112 FanDuel)
*Picks and odds are subject to change throughout the day. Monitor your books for the best lines.
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