NBA best bet: Jump on this Pacers-Lakers SGP
Tonight look to the hardwoods in Indiana as we have two teams with particular positional vulnerability who are playing wonderfully in a prop game tonight. When we start our research on the NBA, we tend to look at how positions have fared in various stats over the past month against a team. Example: which teams have awarded the most points to the leaders in the last 30 days. While poking around, we found ourselves in one hell of a play.
+149 SGP for the Lakers-Pacers
The news of note for this game is that tonight will be the long-awaited return of Indiana’s best player, Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton has averaged 20.2 points and 10.2 assists per game this season, and since his injury on Jan. 11, the Pacers have lost nine of 10. His return to the starting lineup will be a welcome sight for a team. who was right in the mix in the Eastern Conference before his elbow injury.
Haliburton has stepped up his practice and looks set to get back into his role, and he couldn’t have found a better opponent to return to the court against.
Over the past 30 days, the Lakers have allowed the most points per game to point guards. You may remember we targeted them on Tuesday with Jalen Brunson, and we were almost embarrassed that we only recommended him to score more than 20 points after seeing the Knicks goaltender finish with 37.
We’ll take another conservative approach here with Haliburton’s points considering this is his first game back. Haliburton dropped 24 on Los Angeles in late November, but for tonight we’re only asking for 15+. The Pacers PG have hit that number in 83% of games this season, including 13 of their last 14 before injury.
Stage 1: Haliburton 15+ points
We’ll match Haliburton’s points to LeBron James’ rebounds. Once we found this line, we had to do a double take to make it truly available to us. At reasonable odds, you can bet LeBron will pick up eight rebounds, a mark he has reached in 11 straight games.
In the past 30 days, no team has given SF more rebounds/game than Indiana. First we saw that, then we saw how consistent LeBron was on the glass. With the high/low of the night (240), the pace should stay high, which should give LeBron plenty of rebound chances.
Step 2: LeBron 8+ rebounds
Together, this Same Game Parlay comes in at +149 on FanDuel. Count on us.
In the news…
Vegas Move Rumors Intensify – As Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher travels to Vegas this week, rumors are mounting that the A’s are moving their team to Sin City. The Athletics have been vying for a new stadium in the city of Oakland for some time, and with those talks stalled, a move to a new city seems almost inevitable at this point. It looks like Las Vegas is the only city in play for the A’s if they choose to move, so we could very well see how our third team pro Vegas sooner before later.
Super Bowl Bets and Odds to Watch – Super Bowl LVII between Kansas City and Philadelphia is still nine days away, but that hasn’t stopped us from gathering information on the betting markets and props to watch. The odds have now leveled off and give the Eagles a 55% chance of winning the Lombardi Trophy for the second time in five years. If you’re looking for some player accessory looks, we’ve got some first thoughts on the two quarterbacks.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown make history as Celtics continue to sail – In a blowout 139-96 victory over the Nets, the two Celtics stars set a unique scoring record. Tatum and Brown have both scored 25+ in the same game 27 times this season, which is the most of any duo before the All-Star break in NBA history. The Boston ‘Jays’ 1-2 punch is a huge reason why they lead the NBA this year, and it’s hard to imagine we’ll ever have a better chance of the Celtics winning the East. than we currently have at +185.
Today’s Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll