NBA Expert Picks and Best Bets | February 15

It’s the last day of action before the NBA All-Star break and there are three interesting games on the schedule. The Bucks changed coaches and hired Doc Rivers, but they haven’t been setting the world on fire under Doc Rivers. Out West, there’s a rematch from Tuesday when Portland hosts the Timberwolves, with the Wolves owning the best record in the conference.

Bucks -11 (-110) at FanDuel

Should people be worried about the Bucks? They dumped rookie coach Adrian Griffin in one of the shocking moves of the NBA first half, brought in Doc Rivers and have promptly gone 3-5 since he took over.

Rivers, of course, is said to be emphasizing defense - because I’m sure Griffin ignored it - but the Bucks still look out of sync on offense. They’re only 21-33-1 against the spread, but 35-20 overall.

But Memphis is terrible. They’ve lost nine of their last 10 games, finally beating Houston Wednesday night, getting 20 points off the bench from GG Jackson. When they lost Ja Morant for the season, this became a lost season for Memphis.

Milwaukee is still figuring things out - as strange as that sounds - but they have more than enough to beat Memphis.

Warriors -1.5 (-105) at BetMGM

Golden State was the talk of the NBA the last two weeks, winning five straight and then a story came out Wednesday that they tried to trade for LeBron James and pair him with Steph Curry. Agents leak these stories to get their players more attention.

This will be the Warriors third game in four nights. They’re 6-4 in back-to-backs this season. They lost to the Clippers Wednesday, it was the sixth time this season they lost a game they led by 15 points. Steph Curry became the first player in NBA history with seven 3s in four straight games.

The Warriors beat the Jazz 129-107 on Monday, so honestly, this spread surprises me. Utah has lost three in a row, but is 31-24 against the spread. Lauri Markkanen is scoring 23.4 a night for Utah, but he’s the only real weapon they have.

Blazers +8.5 (-108) at DraftKings

This is the last game of the first half of the NBA season - the All-Star break is this weekend - and I like the Blazers to cover against the best team in the West.

This is the second game between these two teams in the last three days. Minnesota won 121-109 on Tuesday. It was a game that the T’Wolves jumped out early, but Portland rallied to tie it going into the fourth until Minnesota put it away.

T’Wolves All-Star Anthony Edwards is questionable. He’s been a breakout star this season with 26.1 points a night. Portland is 15-38, second-to-last in the conference, and have lost five in a row. They have been inconsistent and rank 29th in the NBA in scoring and FG percentage.

But I’m going in thinking that the Blazers will be fired up for the rematch. NBA players are all so good, all it takes is a little bit of motivation for one team to play well.