Our Staff’s Best Bets for Bulls vs. Cavaliers, Celtics vs. Clippers, More

What a great day to bet the NBA. It’s as if the league tried to fit as many basketball games as humanly possible into one day and the result is an awesome 13-game slate headlined by two star-driven matchups on ESPN: Heat vs. Bucks (7:30 p.m. ET) and Trail Blazers vs. Warriors (10:30 p.m. ET).

Our NBA analysts are serving up quite the sampling of bets for Wednesday night that includes props, spreads and totals. Check out their analysis for four of tonight’s games and their favorite bets below.

NBA Odds & Picks

Chicago Bulls vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

Matt Moore: Based on full season numbers for both squads (which includes a dip for Cleveland’s bad injury week and a half and a mostly full-squad Bulls team minus Patrick Williams), I have this at Cavs -3 based on halfcourt and transition data.

Then you factor in that DeMar DeRozan is out (along with Coby White and Javonte Green), and there’s great value here.

My concern is that the Cavs rank 27th in opponent points off turnovers, 29th in turnover rate, and Chicago ranks fourth in points off turnovers. That’s Chicago’s lifeline offensively, as the Bulls are the No. 1 team by a wide margin in transition points per possession. But Cleveland is better on defense in both halfcourt and transition, and without DeRozan, Chicago’s offense will be challenged on the road.

Cleveland is 8-3-1 against the spread at home this season, and with their three big lineup of Markkanen, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, they have a considerable size advantage over Chicago.

I’ll lay the points with a Cavs team the market has been slow to give credit to, especially with DeRozan out.

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Toronto Raptors

Joe Dellera: Scottie Barnes is a stud. He’s started every game this season and is a legitimate Rookie of the Year Candidate putting up 15.1 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in 35.6 minutes per game for the Raptors. Barnes has flourished in this offense and neither the presence of OG Anunoby (who is out tonight) nor Pascal Siakam has limited his abilities.

Barnes seems to have added a new element to his offensive repertoire: the 3-point shot. He had not attempted more than three 3-point shots until Nov. 28, since then he has taken nine, six, six and two. The two attempt game is not surprising considering he was lined up against the Washington Wizards who are elite at not only limiting 3-point opportunities (30.5% frequency – No. 1), but also at locking down those limited attempts (33.9% opponent 3-point percentage – No. 9), per Cleaning the Glass.

The Thunder? Not so much.

The Thunder allow opponents to take the third-highest frequency of shots from 3-point range, 41.4%, while allowing the fifth-worst 3-point percentage, 36.8%. They were just cooked by another Rookie of the Year candidate, Cade Cunningham, who drained six against them on Monday night.

The line tonight is set at 0.5 (-180), which Barnes has cleared in five of his…