There are just three days of NBA regular season action remaining and there’s still plenty of important games to be played. The race for the eighth seed in the West is particularly exciting, as well as a couple of other seeding battles. We preview the upcoming four game slate on Thursday here and bring you our three best bets!
We’ll be bringing you frequent previews and betting tips for the rest of the NBA regular season, as well as the playoffs! Make sure you continue to check out our dedicated NBA Betting Tips page for regular updates.
NBA Betting Tips Thursday 13th August
Indiana Pacers vs Houston Rockets
6:10am (AEST)
The Pacers weren’t up to the task against the Heat on Tuesday, losing by 22 points on a rare cold shooting night for TJ Warren (5-14 FG). The Pacers are now 4-2 in the bubble and currently occupy the fifth seed in the East, which would see them match up with the Heat in the first round of the playoffs.
The Rockets are coming off a blowout loss to the Spurs on Wednesday in a game where they opted to rest superstar guard, James Harden. Houston haven’t played both Westbrook and Harden together in each of their past three games and it’s likely that will continue on Thursday.
Indiana haven’t been able to play a full strength line-up in the bubble yet, and that will remain the case for the remainder of the seeding games. Likewise, the Rockets have been undermanned in most of their seeding games, making this an interesting matchup. Given the big +8.5 head start, we see the Pacers as really nice value in what we see as a 50/50 game.
Toronto Raptors vs Philadelphia 76ers
8:40am (AEST)
The Raptors were able to bounce back from a disappointing blowout loss against the Celtics three games back, defeating both the Grizzlies and Bucks by comfortable margins in their last two. The Raps have been one of the most consistent teams in the bubble and currently have a 5-1 record.
The 76ers will be on the second day of a back to back when they take on the Raptors on Thursday. On Wednesday they sent out a team full of reserves and ended up going down comfortable to the 7-0 Suns.
The Sixers are without both Embiid and Simmons at the moment and will really struggle to win games against contending teams. Even if the Raptors opt to play their bench, they still have the depth to cover the spread in this one.
Miami Heat vs OKC Thunder
10:10am (AEST)
The Heat returned to form last time out against the Pacers where they were dominant 22 point winners. Jimmy Butler was huge in his first game back after missing a few through injury, as was Goran Dragic. Miami currently hold fourth spot in the East and are one game ahead of the Pacers in fifth.
The Thunder have been one of the great surprise packets this season and look destined to finish in the fifth spot in the West, which would see them take on the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. Chris Paul has been fantastic and is the leader in the entire NBA for net rating differential.
Both teams probably won’t be at full strength here, so it may well come down to a battle of the roster depth, which we see the Heat winning. They don’t lose too much when they play their bench guys and we see them as great value to cover the spread here.
