This article is part of our NBA Picks series.
Alex Barutha
Jazz to score the most points on the slate (+950) vs. Trail Blazers -- DraftKings, 2:42 PM CT
Since the All-Star break, Portland has the league's worst defense, allowing 124.0 points per 100 possessions (excluding garbage time). Getting the Jazz, one of the league's better offenses, to outscore every other team on the slate at nearly 10-to-1 odds feels like solid odds.
Nick Whalen
Denver Nuggets -6.0 at Sacramento Kings (-105) – DraftKings Sportsbook, 12:39 PM CT
Unless the oddsmakers know something we don't know about Nikola Jokic's availability, this is a relatively easy pick for me in light of Domantas Sabonis' one-game suspension. Even with Sabonis playing the majority of Monday's game, the Kings were blown out by the Knicks, and they've already fallen to Denver twice in the last month by a combined 23 points. Denver is playing its third game in four nights, but even with some fatigue factored in, the Nuggets should take care of business against a reduced Kings outfit that will lean on Damian Jones, Chimezie Metu and perhaps even Alex Len to attempt to slow down Jokic.
Joe Bartel
Cade Cunningham over 31.5 points+rebounds+assists (-135) vs. Bulls - 2:04 PM CT
It's not exactly fantastic odds, but the phenom of a rookie has been on a roll of late averaging 20.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.9 assists over the last seven games. More crucially for this argument, he's essentially confirmed his role as the team's de-facto point guard which the Bulls shockingly struggle at defending. PRA bets never seem to be successful for me, but with Cunningham averaging 18.7 field-goal attempts in the aforementioned stretch, I think he'll have enough scoring opportunities to hit the necessary "floor" for his rebounds/assists to carry him over the edge.
