Top NBA Betting Picks of the Week – February 12th, 2024

By Hank Blaine • February 12, 2024

A reminder that it’s a short week in the NBA because the league goes on its All-Star break starting Friday with the game next Sunday in Indianapolis – it’s back to a conference vs. conference format with regular scoring unlike in past years when the fourth quarter was set up differently and the rosters were chosen by captains. Here’s a look at two intriguing early-week matchups around the NBA.

Top NBA Betting Picks of the Week (February 12th, 2024)

The Celtics head into the #NBAAllStar break leading the way while the Cavaliers jump into the top five in @johnschuhmann latest NBA App Power Rankings.

See where all 30 teams rank : https://t.co/VsJ44IJNC8 pic.twitter.com/odsaqD1HWv
— NBA (@NBA) February 12, 2024

Denver Nuggets vs. Milwaukee Bucks

When: Monday, February 12th, 2024, 8:00 PM ET
Where: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, WI
TV: Bally Sports WI, Altitude
Radio: 92.5 FM Altitude Sports Radio (Nuggets) // WTMJ 620 AM (Bucks)
Stream: NBA League Pass
NBA Odds: Nuggets (-1.5) // Bucks (+1.5)

Possible NBA Finals preview on NBA TV and a matchup of former MVP winners in Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo. Both are in the running to add another trophy this season. The Nuggets try for the season sweep as they beat the Bucks 113-107 on Jan. 29. Jokic finished with a triple-double of 25 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists. Jamal Murray scored 35 for the Nuggets, who gained separation during a late 8-0 run.

That was the Bucks head coaching debut of Doc Rivers, who watched his new team squander an early 13-point lead, fall behind by nine and then fight back before Aaron Gordon ended the comeback by blocking Damian Lillard’s layup attempt with 24.7 seconds remaining. Antetokounmpo had 29 points and 12 rebounds for the Bucks. He played nearly 37 minutes despite dealing with an illness that had his availability up in the air leading into the game. Lillard finished with 18 points.

Denver looks to avoid back-to-back losses for just the third time this season, as it was beaten 135-106 in Sacramento on Friday. Jokic racked up 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Jokic landed hard in the last minute of the first quarter after completing a fast break with Julian Strawther, who was back from his own injury. The two-time MVP briefly disappeared from the bench and down the locker room tunnel, but he checked back into the game at his regularly scheduled time in the second.

Absences from Michael Porter (knee) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (hamstring) had a negative effect on Denver’s efficiency, and the adjusted supporting cast didn’t provide much help to Jokic, who was the only Nugget to score over 20 points. It is likely that both those guys return Monday, but not a sure thing.

Friday was the first game Porter has missed in 2023-24, ending a streak of 72 consecutive games played dating back to last season. He scored 27 points Thursday in one of his best two-way outings of the season. Porter and Caldwell-Pope are a combined 39% on more than one third of the team’s 3-point attempts. On top of that, Caldwell-Pope is arguably Denver’s best perimeter defender. When Porter Jr. rebounds, it usually means good things for the Nuggets, as they are now 9-2 in games where he grabs 10+ rebounds. Compared to last season he already has eight more games with 10+ boards.

Milwaukee has been off since ending a three-game skid with a 120-84 win over Charlotte on Friday. Rivers won his 1,099th regular-season game to move into eighth place on the NBA’s list, and Lillard scored 26 points in his return from a two-game injury absence. The Bucks are 24-3 when Lillard scores at least 25 points. Antetokounmpo had 15 points and 15 rebounds in just 24 minutes. The Bucks led by 28 points at halftime and increased their lead to as many as 42 in the second half.

“We were just more physical,” Lillard said. “Doc just challenged us. He checked us on what we say we want to do versus what we’ve been doing. To be a team that is considered a contender and what we want to accomplish, we’ve got to start acting like it.”

The Bucks were without Khris Middleton due to a sprained ankle and Rivers implied after Friday’s game that Middleton will miss at least two more games: “He’s just going to be out for a minute, I can tell you that. I don’t know what a minute means, but yeah, I don’t see him in the next couple, for sure.”

NBA Betting Pick: Bucks

Sacramento Kings vs. Phoenix Suns

When: Tuesday, February 13th, 2024, 10:00 PM ET
Where: Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ
TV: TNT
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140 (Kings) // Arizona Sports 98.7 (Suns)
Stream: NBA League Pass
NBA Odds: TBA

Second game of a TNT doubleheader, with both teams coming off losses over the weekend. The Suns had won three straight before being knocked off 113-112 at Golden State on Saturday as Steph Curry hit the winning 33-foot three-pointers in the final seconds. It was Curry’s 10th career winning shot with five seconds or under. The Suns had two chances after Curry’s 3-pointer, but Devin Booker was fouled under the basket on the first and Kevin Durant couldn’t get a shot off on the second.

“We just weren’t at our best,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said. “We played a pretty good basketball game, played well enough to beat these guys. One play in the final two seconds swings the outcome.”

Booker led Phoenix with 32 points after missing the previous game with a sore hip. The 27-year-old has delivered more than 20 points in eight of his last nine games, averaging 33.1 points, 5.0 assists and 4.3 boards per game over that stretch while shooting 55.9 percent from the floor and 41.5 percent from beyond the arc.

Durant had 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, his second double-double in the last three games and his 10th of the season. Durant has been on fire at both ends of the court over the last month — he’s recorded at least one block in 14 straight games, averaging 26.6 points, 7.1 boards, 5.4 assists 1.8 blocks and 1.1 steals over that stretch while shooting 55.7 percent from the floor and 40.7 percent from long distance.

Trade acquisition Royce O’Neale made his Suns debut with some good minutes in the first half. He only played 11 overall, though, as Vogel clearly wanted him to get more acclimated to Phoenix’s system before playing the veteran wing for key stretches of crunch time. The Suns had been 3-0 vs. Golden State and looking to sweep the Warriors in the regular season for the first time since 2010-11.

Kings guard De’Aaron Fox ranks second in the NBA in games with five-plus steals with four, as the seventh-year guard has notched at least five steals in three of his last five outings. In his last five games, Fox has averaged 4.2 steals per game, first in the league. Fox has scored 20 points and added multiple steals in 19 games this season, which ranks tied for third in the NBA. He has made five-plus 3s in 10 games this season, a new career best for a single season, which ranks tied for 11th in the NBA.

Domantas Sabonis leads the NBA with 16 triple-doubles. Over his last 35 games, Sabonis has averaged 20.1 points (62.8 FG%, 46.2 3pt%), 13.7 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game. In that time, Sabonis leads the NBA in rebounding average while dishing out the sixth-most assists per contest. Sabonis is one of three players this season to record a 20-point triple-double while adding a pair of steals multiple times.

The Kings are 2-1 vs. the Suns this season and they will play five times total, which is because of a Play-In Tournament matchup. Sacramento won the first two meetings and the Phoenix took the most recent on e 119-117 at home on Jan. 16. Durant made two free throws with 1.8 seconds remaining. Grayson Allen tied a franchise record with nine 3-pointers and scored 29 points for the Suns, who trailed 113-96 before closing the game with a 23-4 run.

NBA Betting Pick: Suns

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*All odds stated are subject to change without prior notice.

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Top NBA Betting Picks of the Week – February 12th, 2024