Top NBA Betting Picks of the Week – March 20th, 2023

The chase for the top seed in the Eastern Conference will be fascinating to watch down the stretch with the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers all battling for it. The winner gets home-court advantage throughout the East playoffs and would have to beat just one of the other three to get to the NBA Finals instead of the both the other two. Here’s a look at two relevant games early this week. Check back for NBA odds.

Top NBA Betting Picks of the Week (March 20th, 2023)

NBA Power Rankings: Warriors drop after more road woes; streaking 76ers stay No. 1; Knicks back in top five
(By @ColinCBSSports)https://t.co/D44JJZQU1W

— CBS Sports NBA (@CBSSportsNBA) March 20, 2023

Chicago Bulls vs. Philadelphia 76ers

• When: Monday, March 20, 2023, 7:00 PM ET
• Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
• TV: NBCSP, NBCSCH
• Radio: 670 The Score (Bulls) // 97.5 The Fanatic (76ers)
• Live Stream: NBA League Pass
• NBA Betting Odds: Bulls (+8) // 76ers (-8)

Philadelphia enters off a 141-121 win at Indiana on Saturday, the Sixers’ ninth straight victory. Tyrese Maxey had 31 points and seven assists. Coming off a down game in Friday’s win over Charlotte, Maxey made his tenth consecutive start Saturday. His 31 points tied Joel Embiid for the game’s lead and marked his sixth 30-point performance of the season.

Tobias Harris ended with 24 points, five rebounds and four assists. Harris’ 24 points marked his third-highest scoring output of the season, With James Harden (rest) missing the second leg of a back-to-back, Harris carried a bigger load on the offensive end than normal. Harden should play here.

Embiid had 31 points and seven boards despite sitting out the entire fourth quarter. It was his ninth straight 30-point game surpassing both Wilt Chamberlain and Allen Iverson for the most in franchise history. Embiid also has scored at least 30 points on 55 percent shooting in seven games in a row. Since the shot clock was introduced to the game in 1954, the only other player to have such a streak is LeBron James in 2013. James’ streak ended at seven games, and Embiid will have a chance to surpass him on Monday.

During this historic seven-game scoring streak, Embiid is averaging 37 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and three blocks per game, while shooting 64.9% from the field and 44.4% from 3-point land. He’s the new MVP favorite.

Chicago won its second in a row Saturday, 133-99 over Miami. DeMar DeRozan shot 10-of-15 to finish with 24 points along with 10 assists and five rebounds. The Bulls strengthened their grip on the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference standings with Saturday’s win, as they now lead Indiana and Washington by two games in the loss column. The 10 assists were DeRozan’s most since Dec. 23 vs. the Knicks.

Coby White made four 3-pointers and finished with 18 points, Zach LaVine also had 18 and Patrick Beverley added 17 as the Bulls shot 56.3% (45 for 80) from the field overall, including 17 for 34 from 3-point range. Guard Alex Caruso left with a foot injury and is in question for this one. He’s Chicago’s best perimeter defender.

Chicago snapped a 12-game losing skid to the 76ers, with a 126-112 win over Philadelphia on Jan. 6. The Bulls are looking to win back-to-back road games versus Philadelphia for the first time since the 2016-17 season (11/25/16 & 4/6/17).

LaVine is averaging 28.8 ppg in his last five games versus the Sixers, including 41 points in his last meeting with Philadelphia on Jan. 6 – the most he has ever scored versus the Sixers in his career. Nikola Vučević is averaging 18.5 rpg versus the Sixers this season, which is his second-highest rebounding average versus any NBA opponent in 2022-23.

NBA Betting Pick: 76ers

Boston Celtics vs. Sacramento Kings

• When: Tuesday, March 14, 2023, 10:00 PM ET
• Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
• TV: NBCSCA, NBCSB
• Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub (Celtics) // Sports 1140 KHTK AM (Kings)
• Live Stream: NBA League Pass
• NBA Betting Odds: TBA

It’s a potential NBA Finals preview Tuesday. The Celtics likely will get center Robert Williams back from injury. He has been out since March 3 with a hamstring injury. Sacramento is the last stop on the Celtics’ six-game road trip, and Williams recently expressed a desire to play on the road trip before the team returns home to face the Indiana Pacers on Friday. He also doesn’t want to rush the process, though.

“It’s obviously something I want to do, but just trying to check these boxes and make sure (my hamstring is) straight,” Williams said. “It’s kind of tricky, because you can feel great and then get out there and do one hard move and get the pain back, so just trying to watch it.”

Boston comes off a 118-117 upset loss in Utah on Saturday. All-Star Jayson Tatum had a quiet night with just 15 points on 4-for-12 shooting. Tatum had one of his worst scoring nights of the season in this game, and he took a season-low 12 shot attempts. This was the third time in his last four games that he shot below 40% from the field. Tatum is slumping at the wrong time as the Celtics have now slipped to third place in the East.

Tatum did become the first player in the NBA this season to reach the 2,000-point mark. This accomplishment marks just the 15th time in Boston’s storied history in which a player has scored 2,000 or more points during a single season. Tatum now accounts for two of those instances, after he tallied 2,046 last season.

Jaylen Brown finished with 25 points, six assists and four rebounds. Brown carried a huge load with Marcus Smart (hip), Williams (hamstring) and Al Horford (back) all absent. A tepid night from Tatum placed even more pressure on Brown, Smart and Horford should play Tuesday.

Late last week, the Kings clinched their first winning season since 2005-06 and they could finish as high as second in the West. They hadn’t finished above .500 since going 44-38 in 2005-06, the last of eight consecutive playoff appearances under Rick Adelman.

This will be the second of a back-to-back for Sacramento after visiting Utah on Monday. The Kings try to avoid the season sweep vs. the Celtics as they lost 122-104 in Boston on Nov. 25. Tatum had 30 points and Brown 25. De’Aaron Fox led Sacramento with 20 points. Domantas Sabonis had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Fox is proving to be one of the league’s top scorers this season in crunch time as the Kings guard is averaging 5.3 points per game in those instances, which ranks third in the NBA.

NBA Betting Pick: Celtics

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