NBA Best Bets Today: Odds, predictions and picks for Saturday, March 4th

March 4, 2023

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Best Bets on Today’s Six-Game NBA Schedule

There’s only six games on the NBA schedule for Saturday, March 4, but the meeting between the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks on ABC promises to be extremely exciting. We have a pick for you on that game, as well as one on the matchup between the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs — two teams that are firmly in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes. Keep reading for our two best bets of the day, which we are confident can serve as bankroll builders.

MORE: Check out our Pro Picks page for everything our experts have on March 4

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Here are our favorite NBA bets for Saturday, March 4 (odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook):

Houston Rockets (-1, 230) at San Antonio Spurs

Over the last five seasons, road teams that are attempting to avenge losses of 10 or more points to division rivals are 27-11 straight-up — which is significant considering this is essentially a pick’em game. That situation applies to the Rockets tonight, and the situation is also 4-2 since the start of this season. With that in mind, this looks like a nice revenge spot for the Rockets, who get to face a Spurs team that will likely be without Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson this evening (check out our NBA Injury Report to get updates on both situations).

San Antonio also happens to be just 16-29 against the spread when playing in games with totals of 230 or higher this season, so expected shootouts haven’t been Gregg Popovich’s thing. The Spurs have lost those games by an average of 11.2 points per game, which is a rather significant margin.

This Spurs team has gotten some good play out of guys like Malaki Branham and Zach Collins recently, but the Rockets might be a little too talented to overcome with so many key players banged up for the home team. Also, while the Rockets might be tanking, Houston has lost 11 games in a row. Despite what you might think, professional athletes have a lot of pride, so this group will see this as an opportunity to get back in the win column. There simply won’t be many chances that are better than this.

Look for big performances out of players like Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun here. Both should eat against a San Antonio team that is last in the league in defensive rating.

Bet: Rockets -1 (-110)

Philadelphia 76ers at Milwaukee Bucks (-5, 231)

The Bucks are fourth in the league in made threes per game this season, but the Sixers give up the second-fewest triples per game of any team in the NBA. Philadelphia is a top-10 team in the league when it comes to defensive rating, and the group is disciplined about defending the three-point line. That’s going to be crucial in this specific matchup, as Joel Embiid’s presence should also make things difficult on Giannis Antetokounmpo as a driver.

This game will ultimately come down to whether or not James Harden or Tyrese Maxey can get it going for the Sixers. We think at least one of them will be able to do so — with that one being whoever isn’t guarded by Jrue Holiday — and that should allow Philadelphia to keep things tight against a Milwaukee team that has now won 16 games in a row.

The Sixers have also been oddly impressive when playing on road trips this season, as the team is 7-0 ATS when playing its third road game in a span of five games. Philadelphia has won those games by an average of 11.8 points per game. The Sixers are also 7-1 SU and 5-3 ATS under Doc Rivers when coming off a game in which they gave up 130 or more points, so you should expect the legendary head coach to put together a nice defensive game plan in this one.

It’s also hard to ignore the fact that the Bucks are just 44-56-3 ATS when facing teams with winning percentages between 60.0 percent and 70.0 percent under Mike Budenholzer.

Bet: Sixers +5 (-110)

Did you know that you can parlay these two picks together at +264 odds? Try out our VSiN Parlay Calculator HERE!