Best NBA Betting Lines January 6: Celtics and Warriors Cover; Clippers Get Sunk

Just four games for NBA bettors to choose from tonight, and there’s no real heavyweight fight on the slate. Boston vs. New York is always fun because they’re both franchises with a ton of history, but neither squad is elite this year. 

Elsewhere, Memphis is a delight, but Detroit is not. And Golden State vs. New Orleans and the Clippers vs. Phoenix might have been truly exciting contests if all teams were operating at full strength. 

We can’t choose the card, but we can still choose the right sides. We like the NBA odds on these three tonight:

Boston @ New York

The Bet: Boston -1 (-102, Sugar House)

Two proud franchises in the midst of underwhelming seasons face off here, and oddsmakers say it’s an even matchup between the Celtics and Knicks in MSG. 

That doesn’t check out. Boston is a better team. They’ve had some rough losses of late, but more of the heartbreaking variety – like their Christmas collapse against the Bucks – than the truly inexplicable. Losing to New York wouldn’t be inexplicable per se, but Boston remains the superior team behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. 

Notably here, Boston has been a good ATS team on the road this year (10-8-1) and the Knicks have been poor at home (7-12). Also, while not technically an underdog, the Knicks are as close as you can get to plus money status, and that’s been a bad spot for them lately. They’ve failed to cover in seven straight games as underdogs. Pick Boston here.

Golden State @ New Orleans

The Bet: Warriors -4.5 (-105, Points Bet)

New Orleans has been a pretty profitable spread team in December, going 9-7 ATS over 16 games, but they’ve failed to cover in every January game they’ve played – all double digit losses to upper tier NBA teams (Milwaukee, Utah, Phoenix).

That’s as tough a stretch of games as you can get, and they’re not getting any favors from schedule makers with a matchup against the league-leading Warriors. 

Golden State has covered in four of their last six. They’re 10-7-1 ATS against conference opponents, and 5-2 ATS against conference opponents on the road this year. Last time these two teams played, Golden State won by 41 as 9.5-point favorites. The margin might not be quite as high tonight, but don’t expect the Pelicans to keep things too close.

LA Clippers @ Phoenix

The Bet: Clippers +12

The Clippers are extremely shorthanded right now. Paul George has been out with injury, as are Ivica Zubac and Nicolas Batum. But they’re getting rookie Brandon Boston Jr. back for this game against Phoenix, and in the absence of George and the others, the Clippers are getting good production from Marcus Morris, Reggie Jackson, and Serge Ibaka. As the team continues to play with lineups and unlock the potential of these wiley vets and talented youngsters, they’ll stay competitive. 

The Suns are extremely good – one of the best teams in the league. But 12 points is a lot against a division rival that’s playing very high variance basketball right now (four point win as 14-point underdogs at Brooklyn, 18-point loss as 3.5-point favorites vs. Minnesota). The Clippers might lose this game by 30 points, but they could also squeak out a win. Take the 12.