Friday’s NBA slate puts Knicks-Celtics and Rocket-Spurs in the national spotlight on Prime Video. Below, I’ll take a quick dive into both matchups, then run through my best bets for Friday, October 23, including my favorite sides and totals from the rest of the board.
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New York Knicks at Boston Celtics – 7:00 pm ET on Prime Video
In my opinion, these are the two strongest teams in the Eastern Conference, and it’s a little wild that one of them will fall to 0-2 this evening. Fortunately, this isn’t the NFL. The loser of this game will recover, so this isn’t a do-or-die matchup. However, I do think we’re going to see both teams come out with some fire, and I like Boston to come out on top.
You can rip the Celtics for their Opening Night (afternoon) loss to the Pistons all you want, but it shouldn’t have happened. I know it’s a little frustrating to see Boston’s half-court offense stall out here and there, but the Celtics win that game if Duncan Robinson and Javonte Green don’t combine to knock down 10 triples. That’s something that might not happen again all season. On top of that, Jayson Tatum shot 6 for 23 from the floor and 0 for 7 from three, and I don’t think we’ll see too many of those performances the rest of the way.
I just think Boston will bounce back in its home opener, especially with the way the team matches up with New York. In Tatum and Paul George, the Celtics are one of the few teams in the league with an advantage over the Knicks on the wing. Boston also has a good option to throw on Jalen Brunson, as Derrick White is a high-level point-of-attack defender. Then there’s Mitchell Robinson. The Celtics big man didn’t look great in his debut with his new team, but let’s see how he does against his old team. There’s a good chance he does a fine job of defending Karl-Anthony Towns, and I think we’ll see him dominate the glass.
Boston is also 41-15 straight-up when coming off two days of rest under Joe Mazzulla, and the team also happens to be 44-16 SU off a road loss with him on the sidelines.
Bet: Celtics ML (-130)
Houston Rockets vs. San Antonio Spurs – 9:30 pm ET on Prime Video
Last season, San Antonio had Houston’s number, going 3-1 both SU and against the spread in the four meetings between the two. However, this Rockets team should be very different than last year’s group. With Fred VanVleet back from a torn ACL, and Marcus Smart coming off the bench, this Houston offense should be way more organized. We saw it in the Rockets’ 128-110 win over the Mavericks on Wednesday. In that game, Kevin Durant had 30 points on only 16 shots, Jabari Smith Jr. had 30 points on only 17 shots, and Alperen Sengun had 23 points on 15 shots. Everyone was getting their touches in the right spots, and that’s why I’m looking forward to seeing what Houston can do against San Antonio in Austin.
The speed of this game could ultimately freeze VanVleet a little, as he hasn’t seen anything like this since returning from injury. But I do feel that the Rockets have enough competent ball-handling to handle a matchup with this Spurs defense, which was No. 3 in the NBA in adjusted defensive rating (aDRTG) at 110.8 last year.
Sengun is also a bit of an X-factor here. He is pretty fearless about attacking Victor Wembanyama. And while he might not efficiently pick him apart, just playing aggressively against him will open things up for the rest of Houston’s players.
I’ll also note that the Rockets are 31-29-1 ATS as underdogs of 3.5 to 9.5 points under Ime Udoka. They’re going to be ready for a fight tonight.
Bet: Rockets +5.5 (-111)
MORE: Check out the VSiN Pro Picks page for more bets from our talented hosts and analysts!
Additional NBA Best Bets for Friday, October 23
Orlando Magic ML (-102) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
I saw what everyone else saw on Wednesday. Minnesota’s backcourt of Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball completely torched Miami, making a statement to the rest of the NBA. However, for as good as they were in that game, some of the shotmaking was out of this world. There will be nights in which those two can’t be guarded, but there will also be nights in which they’re a little cold. Well, is Minnesota good enough defensively this year to stomach the shaky-shooting nights? That’s where this matchup becomes interesting to me. Orlando should be one of the best defensive teams in basketball, and the team has a lot of length to throw at that duo. I can see the Magic doing a much better job of containing the Wolves than the Heat did, and I also like the way Orlando’s offense looked in a loss to Atlanta on Wednesday. If the Magic can clean a few things up tonight, they should avoid losing back-to-back games in front of their home crowd.
Washington Wizards +8.5 (-105) vs. Toronto Raptors
I talked about potentially playing Washington at +5.5 on Hardwood Handicappers on Thursday, so I’m definitely playing the Wizards at +8.5. I know AJ Dybantsa is out for the home team this evening, but Washington has plenty of talent on the wing. This team can easily get away with a trio of Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, and Khris Middleton at the three, making the Dybantsa injury a bit of a non-issue to me. Well, considering I’m not worried about that, this pick feels like a no-brainer. I actually believe Washington has more talent in the backcourt. And while Toronto’s wings are absolutely incredible, the size the Wizards have in their frontcourt duo of Alex Sarr and Anthony Davis could disrupt everything Scottie Barnes and Kawhi Leonard want to do. Toronto is undoubtedly awesome, and I think the Raptors should win this game. But I’m not sure we should be expecting them to win by at least nine.
Los Angeles Clippers vs. Los Angeles Laker UNDER 226.5 (-111)
You can find this total at even better prices than I did if you look to some less traditional routes like prediction markets, but I got the Under on this all-LA showdown at 226.5. I know the Lakers are a dangerous offensive team, but they’re also sound defensively when it comes to the regular season. They should be prepared to slow down a Clippers team that really lacks firepower. The Lakers also happen to be a Luka Doncic-led team, which means they should play a bit slower and look to win games with elite half-court execution. That said, as long as these teams don’t go nuclear from deep, I see this being a game that looks a little lower in scoring than expected.
