Top 4 NBA Betting Picks for Sunday, February 6th (2022)
The NFL season is coming to a close, and who knows when the MLB will end its lockout. Bettors will soon have their options limited to basketball, hockey, and soccer. That may scare some, but it’s no problem for a basketball bettor like me. If you haven’t gotten in on the NBA already, why not start now?
Here are my top NBA betting picks for Sunday’s action.
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Written Picks YTD: 84-88-0 (+8.65u)
Model ATS Picks YTD: 101-79-3 (+12.91u)*
Model ML Picks YTD: 21-34 (+9.55u)*
*Follow me @is_sirois for the model’s picks.
1. Christian Wood o18.5 Points | -108 at FD Sportsbook
I like Christian Wood a lot here. The New Orleans Pelicans play some solid interior defense, but they absolutely collapse on the perimeter against opposing bigs. Wood took advantage of this to record a season-best five made threes against them back in December, and he ended up with 23 points. Wood has surpassed this number in 24 of 49 games this year, and that includes his two sub-10 minute outings.
The Pelicans have given up the fifth-most points (24.1) to centers this year. They gave up 25 to Nikola Jokic on Friday, 16 to Jarrett Allen last Monday, and 29 to Jokic last Friday. Joel Embiid racked up 42 against them two weeks ago.
Lastly, these teams look very different from how they did a year ago, but Wood averaged 21 points per game against them in 2021. I expect Wood to have another 20+ point game here, but we’ll save ourselves a point by playing this line instead of a teased-up version.
2. Brandon Ingram o36.5 PRA | -105 at DK Sportsbook
3. Brandon Ingram 30+ Points | +250 (.5u) at FD Sportsbook
I also expect big things out of Ingram here. The veteran wing racked up 40 points, five rebounds, and four assists against the Rockets back in December. He went 15-for-28 from the field and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line. He led the Pelicans in scoring by a 23-point margin.
While Ingram may not replicate that exact performance here, it’s encouraging to see how well he did in a healthier rotation than the one the Pelicans will use tonight. Both Garrett Temple and Willy Hernangomez will miss tonight’s game, and those two combined for 15 points, 20 rebounds, and one assist. Their absences should thrust a bigger workload upon Ingram.
Ingram has been back in New Orleans’ rotation for two games following a brief five-game absence. He averaged 24.5 points, eight assists, and 3.5 rebounds in those outings, good for 36 points, rebounds, and assists per game. That’s a hair below this number, but it’s worth noting that his opponents, Detroit and Denver, play at a much slower pace than Houston. The Rockets tend to play 103 possessions per game, which should give Ingram plenty of extra chances to go over both of these numbers.
4. SGP: Wood 20+ PTS + 3+ 3PT + Ingram 30+ PTS + 4+ AST + 4+ RBD | +1351 (.1u) at FD Sportsbook
Let’s roll the above insight into a longshot same-game parlay, shall we? We’ll tease up Wood’s points total to the threshold I expect him to hit and include his standard three-point total. Next, we’ll feature a teased-up total for Ingram’s points alongside teased-down totals for his assists and rebounds. Let’s wager a tenth of a unit on this to win 1.35u and hope for the best.
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Isaiah Sirois is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Isaiah, check out his archive and follow him @is_sirois.