BY SPENCER URQUHART | Home Field Sports
Each day, one of our experts will offer up a best bet (or two or three) that mobile sportsbooks are offering. It might be a traditional spread bet, a player prop or one of the various odds boosts that books offer.
Here are our best bets for Monday, March 20:
Top play
The play: Bulls (+8.5) over 76ers
The odds/bet: -110 ($33 to win $30)
The book: Caesars Sportsbook
Time/TV: 7 p.m. (NBA League Pass)
Our take: The Chicago Bulls have been playing well as of late with their big three fully healthy led by DeMar DeRozan, which is why we like them tonight even though they’ll be facing one of the hottest teams in the NBA.
That hot team is the Philadelphia 76ers, who are winners of eight straight and will be at home as Joel Embiid looks to continue making his MVP case, but the line appears to be inflated on their end since public bettors love to ride winning streaks.
The Bulls are a value as a result at +8.5 since they’ve been playing well enough to win outright, and while the money line was tempting, we’re going to respect the streaking 76ers and instead take the spread.
NBA money line play
The play: NBA, Hornets (money line) over Pacers
The odds/bet: +105 ($10 to win $10.50)
The book: Caesars Sportsbook
Time/TV: 7 p.m. (NBA League Pass)
Our take: The Charlotte Hornets have lost four straight against some tough opponents, but their schedule eases up tonight against another struggling team in the Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers are better than the Hornets on paper, but they have to travel to Charlotte and will be without their best player in Tyrese Haliburton, which could open the door for the Hornets to break their losing streak.
We’ll take our chances with the Hornets since they appear to offer value as home dogs on the money line and are the healthier team at the moment.
How we’ve fared
Sunday’s best bets
NCAA Men’s Tournament, Xavier vs. Pitt UNDER 152 total points (LOST $33)
NCAA Men’s Tournament, Baylor -1 vs. Creighton (LOST $11)
PGA, Sam Burns to finish in the top 20 at the Valspar Open (WON $30)
Sunday’s profit/loss: -$14 (1-2)
Final total for the week: -$16.30 (6-8)
Total for March: +$94.20 (20-19)
Total for 2023: -$27.60 (52-59)
NOTE: If a line or odds are minus, it considers the juice one must lay to place the bet. Ex: Team A is -160 on the money line, one would have to bet $160 to win $100 (or $16 to win $10). OR Team B is a 5-point favorite at -110, one would have to bet $110 to win $100 (or $11 to win $10.)
Conversely, on positive lines, if Team C is +140 on the money line, $100 would bring in $140 (or $10 to win $14).
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