NBA Monday Betting Recap: Mixed Day Across the Board

No Clear Trends for Bettors

It was a near-even split for NBA bettors, with the lines and totals split across the board and no real dominance from favorites or underdogs to match.

Underdogs went 5-4 on the day, while full game totals went 5-4 to the Overs. Let’s take a look at all the NBA betting outcomes from across the board.

The Toronto Raptors survived an OT scare against a heavily depleted Boston Celtics, eventually prevailing 115-112 in a game that needed the extra period to surpass the game total of 211 points.

The Raptors opened as +2.0 point underdogs against the hottest team in the league, but news that Robert Williams & Al Horford would miss the game due to injury, coupled with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown being rested, saw the line balloon to -8½ in favor of the home team by tip-off.

“That was a tough one tonight, man,” said Raptors coach Nick Nurse after the contest. The win was of huge importance as Toronto tries to jump up into sixth place in the East.

The Chicago Bulls are one of those teams vying to avoid the play-in and were left disappointed as they fell 109-104 to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks closed as 3½ point underdogs but never trailed in the second half after going into the main break holding a 53-50 lead.

The slow pace, as anticipated in our game preview, helped to keep this one Under the full game total of 218 points.

The Cleveland Cavaliers secured a much-needed 107-101 win at home to the Orlando Magic, who despite the loss comfortably covered their 8½ point handicap. Despite trailing 42-25 midway through the second quarter the road team rallied before the main interval before spending the entire second half inside the number.

The Denver Nuggets secured a narrow, against the spread (ATS) win as they held on to beat the Charlotte Hornets 113-109.

The road team did just enough to cover the 3½ point spread down the stretch with the final quarter being played almost entirely on the number. A scrappy fourth quarter that featured just 45 points meant this one stayed Under the 232 point total as well.

The San Antonio Spurs took an important step to catching the Los Angeles Lakers for a play-in spot in the West as they held on to beat division rivals Houston Rockets 123-120.

The Spurs rushed out to comfortable leads at the end of the opening quarter and first half but were reeled in by some hot shooting down the stretch from the Rockets. The visitors had strong market support in this one, going from 6½ point favorites to -9½ by tip-off.

The Miami Heat finally steadied the ship at home to the Sacramento Kings as they comfortably covered the spread as 14.0 point favorites.

A 120-point second half also helped this game push the game total of 217 points, which also received strong support from those betting online.

The heavily-depleted Golden State Warriors fell again on the road, this time against an undermanned Memphis Grizzlies team who covered the -9.0 point spread in a 123-95 win.

The Oklahoma City Thunder stole an OT win over the tanking Portland Trail Blazers 134-131 in the nightcap game. More late “injury” news for the road team saw them go from -3.0 point favorites to 1½ point underdogs by the tip-off and the total comfortably cashed all adjusted numbers for the Over bettors, despite sportsbook numbers bouncing around in the final hour.