Few Best Bets to Make Before March Madness Takes Over NJ Sportsbook
It’s the final week of sports before March Madness betting takes center stage. That on the college basketball scene, it’s conference tournament time, but we still have plenty of other exciting activities around too.
The XFL season has reached its halfway point, the NBA and NHL are making their final moves for the playoffs and Major League Baseball is in the midst of spring training.
Here’s a look at what’s on tap for this week as well as our best bets.
Detroit Pistons at Philadelphia 76ers
Odds at William Hill Sportsbook:
The Philadelphia 76ers are at one of their low points as they’ll enter Wednesday’s action as the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference after having lost five of their last seven games. That includes a loss on the road to the Steph Curry-less Golden State Warriors on Saturday.
The Warriors have the fewest wins in the NBA this season.
As bad as it’s been for Philadelphia, they should get back on track on Wednesday for two reasons. For one, they’re back at home and they’re 28-2 at home compared to 10-24 on the road.
And secondly, they’re hosting the Pistons, who have been absolutely miserable. The Pistons have just one win in their last 12 games and three in their last 20. The last team they faced the 76ers, Philadelphia won 125-109.
Even though the 76ers are banged up, they should be able to take care of business rather easily in this spot to get the win and the cover.
Pick: 76ers
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Dallas Renegades at DC Defenders
DraftKings Odds: DC Defenders at -4.5 (-110)
Date: Sunday, March 15th
We’ve got a ridiculously low number on the board in this game and it’s easy to see why. The two offenses playing in this game have been extremely weak over the last few games, so the oddsmakers at DraftKings Sportsbook are not expecting many points. I’m actually expecting even fewer points than that at other NJ sportsbooks.
DC is coming off a 15-6 win over the St. Louis BattleHawks, which was important as DC had been blown out in back-to-back contests. Their offense is really laboring as they have scored a total of just 24 points over their last three games in total. They’re just really laboring to move the ball.
As for the Renegades, they’re also in a similar position as they’re without lead quarterback Landry Jones. Even with Jones in the lineup, the Renegades had a tough time getting things done on offense as they hadn’t scored more than 25 points in a game this season. On the year, they’re averaging just 18.0 points per game.
Philip Nelson got his first start of the season in Week 5 and he had a rough outing. He completed just 57% of his passes along with two picks. He had just a 4.3 yards-per-attempt on the day, which is awful. The running game produced just 56 yards.
Add it all up and I’m not expecting to see many points in this game at all. Take the under.
Pick: Under 35
Odds To Win Southwest Division
DraftKings Odds: Dallas Mavericks +160
DraftKings does a great job of rehanging their futures on the board and one of the sections I’ve been perusing has been the NBA futures.
Each night, they have lined up on who’ll win the respective divisions and I think we have a good opportunity with the Southwest Division.
The general thinking all season long is that the Houston Rockets are going to win the division but to me, this looks like a team that’s in decline. They have lost four in a row with some really ugly losses in there (Orlando Magic at home, New York Knicks on the road) and I just see this team as having some issues wit their smallball lineup.
During their four-game losing streak, they’ve been outrebounded by 35.
There’s no question that the Mavs have also been kind of treading water as they are 12-11 in their last 33 games. That’s a step back from their 27-15 start. However, they have a real opportunity to win this division as they’re just a game back whereas the oddsmakers have them at +160. Keep in mind that they still get to host the Rockets two more times down the stretch.
In my eyes, this is closer to a coin flip than the odds show. That being the case, I’d take a shot with the Mavs to win the Southwest.
Pick: Mavericks +160
March Madness Betting Has Already Begun
Big Ten Tournament – It’s conference tournament week in college basketball, which means we’re going to see a lot of great games. Specifically, the Big Ten tournament is going to be incredible. There are six teams ranked in the Top 25 and probably three others that will make the NCAA Tournament. This will be quite the episode of survivor.
Selection Sunday – After all of the conference tournament action is finished, we’ll have the March Madness Selection Show, which will air on CBS on Sunday night and reveal the field of 68. That means that as soon as the show is over, it’s time to get into the brackets and start betting all of the NCAA Tournament futures.
UFC Fight Night – Lee vs Oliveira – Kevin Lee has been talking a lot of trash about Conor McGregor, Jorge Masvidal and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Now the No. 8 Lightweight in the world will get to show what he’s got when he takes on Charles Oliveira on Saturday. Oliveira has won six fights in a row and all have ended via stoppage, so this should be an entertaining bout as both fighters look to make their way up the ladder.
See you same time next week when we start off the week with our Best Bets Of The Week!