NBA Best Bets Today – Get a +238 NBA Parlay on Monday for Pistons/Knicks and Clippers/Nuggets

• Just two NBA playoff games are on the schedule on Monday night (Pistons vs Knicks, Clippers vs Nuggets)
• Outside of a brutal 2.5-minute stretch in the fourth quarter, the Pistons outplayed the Knicks in the series opener
• Below, see my NBA best bets today including picks for Pistons vs Knicks and Clippers vs Nuggets

Monday, April 21st, brings a fairly light NBA playoff schedule with just two games on the docket: the Detroit Pistons (44-38, 22-19 away, 42-37-3 ATS) vs New York Knicks (51-31, 27-14 home, 40-41-1 ATS) at 7:40 pm ET, followed by the LA Clippers (50-32, 20-21 away, 48-34 ATS) vs Denver Nuggets (50-32, 26-15 home, ATS) at 10:10 pm ET. Both home teams held serve in Game 1 but not without a strenuous fight.

The table below sets out my NBA best bets today for both Detroit/New York and LAC/Denver.

NBA Best Bets Today: Pistons/Knicks & Clippers/Nuggets

My first NBA best bet today is the Pistons to cover as 4.5-point first-half underdogs against the Knicks, which is priced at -118 at FanDuel. (The first-half spread is 3.5 at all other sportsbooks.) My second is Nikola Jokic to go over 27.5 points, which is priced at -110 at DraftKings. I have also included the odds of these two bets paired together as a parlay, which comes out ot +238 at FanDuel. But note that FanDuel has Jokic at -117 to go over 27.5 points, so if you want to target that as an individual wager, you’ll get a much better price at DraftKings

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK

Offer

T&Cs

Bet $5 & Get $250 in Bonus Bets if Your Bet Wins

Must be 21+. T&C Apply. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

LOCK IN PROMO

SIGNUP PROMO

BET $5
GET $250

BET NOW

NBA Best Bet #1: Pistons First Half +4.5 (-118)

The Pistons were going toe-to-toe with the favored Knicks for 40 minutes in Saturday’s Game 1 before a late 21-0 NYK run propelled the Knicks a 123-112 victory. The Pistons, who trailed by just two at the half, led by as many as eight in the fourth quarter.

Jalen Brunson (26.0 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 7.3 APG), who led the Knicks with 34 points and eight assists in Game 1, looked noticeably hobbled by the ankle that’s been an issue for him all season. After playing a heavy 40 minutes in Game 1 – and showing noticeable signs of discomfort – I don’t have a lot of confidence the Villanova product will be able to repeat his series-opening performance 48 hours later.

What should be even more encouraging for Pistons fans is that they were able to trade punches with the Knicks on a night when Cade Cunningham (26.1 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 9.1 APG) wasn’t at his best. The All-Star point guard had 21 points on a subpar 8-of-21 performance from the field while dishing out 12 assists but committing six turnovers.

The Pistons are now 0-4 straight-up against the Knicks this year, but only one game saw them trailing by more than four points at halftime. That was during a 124-99 blowout at MSG when neither Cunningham or Jalen Duren was in the lineup.

At full strength, which the Pistons are now, there isn’t much difference between these teams, and I like the Pistons to keep it close early in Monday’s NBA odds.

NBA Best Bet #2: Jokic Over 27.5 Points (-110)

Nikola Jokic (29.6 PPG, 12./7 RPG, 10.2 APG) finished with 29 points in Denver’s 112-110 OT victory over the Clippers in Game 1 but only 27 of those came in regulation as the Nugget center shot 12-of-24 from the field (well below his 57.6 FG% from the regular season). In three regular-season games against the Clippers, though, Jokic scored 41 on Oct. 26, 28 on Dec. 1, and 16 on Dec. 13, playing just 30 minutes in the lattermost game which the Nuggets won going away (120-98).

The first game of this series was played at a sluggish pace (91.92), which is a steep drop from Denver’s 100.67 pace from the regular season (8th-fastest in the NBA) and even well below LAC’s 98.24 pace (22nd). It’s reasonable to expect a slower tempo in the postseason but both teams finished the 2024 playoffs with a quicker average tempo than what fans saw on Saturday night (93.67 for Denver and 92.00 for the Clippers).

In interim head coach David Adelman’s first two games on the Nugget bench, his team dropped 117 on the Grizzlies and 126 on the Rockets. It’s a small sample size at a unique point in the season, but it’s still some indication that he’s not generally trying to slow his team down.

With a slightly faster pace and a slightly better field-goal clip from Jokic, he’ll get over his 27.5-point total.