NBA Picks & Parlay of the Weekend | March 15

Just a few days before March Madness betting starts to take over the sports world, the NBA should still be getting plenty of attention with Friday’s schedule. In a way, this is a special occasion, so the USA Legal Betting team wanted to do something special. We decided to try our hand at a Friday night parlay with FanDuel’s betting odds that we think has a chance to hit.

Pistons +6.5 | -110 at FanDuel

Miami is in a lot of trouble right now. The Heat has lost four in a row and gone 1-5 against the spread in their last six games. The biggest reason for that is the fact that Tyler Herro and Kevin Love are currently sidelined. Bam Adebayo is now dealing with an injury that has him listed as a game-time decision on Friday. In theory, this is a good time to play two games in three days against the Pistons. But this is also a bad time to be backing the Heat to cover the spread as road favorites.

Meanwhile, there is good news for Pistons fans who would love nothing more than to use one of several Michigan sportsbooks to actually bet in favor of the hometown team. Not only are they playing a vulnerable Miami team on Friday but the Pistons have also won three of their last four games and gone 4-1 against the spread in their last five games and 7-3 against the spread in their last 10 games. This doesn’t mean that Detroit has turned a corner or anything. But as long as the red-hot Cade Cunningham is in the lineup, the Pistons should be able to make this game competitive and potentially pull off an upset win.

Nuggets -10.5 | -110 at FanDuel

While the Spurs have had some promising moments over the last month or so, they’ve also lost four of their last five games. They also rely a lot on Victor Wembanyama, who has had some disappointing outputs in recent games. On Friday, Wembanyama has to go up against Denver’s Nikola Jokic. That’s not an ideal matchup for the rookie, which is why he and the Spurs could both struggle, making San Antonio vulnerable to a blowout loss.

Keep in mind the Nuggets are probably the hottest team in the NBA right now. They’ve won 10 of their last 11 games and are 8-3 against the spread during that stretch. Granted, covering a double-digit spread on the road isn’t easy in the NBA, regardless of the opponent. But the Nuggets are so hot right now that we’d advise any fans who participate in Colorado sports betting to swallow the points and back the Nuggets to cover as part of our parlay.

Jazz ML | -112 at FanDuel

With a tight spread between two teams with a losing record, we’ll take our chances with the Jazz at home. Atlanta’s biggest problem at the moment is a slew of absences, most notably Trae Young. It’s hard for any team to play without its starting point guard, but it’s especially tough on the Hawks, so there is every reason to fade them.

Admittedly, the Jazz are losers of three in a row and six of their last seven games. However, Utah’s schedule during that stretch has been brutal. Four of those losses came on the road while Tuesday’s loss came against the Celtics at home. At this point, Utah is surely sick of losing. Playing a bad team at home is just what the Jazz needs to get a win and get back on track.