NBA Picks for April 7: Basketball Best Bets, Predictions, Odds on DraftKings Sportsbook

Here are my favorite bets available on DraftKings Sportsbook for Friday’s NBA slate.

Toronto Raptors at Boston Celtics

There are some teams that have more to play for than Toronto, but the Raptors rarely take their foot off the gas. More importantly, they still have reason not to. Atlanta is one game ahead of them in the standings, and stealing the No. 8 seed from the Hawks would give Toronto the chance to only play one game in the Play-In Tournament.

Conversely, the Celtics have zero incentive to win this game. Derrick White, Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon are questionable. Jayson Tatum isn’t on the injury report after missing last game, nor are the Celtics’ other top players — Robert Williams, Al Horford and Jaylen Brown. While those four may still get some run, this meeting is much different than the one Boston had vs. Toronto earlier in the week. Boston was playing to clinch the No. 2 seed. The Celtics accomplished that, and now they have no reason to push their top players just before the start of the playoffs.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Heat SF Jimmy Butler (hand), C Bam Adebayo (quad) and PG/SG Tyler Herro (quad) have been ruled out for Friday’s game vs. the Wizards.

Miami just blew out the 76ers, who admittedly had nothing to play for. That allowed Erik Spoelstra to limit Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo’s minutes ahead of another important game.

Miami can lose and still have a chance at a postseason run, but winning Friday gives them a chance to get out of the play-in tournament.

While the Heat haven’t done a good job of covering as road favorites (7-12-1 ATS) or on no rest (5-7-1 ATS), they are an even 10-10 SU as road favorites and 7-6 SU on the second leg of back-to-backs. But those numbers are enough to take Miami in this one. With the Wizards down their top players, the Heat managing the minutes of their stars on Thursday and Miami having that extra incentive to win Friday, the spread for this game should be 9.5 or even double digits.

All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.

The contents contained in this article do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment.