Best Bets in Sports: Kevin Durant’s Suns Face LeBron James, the Lakers

It’s a small slate in the NBA on Thursday with some good games. There’s an early game in Paris with Brooklyn taking on Cleveland. The Cavaliers are favored by 3.5 points. The top two teams in the Eastern Conference meet when the Bucks host the Celtics. The Bucks are favored by 4.5 points. Lines for most Celtics aren’t out yet since they played an overtime game last night and could sit some players.

The Knicks are 5-0 since acquiring OG Anunoby and play in Dallas. Luka Doncic will miss the game with an ankle sprain and Jalen Brunson faces his former team. The final game of the night has LeBron James and Anthony Davis of the Lakers hosting the Suns with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. The game total is 237.5 points. Here are my best bets for Thursday.

Khris Middleton OVER 26.5 points+rebounds+assists (+100 FanDuel Sportsbook)
Middleton often goes over this line when he plays at least 30 minutes. He was on a minutes restriction to begin the season, so the lines are slowly creeping up. In eight of the last nine games the Bucks forward has played at least 30 minutes, he has at least 27 PRAs. Middleton is averaging 28.4 PRAs in the last 10 games. The Celtics are coming off an overtime game last night, while the Bucks haven’t played since Monday.

Kevin Durant OVER 26.5 points (-105 BetMGM Sportsbook)
Durant is averaging 29.6 points per game. The Suns forward definitely gets up for playing the Lakers. Durant has faced the Lakers three times this season and scored 39, 38 and 31 points and is shooting 54.2% from the field. The Lakers have a difficult time defending Durant and allow the tenth-most points to power forwards. He also has scored more on the road, averaging 32.1 points per game compared to 27.8 at home. 

Wednesday’s record: 1-1 (-.17 units)
All-time record: 165–95 (+51.72 units)