NBA Best Bets: Spread Picks & Props (Saturday, March 23)

The NBA regular season continues with a jam-packed, eight-game slate on Saturday, featuring the crosstown Nets vs. Knicks New York rivalry game that tips off 1 p.m. ET.

As we preview the NBA Saturday slate, our NBA betting experts have locked in six NBA best bets — featuring three expert spread picks and three player props for tonight's matchups.

Read along for our NBA best bets for Saturday, March 23.

NBA Best Bets: Spread Picks & Props

By Jim Turvey

The New York teams face off in their "rivalry" game on Saturday in Madison Square Garden, with the two teams headed in diametrically opposite directions.

The Knicks have won four of their last five and are solidly established in the 4/5 slot in the Eastern Conference. The Nets, on the other hand, have lost five straight and seem content to fade into the lottery as the season nears its conclusion.

In fact, after a surprisingly perky 13-10 start to the season, Brooklyn has completely folded with a 13-34 record and -5.4 net rating that ranks among the worst in the league. That early start seems a long way off, but seems to be floating a bit of their spread value.

If we use that -5.4 net rating, the Knicks should be clear double-digit favorites, and even if we weigh those first few games a bit, there's plenty of leeway on this number (-7.5), especially given their ability to handle players going in and out of the lineup with injuries this season.

Pick: Knicks -7.5 (-110)

By Bryan Fonseca

Isaiah Hartenstein — the over casher and potential fantasy basketball league winner — is back, supplanting the dude who had been on a minutes restriction for about a month.

Well, to be honest, he's still the minutes restriction dude, he's just better lately.

Hartenstein hasn't reached 30 minutes played since Feb. 6 due to an Achilles injury, which has sidelined him for a few games this season. However, he's at least been consistently in the mid-to-high 20s in minutes in five of his last six games.

He has eclipsed the over 2.5 assists threshold in three straight and in four of his last six. When he has it going, this is a consistent over — we've seen him put up 7-14-13 with four blocks, 13-10-4 with two steals and 20-8-3 with two blocks in his last three games.

Pick: Isaiah Hartenstein Over 2.5 Assists (+114)

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By Andrew O'Connor-Watts

At this point, I need to be convinced NOT to bet on the Magic at home. If it weren't for the Rockets' recent surge, Orlando would be far and away the best home cover in the league at 25-9 ATS.

I stayed away from some of these games earlier in the season for fear of a "trap" game, but there's no such thing with this Magic team at home. They just absolutely dominate.

The Magic have also done very well against this type of team under Jamahl Mosley. Against teams with an Offensive Rating of 115+ and a Defensive Rating of 110+, Orlando is 24-9 ATS, including 14-8 this season. Defense wins out in the regular season.

One cause for concern is that the Kings' defense has been much better lately, especially on the road, and their record off a loss is strong at 17-11 ATS. But with the Kings playing their third game in four nights and their fourth game in six nights, this is a no-brainer Magic play for me down to -3.5.

Pick: Magic -2.5 (-110)

By Andrew O'Connor-Watts

This is a shocking number when you just look at how drastically the Hawks have underperformed this season. They're 23-46 ATS, which is one of –if not– the worst ATS records ever. Factor in that their roster is decimated by injuries and this is a no-brainer bad line.

For the Hornets, they haven't been great, but they've been a consistent top-10 team since the trade deadline. They've slipped lately, losing three straight games as double-digit favorites, but the Hawks are in a bad spot coming home off a lengthy road trip.

Bet the Hornets to +6.

Pick: Hornets +8 (-108)

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By Joe Dellera

The player to target in this Celtics-Bulls game is Nikola Vucevic.

Vucevic has had success against the Celtics’ defense because he matches up well with Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford. In particular, Vucevic has fared well against Porzingis over the last few years. Since 2020, he has exceeded his points line of 18.5 in seven of eight games, with the one miss at 18 points. He’s scored at least 25 points in four of the eight games as well.

Porzingis has been dealing with a nagging hamstring injury, but he should be good to go for the second game of this back-to-back for Boston as he’s generally played without restriction since he returned.

Vucevic has exceeded this line in 20 of his last 30 games, and I expect him to do so again tonight.

Pick: Nikola Vucevic Over 18.5 Points (-120)

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By Joe Dellera

The Suns face off against a Spurs team that is playing their second game in as many days. One matchup to watch is on the interior between Victor Wembanyama and Jusuf Nurkic.

Wemby has struggled at very few things in his rookie season, but one weakness has been against some of these bigger and more physical centers on the glass. This season, he has surrendered massive rebounding games to Rudy Gobert (17, 20), Joel Embiid (18), Alperen Sengun (16), Jarrett Allen (16, 16), Nikola Vucevic (16), Julius Randle (16), and Jonas Valanciunas (15).

Over his last 10 games, Nurkic is averaging a whopping 14.8 boards while exceeding 10.5 in seven of ten games.

I expect Nurkic to smash on the glass and exceed 10.5 boards.

Pick: Jusuf Nurkic Over 10.5 Rebounds (-130)