NBA Sharp Betting Picks (Jan. 4): Celtics vs. Bulls, Hornets vs. Mavericks Among Games Drawing Pro Action

Your focus this afternoon into the evening may be elsewhere (understandably), but even if you aren’t watching tonight’s NBA games, there’s still an opportunity to make some money on them.

Sharps sure think they’ll be able to, as they’ve made a few early moves on Saturday’s 11-game slate.

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Jazz vs. Magic

7 p.m. ET

The Magic came through big time for sharp bettors last night. A surprisingly short spread (that even closed with Orlando favored) against the Heat was met with a heavy dose of pro money, and resulted in a 20-point win.

Tonight, however, sharps biting the hand that just fed them.

Fifty-seven percent of bettors are taking the Jazz, and based on the impressive 95% of money they’ve accounted for thus far, it’s likely that they’re of the sharper variety (since sharps are usually the ones making bigger bets).

Two Sports Insights Bet Signals, which track and record market moves as a result of sharp activity in real time, have confirmed that to be the case, revealing two moves on the Jazz at -3.5 and -4, and sending the spread up a full point from its opener.

Sharp angle: Jazz (moved from -3.5 to -4.5)

Celtics vs. Bulls

8 p.m. ET

One night after escaping with a 3-point win over the Hawks as double-digit home favorites, the Celtics opened at just -1.5 in Chicago, even with a 12.5-game lead over the Bulls in the East.

And if that opening spread wasn’t surprising enough for you, the C’s are now underdogs (+1) across the entire market. That’s certainly not to suggest that bettors have been lining up to back the Bulls, though.

In fact, the Celtics have landed 86% of bets since this line opened — the highest percentage of any on today’s slate thus far, and the only figure above the 80-mark. Given that, you could probably guess that there’s something sharp about the 14% brave enough to take Chicago.

Sure enough, those bettors have generated half the money hitting this spread — an indication that they’re more likely to be sharps — and another two Sports Insights Bet Signals have already been triggered twice on Chicago.

Sharp angle: Bulls (moved from +1.5 to -1)

Hornets vs. Mavericks

8:30 p.m. ET

Following the trend set by the other games on tonight’s sharp card, the bet-vs.-money discrepancy on tonight’s Hornets-Mavs matchup has uncovered the sharp side of the spread.

The 36% of Hornets bettors have driven 51% of dollars, and Charlotte has fallen from +12 to +11.5 behind the bigger bets as well as two more Bet Signals on the underdog.

Sharp angle: Hornets (moved from +12 to +11.5)