NBA Monday Betting Preview: 2 Best Bets and Top Player Prop for March 3

We are looking at two Western Conference underdogs to either pull off the upset or create a close battle tonight. The Houston Rockets need a big outing from Fred Van Vleet and Amen Thompson against the Western Conference leaders Oklahoma City tonight.

I think they get these contributions in a game that comes down to the wire. There’s a trap game alert in Utah! The Jazz have looked amazing on offense over their last five and host the Pistons, who haven’t won against Utah in their last four meetings. Pick the Jazz to take this game down to the wire tonight behind rookie Isaiah Collier.

ROCKETS +9.5 over Thunder

The Houston Rockets begin their three-game road trip tonight against their newfound rival, Oklahoma City. The Rockets are coming off a tough loss to Sacramento in a game where their offense fell completely flat in the second half, scoring just 44 points.

Fred Van Vleet will look to bounce back tonight after going 1 of 8 from the field with just three points against Sacramento, while Amen Thompson will look to produce another great performance while in the starting lineup. OKC has faltered as of late. Although they have won five of six post All-Star break, the Thunder gave up that massive lead in an overtime defeat to Minnesota which really turned some heads.

Shockingly, the Thunder have allowed the most points per game over their L5 at 125.2 PPG. Opponents have been getting to the free throw line and scoring at will and because of this trend, I think this ends up as a close game in a top five Western Conference matchup.

JAZZ +9 over Pistons

The Utah Jazz are a good team. They might even be in playoff contention if they were in the Eastern Conference in a parallel NBA universe. However, that is not the case, and Utah has been hitting the Capture the Flagg button since the ASB.

Utah plays teams close and can score at will, which is fun to watch should you turn on League Pass. Brice Sensabaugh looks to be a future 20 PPG scorer in the wing spot, while Isaiah Collier and Keyontae George are two undersized guards that are positively producing in Salt Lake City.

This looks like a trap game from the outside, with Detroit starting a four game Western Conference road trip that could boost them into a home playoff spot within the Eastern Conference standings. With that being said, Utah is looking to cap their home stretch off with a victory and have rallied off four straight victories against Detroit while scoring 119 points or more in those matchups. Take the Utah spread at home tonight.

Isaiah Collier Double Double: +370

Collier has been featured as the lead Utah guard for quite some time now. Will Hardy trusts his rookie to make the right decisions and since the All-Star break, he has. Isaiah has two double doubles in six games since the break and one game with 9 points and 12 dimes.

Hardy is letting the rook play through his mistakes too, as he’s averaging around the 30 MPG mark for this Utah team that is 2-3 over their L5. Averaging 8.2 PPG and 6.6 APG at home this season with five double doubles at home since the new year, take this bet at +370 in what is due to become a high scoring affair.