Free NBA Picks and Parlays – March 6, 2020

Friday Night March 6 Picks and Parlays

Good afternoon sports fans, Matt here back for Sports Intel with our Free NBA picks and parlays for Friday night, March 6.

Miami Heat at New Orleans Pelicans

First on the card today, the Miami Heat are on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans.  New Orleans is 1.5 home favorites despite losing three in a row. I think the line in this game is exploitable due to that losing streak, however.

Just last week the Pelicans were big road favorites, laying almost double digits, and now they are just a measly 1.5 point favorites at home.  Those losses have affected this line but its important to realize that two of those losses came to the Lakers and Mavericks, a pair of Western Conference playoff teams, one of which is a one seed.

The Heat meanwhile are just 3-7 in their last 10 games and 7-13 in their last 20 games on the road.  Miami doesn’t fare much better against the spread when playing away either, posting a 12-18-1 ATS record away from home, the third-worst record in the league behind the Sixers and Hawks.

Just because this Miami team has won 4 straight games does not change the fact they are a below-average team, especially on the road. Just as despite the Pelicans riding a losing streak, they are a very good team and much better than just 1.5 points over the Heat.

The Pelicans are playing for a postseason berth and I think they get back on track tonight with a win and cover at home. Next up we head to LA where the

Los Angeles Lakers at Milwaukee Bucks

Lakers will host the Bucks with tipoff at 10:30 Eastern.  This game opened as a pickem but the spread was quickly bet up to 1.5 in favor of the home team.  It’s not often the two best teams in their respective conference clash so we are in for a treat tonight.

Might this be a preview of the NBA Finals this year?

Either way, this is the game to watch tonight and will be our Friday night Parlay as well.

The Bucks have been dismantling their easter conference rivals of late, but can they do the same to the Lakers tonight?  It sure is a taller order than smoking the Pacers or Raptors.

The Bucks will rely on their defense tonight to try and contain Lebron James and Anthony Davis, not a task for the weak.  Luckily the Bucks have the best defense in the NBA, hands down. The Bucks have the best defensive rating by far, almost 4 points better than 2nd place, the biggest gap between the 1 and 2 teams since 1997.  If the season ended today, they would rank in the top-5 in history in defensive rating.

The offense can overshadow this at times, with such a strong aptitude for scoring.  But make no mistake, this team’s true strength is on the defensive end of things.

The Lakers are no slouches of course, and will not so easily be held down no matter how good the opposition’s defense is.  They are coming off a 13-point trouncing of the Sixers and continue their habit of covering big spreads as a favorite. LA will also be looking to exact revenge for the 7 point loss they suffered to Milwaukee late last year.

Much like the Bucks, the Lakers have an amazing offense that gets most of the attention but also ranks third in defensive rating, behind the Clippers, proving they aren’t a one-trick pony either.

The one trick LA has not pulled off with consistency is to beat the top teams in the league. While they are doing great at beating all the teams they should, things have been hit or miss when playing their fellow high seeded teams.

I think this trend continues and Milwaukee marches into the Staples Center and shows the Lakers they deserve to have the best record in the league.  The fact that we can get them as +1.5 road dogs is a nice added bonus. Especially considering Milwaukee is far and away the best road team in the NBA right now.

Tonight’s Parlay – March 6

With the defense, these two teams combine to possess I also will be parlaying the Bucks +1.5 with the under which currently sits at 228.5.

That’s it for March 6 picks, but we will be back on Monday for another week of free NBA picks and parlays right here at Sports Intel.