NBA Best Bets for February 1: Phoenix’s Star Power Will Shine Tonight
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Rainman M.
- February 1, 2025
Top NBA Pick: Suns -4 (-112) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
Top-rated sportsbooks have released their NBA odds for today’s action.
It will be a full day of betting today because the first game, between Atlanta and Indiana, and the last game, between Phoenix and Portland, are my favorite games. For your best bets, I will recommend investing in the Hawks and Suns.
Atlanta Hawks vs. Indiana Pacers
Saturday, February 01, 2025 – 05:00 PM ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Atlanta’s Offense
On offense, the Hawks primarily want to attack the basket. They make the fourth-most field goals per game both within five feet of the basket and five-to-nine feet away from the hoop.
Their offense is well-stacked with players who do most of their damage around the basket, such as shooting guard Dyson Daniels and center Onyeka Okongwu. Daniels also likes to take shots from a bit further out, as does De’Andre Hunter. The former first-round selection Hunter is finally breaking out as an NBA player. He is averaging a career-high 19.3 points per game this year.
Indiana’s Vulnerable Spaces
I like the Hawks’ offense because they thrive most in the spaces where Indiana’s defense is vulnerable.
The Pacers allow the seventh-most field goals within five feet of the basket and the eighth-most five-to-nine feet away from the hoop. Their strength on defense is guarding the perimeter, but Atlanta would much rather find ways to score in the paint.
So, we won’t primarily see the strength of Indiana’s defense in play today. Instead, we’ll see the Hawks exploit Indiana’s vulnerabilities.
Trae Young
Trae Young is key to the success of Atlanta’s offense.
While he is an effective scorer himself, his passing ability is most important. He is a characteristically smart and efficient passer who leads the NBA with 11.4 assists per game. Young is listed as “probable” for this game, so he should play.
His ability to initiate offense has persisted despite his hamstring issue. In Atlanta’s last game, the Hawks scored 115 points against Cleveland while he contributed ten assists.
Great point guards, such as New York’s Jalen Brunson and Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, have been able to flex their abilities as distributors against Indiana’s defense and to lead their respective offenses to score more points than they usually do when they play the Pacers.
Indiana’s Offense Will Fall Back to Earth
This is a great game in which to back a team like Atlanta that has a high-powered offense but a lower-ranked defense.
The Pacers’ offense will decline today regardless of its opponent.
They have scored over 130 points in both of their last two games. And when they scored over 120 points both on January 2 and January 4, they mustered afterward all of 113 points against the Nets.
Likewise, they declined to a 111-point output against Golden State after they had scored 120 and 122 in their two previous respective games.
Takeaway
I see the Hawks scoring a bit above their average and thus approaching 120 points, whereas the Pacers, who have relied specifically on unsustainably efficient three-point shooting, will score around 115.
NBA Pick: Hawks +8 (-110) at BetOnline
Phoenix Suns vs. Portland Trail Blazers
Saturday, February 01, 2025 – 10:00 PM ET at Moda Center
Portland’s Defense
Portland might seem worth investing in as an underdog because its defense, in general, has been allowing fewer points lately and, correspondingly, the Trail Blazers have been winning more games.
The key phrase here, though, is “in general.”
Portland’s defense has still shown that it lacks the talent and ability to contain star players:
- When the Trail Blazers gave up 118 points to Oklahoma City, the Thunder could rely on their star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to amass 35 points.
- Likewise, the Bucks scored 112 points, despite poor three-point shooting, with 39 of those points coming from Giannis.
It is important to know that star scorers thrive against Portland, because Phoenix boasts two of them. Devin Booker ranks tenth in points per game while Kevin Durant ranks fifth in the category.
A Harder Test
Portland’s defense has looked good against awful offenses, such as Orlando’s and Charlotte’s, that rank toward the bottom in offensive rating per game.
The Trail Blazers have also been good against mediocre offenses, such as Chicago’s, that match up poorly against them because they rely heavily on three-point shooting.
But the Suns have a lot of ways of scoring, especially with their two star scorers, who both thrive in the mid-range and in other spaces.
Phoenix’s Defense
Phoenix’s defense boasts a great outlook tonight because it is dedicated to protecting the basket.
The Suns allow the sixth-fewest field goal attempts and the sixth-fewest field goal makes within five feet of the basket. This matters because Portland primarily wants to score around the basket. The Suns will concede more three-point attempts, but Portland is awful at making threes.
Encountering the defensive versatility of Durant, center Nick Richards in drop coverage and other Suns defenders cooperating to protect the basket, Portland will be uncomfortable on offense.
Takeaway
This game will be decided by the team with the greater star power.
Phoenix’s star power, Booker and Durant, will shine brightly tonight. They will have a great game against a team that lacks the personnel to stop them.
Conversely, Portland’s one-dimensional offense will be exposed by Phoenix with the latter’s dedication to protecting the basket.
The Suns currently enjoy a 6-2 run, with their only losses coming to Cleveland and Minnesota. They will be another strong Western Conference team to punish a Portland group that has benefitted from softer Eastern Conference competition.
NBA Pick: Suns -4 (-112) at BetOnline
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
