NBA Best Bets for January 25: Here’s Your Winning Money-Line Parlay
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Rainman M.
- January 25, 2025
The sportsbooks have released their betting odds for tonight’s NBA action, and four games, in particular, interest me as worth investing in: Celtics vs. Mavericks, Heat vs. Nets, Wizards vs. Suns, and 76ers vs. Bulls.
For your best bets, I will recommend parlaying the Celtics, Heat, and Suns on the moneyline and investing in the 76ers-Bulls “under.”
Boston Celtics vs. Dallas Mavericks
Saturday, January 25, 2025 – 05:30 PM ET at American Airlines Center
Boston’s Bounce-Back Spot
Boston is a great team, if not the best team, to back directly after a loss. The Celtics, this year, are 11-1 SU in the game directly following a loss. Their one loss came on Christmas Day against Philadelphia.
Their last two bounce-back wins have been particularly pronounced. On January 17, they beat Orlando 121-94 after losing to Toronto 110-97. Most recently, they walloped Golden State 125-85 on January 20 after losing to Atlanta two days before.
Notice that these two great bounce-back wins followed bad losses. Losing to Toronto is especially embarrassing for Boston.
While losing to the Lakers, Boston’s last opponent, itself certainly isn’t humiliating, the quality of play that the Celtics exhibited in that loss was embarrassing.
The Celtics will be determined today to undo that feeling of embarrassment and their sense of defeat.
Parlay Leg 1: Celtics ML (-290) at BetOnline
Miami Heat vs. Brooklyn Nets
Saturday, January 25, 2025 – 06:00 PM ET at Barclays Center
Brooklyn’s Offense Is Absurdly Depleted
In their last five games, the Nets have respectively scored 67 points (at the Clippers), 101 points (both at the Lakers and then at Oklahoma City), 95 points (at home against the Knicks), and 84 points (at home facing the Suns).
It is hard to beat any NBA team when you score so few points. Indeed, Brooklyn lost all five of those games. The Nets continue to miss Cam Thomas, their shooting guard who averages 24.7 points per game.
Today they will also be without similarly valued three-point shooter Cameron Johnson, their second-leading scorer after Thomas.
After losing multiple players to other teams, they will at best have one player today who averages a double-digit point total. D’Angelo Russell averages 12.8 points per game and is listed as ‘questionable’ for today’s game with a hamstring injury.
Per defensive rating, Brooklyn has the fifth-worst defense, so a Miami team that averages 110.8 points per game will have no problem scoring enough points to win.
Parlay Leg 2: Heat ML (-375) at BetOnline
Washington Wizards vs. Phoenix Suns
January 25, 2025 – 09:00 PM ET at Footprint Center
Washington Doesn’t Win On The Road
Frankly, the 6-37 Wizards barely win at all. They enter tonight’s game on a 12-game losing streak.
While streaks have to end sometime, it is especially unlikely that their losing streak will end on the road. This season, they have all of one road win. Their road record is 1-19.
Washington’s best chance to end its losing streak will likely be after it loses tonight’s game in Phoenix and Monday’s game in Dallas — the Wizards subsequently host Toronto on Wednesday.
Phoenix won on January 16 in Washington by seven — the Suns entered the fourth quarter up 21 points and clearly let the foot off the gas pedal. They know how to handle really bad teams, as evident in their most recent game, a 24-point win in Brooklyn.
The Wizards, on the other hand, do not know how to compete. All of their losses in their 12-game losing streak came by six or more points.
Parlay Leg 3: Suns ML (-900) at BetOnline
The Parlay
- Celtics ML (-290)
- Heat ML (-375)
- Suns ML (-900)
NBA Pick: Three-Legged Parlay (-112) at BetOnline
Philadelphia 76ers vs. Chicago Bulls
Saturday, January 25, 2025 – 07:00 PM ET at United Center
Philadelphia’s Offense Falls Back to Earth
I love the concept of an “under” in a game with a high posted total that includes a team that is primed to fall back to Earth.
Folks are likely interested in the “over” for this game because of what the 76ers achieved in their last contest. They scored 132 points on Cleveland’s defense. Their three-point shooting was absurd, as they converted 21 of their 39 attempts from behind the arc.
But when they exceed over 120 points in a game, their offense reliably falls back to Earth in their next game. Most recently, they scored 99 points at home against Phoenix after they accumulated 123 points against Brooklyn.
Philadelphia’s Deficient Offense
Philadelphia’s offense is, especially without elite center Joel Embiid, not a good one. The 76ers had, excluding overtime, failed to reach 110 points in six straight games before accomplishing their rare explosion on Friday. They are a poor three-point shooting team, but they also miss Embiid’s inside scoring presence — he averages 24.4 points per game but remains injured.
Their offense relies heavily on their point guards, but their backup point guard Jared McCain, who averages 15.3 points per game, is done for the year.
Tyrese Maxey will have a lot to do by himself, but tonight’s game won’t see one of his better performances, as he relies heavily on ball screens and faces a Chicago defense that, despite the very high posted total for this game, does an above-average job of defending them.
Philadelphia’s Perimeter Defense
The “under” is also a good play for this matchup because of Philadelphia’s strength on defense. Philly’s strength is guarding the perimeter, which matters because Chicago attempts a ton of threes — the Bulls rank second in three-point attempts.
The 76ers excel at running teams off the three-point line and at limiting wide-open three-point attempts.
Due to the attention they devote to guarding the perimeter, they rank tenth at limiting three-point makes. Evidently, their defense matches up well against Chicago’s offense, just as Chicago’s defense matches up well against Philadelphia’s offense.
NBA Pick: Under 232 (-115) 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.
