Friday's NBA Betting Picks!

Hoop Hopes – Ricky Rothstein makes his picks for tonight’s NBA action!

Dallas at Miami is a game that should be on TV tonight. It’s a great, great matchup.

Miami hasn’t lost to Dallas since the 2011 Finals, which is four straight wins, and the theory is that LeBron raises his game on a point of principle. It’s hard to read too much into that, and a closer examination of those games might tell a different tale.

What isn’t a point of debate is that Dallas and Miami are two of the better teams in the League. Miami is looking for a title three-peat of course and, while many people expected the Mavericks to fade away after they won the World Championship in 2011, they haven’t. The Mavericks remains consistently good, not only because they have Dirk Nowitski but because they don’t have to rely on him – everybody contributes to the scoring effort with Dallas.

Miami can score too, and that makes over 207.5 total points scored in Miami a pretty good bet tonight.

Hoop Hopes 1 | Dallas at Miami: Over 206 points

Chicago loves Derrick Rose. He grew up in Englewood in tough circumstances but made it to the pinnacle of sports. And every time there’s another injury bulletin about Rose, a city holds its breath.

Rose never did play Superman in the playoffs last year. He never threw off his suit to take charge of his team and kick butt in the playoffs, and to hell with the consequences. People weren’t sure about that. And now he’s troubled by a hamstring and people are starting to wonder if he’ll ever come back, if Derrick Rose will ever again be what he was, the NBA MVP and the best Bull since Jordan.

Rose’s status is doubtful for tonight’s game at Toronto. Even without him the Bulls will have too much for the Raptors but, with Indiana visiting Chicago tomorrow night, the Bulls might be a little conservative in their play. Bet the under in a snoozer.

Hoop Hope 2 | Chicago at Toronto: Under

You know who’s doing well after injury? Kevin Love. He and Ricky Rubio are combining to make bettors sit up and take notice of the Timberwolves for the first time since Kevin Garnett was in Minnesota. Tonight, the T-wolves visit Denver in the first of the TV games, and they are a slight road favorite. Denver is a pretty defensive team right now, but it’s hard to see the Nuggets withstanding one of the hotter offenses in the League right now.

Hoop Hope 3 | Minnesota at Denver: Minnesota -1.5

Follow Ricky Rothstein’s Hoop Hopes every night – he’s 5-6 for the season so far!