Tuesday's NBA Betting Picks!

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

The LA Lakers are a home court underdog tonight against the Pelicans, and that is a humiliation to which the purple and gold is unaccustomed. Of course, there are good solid reasons for the line, not least of them being that right now, the Lakers really aren’t very good at all. The highlight of the Lakers’ season so far was when the fans of the Clippers booed the Rockets’ Dwight Howard on his return to LA, even though he wasn’t playing the Lakers at all. That’s a level of neighborliness not always associated with the city of angels.

Apart from that, it’s all bad. Kobe Bryant is out indefinitely with an achilles injury and on Sunday the Lakers lost Steve Nash as well. The Pelicans pasted the Lakers on Friday in New Orleans and are a -3.5 point favorite to repeat the dose tonight at the Staples. Anthony Davis is in beast mode, averaging 21.7 points and 11.6 boards per game, and also leads New Orleans in steals and blocks. The Lakers have nobody to match that level of production. This won’t be pretty.

Hoop Hope 1 | New Orleans at LA Lakers: New Orleans -3.5

The Pistons really aren’t very good either, but they are a reasonable bet to cover a big number tonight at Golden State. This is the second of a four-game road trip for Detroit but the Warriors are just back home from a four-game road trip themselves, a road trip where they struggled on offense, and are reliant on shooting threes to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Maybe home court will inspire them but the fact remains that those who live by the trey may perish by the trey and that could happen tonight at Oakland. Nine is a big number.

Hoop Hope 2 | Detroit at Golden State: Detroit +9

Have the Wizards got something going on? Could something be stirring in Washington? All of a sudden, Washington has got itself a backcourt. John Wall we’ve known about since his time at Kentucky but now he’s been joined by rookie Bradley Beal out of Florida and they’ve been making things happen.

Washington is a 5.5 point underdog at Dallas tonight, and that line is about right. The Mavericks have been around the block and then some, and are bosses of their home court. But a little bit of a shooting exhibition could break out and that makes the over a live prospect in tonight in Texas.

Hoop Hopes 3 | Washington at Dallas: Over 207.5

Follow Ricky’s Hoop Hopes daily – he was 2-1 last night.