Basketball Parlay of the Day: Thursday, January 31st

TORONTO, ON – OCTOBER 5: Kawhi Leonard #2 and Danny Green #14 of the Toronto Raptors sit on the bench reading the half time stats during the second half of an NBA preseason game against Melbourne United at Scotiabank Arena on October 5, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) basketball parlay /

Disclaimer: Every basketball parlay in this series is going to be a simple 4-legger. A 4-leg basketball parlay is RISKY so approach with caution and avoid tossing full unit bets on these picks.

For those of you new to the “Parlay of the Day” series, welcome! The goal here is to set you up with the best 4-leg parlay across the NBA and NCAA basketball games for the evening.

After two consecutive days of going 3 for 4 in our parlays, last night’s play came through big to the tune of a +1230 payout. So far this week, our parlay picks have individually gone 10-2. We’ll look to keep that hot streak going as we roll into another night packed to the gills with quality basketball games.

As always, we’re going to take two NCAA and two NBA games to build out the parlay for tonight. Let’s dive in and take a look!

Basketball Parlay of the Day

Delaware Blue Hens (-2) @ Elon Phoenix
Indiana Pacers @ Orlando Magic – UNDER 210
Milwaukee Bucks @ Toronto Raptors (-2.5)
UC Irvine @ UC Santa Barbara (-1)

Click “Next…” to move through the slides and get a bit of analysis for each matchup (or just grab the parlay off the first slide and don’t think twice)!

PHILADELPHIA, PA – NOVEMBER 30: Kory Holden #1 of the Delaware Fightin Blue Hens tries to layup a shot past Darryl Reynolds #14 of the Villanova Wildcats at the Wells Fargo Center on November 30, 2014 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Villanova won 78-47. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images) /

Basketball Parlay of the Day: Delaware Blue Hens vs Elon Phoenix – 7:00pm ET

We’ll start this one off short and sweet. Delaware has been a shockingly great team in the CAA this season, tied for second place in conference play and on track for over 20 wins. Meanwhile, Elon has been very bad as their biggest conference win has come over 8-14 (4-5 in conference) UNC Wilmington.

The Blue Hens have defied expectations this season behind the strong inside-outside duo of Ryan Allen and Eric Carter. Allen provides high-volume 3 point shooting at a 40%+ clip on the year while Carter offers a high-energy presence down low with a surprisingly crafty bag of post moves.

Rounding out the Hens’ attack is freshman guard Ithiel Horton. Horton actually knocks down the 3 ball at an even better clip than his backcourt running mate and is a reliable outlet to kick out to should Allen and Carter find themselves collapsing the defense.

Elon on the other hand is just bad. With their only conference wins coming against bottom feeders, they are not remotely in the same class of team that Delaware is. Expect Delaware to come out firing and blow poor Elon out in front of their home crowd.

Basketball Parlay Pick #1: Delaware Blue Hens (-2)

ORLANDO, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 07: Aaron Holiday #3 of the Indiana Pacers drives against Jerian Grant #22 of the Orlando Magic during the game at Amway Center on December 07, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /

Basketball Parlay of the Day: Indiana Pacers vs Orlando Magic – 7:00pm ET

Indiana and Orlando come into the matchup as two of the slowest paced offenses in the league. While they have met up once this year (with the Pacers going on the road and blowing out the Magic), that matchup occurred with star Pacer Victor Oladipo in the lineup and unfortunately that will not be the case this time around.

The Pacers are really struggling since losing Oladipo to a gruesome quad injury. Coming off an embarrassing loss to the Wizards in which they failed to crack 90 points, it is quite clear that the Pacers miss Oladipo’s scoring prowess as well as leadership. Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis have failed to step up so far since Oladipo went down. Without a dominant outside scoring threat, defenses are able to key into the Pacer’s big men and hold them in check.

Meanwhile, the Magic haven’t been playing much better despite being a considerably healthier unit. That said, the Magic can without a doubt play solid defense and have been known to give even the NBA’s best offenses a tough night. Jonathan Isaac has made some major strides on the defensive side of the ball and give the Magic a versatile defensive weapon they can deploy anywhere from the 2 to the 4 (and even occasionally the 5, though that isn’t really necessary given the roster makeup).

All that said, the Magic still aren’t great at the whole “putting the ball into the hoop” part of the game and as a result, drop more games than a team with this solid of a defense should.

With the Pacers looking lost offensively and the Magic simply not being all that great at scoring to begin with, the under looks like a solid play here. Despite sitting at a dangerously low number, these two teams should find themselves in an extremely slow-paced, defensive matchup where neither team has the scoring prowess to make the other pay.

Basketball Parlay Pick #2: UNDER 210

MILWAUKEE, WI – APRIL 27: Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks drives to the basket while being guarded by Jonas Valanciunas #17 of the Toronto Raptors in the second quarter in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2017 NBA Playoffs at BMO Harris Bradley Center on April 27, 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

Basketball Parlay of the Day: Milwaukee Bucks vs Toronto Raptors – 8:00pm ET

The Bucks and Raptors square up in what should be hands down the best basketball game across either the NBA or NCAA on the evening. Milwaukee holds the season series lead at 2 games to 1, but the Raptors’ super-weapon, Kawhi Leonard, happened to miss one of those Milwaukee wins.

The Bucks are basically the Giannis Antetokounmpo show at this point. Despite having a deep and quality supporting cast that they’ve lacked in years past, Giannis has evolved to the stage in his career where he simply elevates everyone who plays around him.

The Raptors head into this matchup well-rested and with a fully loaded roster (minus Jonas Valanciunas) and are coming back home after a long road trip. On paper, the Raptors have the talent and depth to go punch for punch with anything that Giannis and the Bucks throw their way.

It may sound cliche old-school basketball-y, but this game is likely going to be won on the boards. There really isn’t a player in the league that can lock up Giannis and even if he has an off night shooting, he’s going to be setting his teammates up for easy looks and hitting the boards hard.

The Bucks are the best defensive rebounding team in the league and do a great job at limiting second chance opportunities. Moreover, Giannis’ defensive rebounding prowess allows him to set up his dangerous runs in transition that the Bucks feast on. With that said, Pascal Siakam and Serge Ibaka are a dangerous duo on the offensive glass that should give Giannis and Brook Lopez (and his already irrational fear of rebounds) a fit down low.

Look for the Raptors to win and cover this sub 3 point spread at home.

Basketball Parlay Pick #3: Toronto Raptors (-2.5)

LAS VEGAS, NV – NOVEMBER 24: Head coach Russell Turner of the UC Irvine Anteaters gestures during the 2017 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks at the Orleans Arena on November 24, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images) /

Basketball Parlay of the Day: UC Irvine Anteaters vs UC Santa Barbara Gauchos – 11:00pm ET

In our late-night matchup this evening, we get a Big West Conference showdown between #1 UC Irvine and #2 UC Santa Barbara.

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Both of these teams are playing great basketball and this should be a tightly contested matchup, That said, with full disclosure, this play is based mostly off of recent trends. The Anteaters have struggled against the spread this year while UCSB has been very solid, going 11-6 ATS on the season.

Moreover, the Gauchos are an undefeated 10-0 at home along with being 10-1 when listed as the favorite. Although UCI is very solid on the road, having gone 9-3 thus far, the Gauchos offer UCI their toughest road test of the year so far by a mile.

Despite UCI probably being the most well-rounded team from top to bottom in the Big West, the Gauchos roll out a stronger starting 5 led by Alabama transfer Ar’Mond Davis. The Anteaters have been exposed a bit when playing against winning basketball teams while the Gauchos have had an incredibly strong season at home so far. Look for that trend should continue. All signs point to UCSB to cover at home.

Basketball Parlay Pick #4: UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (-1)

Total Payout: +1260 (varies from book to book)

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