Top 3 NBA Teams to Bet Against the Spread Post All-Star Break
By Peter Dewey
The 2021-22 NBA season will resume from the All-Star break on Thursday, but until then we’re trying to find some valuable teams to bet on ahead of the stretch run and the postseason.
This season, the Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers have been the top three teams against the spread, but can they hold those spots through the end of the season?
When making our picks based on the odds at WynnBET, here are three teams that I’ll be backing often against the spread to close the 2021-22 campaign:
Memphis Grizzlies (ATS Record: 40-20)
The Grizzlies are covering the spread at an absurd rate (66.7 percent of the time), and they’ve been on a crazy run since Christmas Day, covering in 21 of their 27 games and 21 of their 22 wins over that stretch.
Memphis is currently the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, and it could make a play for the No. 2 or No. 1 seed with Draymond Green still sidelined for the Golden State Warriors and Chris Paul now out for the Phoenix Suns with a broken thumb.
Memphis has been great against the spread when it is winning, and the Grizzlies happen to have the third easiest schedule the rest of the season, according to Tankathon.
Memphis is 22-12 against the spread as a favorite this season, and with the Grizzlies likely finding themselves in that spot often over their final 22 games, they’ll be a popular team to back to close out the year.
Phoenix Suns (ATS Record: 32-26)
This may come as a surprise with Paul expected to miss most, if not the entire rest of the regular season, but I think it could create some betting value on Phoenix.
As great as Paul has been, I wouldn’t be surprised if the market over adjusts for his absence and may forget that Devin Booker (+2000 to win the MVP at WynnBET) is more than capable of carrying this team.
The Suns are 28-24 as a favorite this season, and that’s even with their average margin of victory in that spot being 9.5 points. If Phoenix (who has the sixth easiest remaining schedule) isn’t tasked with covering double-digit spreads as much against poor competition without Paul, it certainly would create some value on a team that is already covering 55.2 percent of the time.
Denver Nuggets (ATS Record: 27-31)
Denver is entering the easier portion of it’s schedule, as it has the eighth easiest remaining slate, and I think the Nuggets are undervalued overall as a team this season.
Nikola Jokic is an MVP candidate and the Nuggets are 10th in the NBA in net rating this season, which is not what you’d expect from a team ranked sixth in its respective conference.
The Nuggets are 17-17 against teams over .500 this season, but they are an impressive 16-8 against teams below .500. With a softer schedule over the final 24 games, I think Denver is able to go on a run both straight up and against the spread as it looks to climb into the top four in the West.