NBA Odds, Best Bets and Expert Tips | March 27

Looking for Friday NBA betting tips? Then you’re in luck, because I’ve got three across the afternoon games in New Zealand. We’re talking a home spread in Charlotte, a safe moneyline in Orlando, and an underdog number in Detroit that looks too wide without Cade Cunningham. Here’s where I’m putting my money on NZ betting sites today.

Hornets -10.5 | $1.90 @ Betandplay

Charlotte are 38-34 and rolling. They’re now four wins on the trot (and six of their last seven) with a 21-6 record since late January. LaMelo Ball just passed Dell Curry for second on the franchise’s all-time three-point list - 29 points on seven threes against Memphis, then 20 with six triples in the Sacramento blowout.

New York are 48-25 and riding a seven-game streak of their own. Jalen Brunson had 32 against the Pelicans on Tuesday. I’m not going to pretend they’re pushovers. But Charlotte at Spectrum Center have been winning by crazy margins, and Coby White dropped 27 off the bench in their last game. 

I’m backing the Hornets to cover 10.5.

Magic ML | $1.55 @ VipLuck

Sacramento could barely field a team on Tuesday - just eight players available against Charlotte - and got beaten by 44. Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine and DeAndre Hunter are all done for the season. The Kings sit at 19-54, already eliminated, and own one of the worst three-point percentages in the league.

Orlando have their own injury headaches - Franz Wagner hasn’t played in months - but Paolo Banchero is averaging 25.5 points through March with a season-high 39 against Indiana earlier this week. 

At $1.55 this is short, admittedly. But some weeks you bank the safe one. This is where you want to bet on NBA moneylines all day. Sacramento’s skeleton roster shouldn’t trouble a Banchero-led Magic side.

Pelicans +8.5 | $1.95 @ Betista

Cade Cunningham is out with a collapsed lung. He’s been sidelined since March 19 and won’t be re-evaluated until early April. Isaiah Stewart’s also missing with a calf strain. Detroit are 52-19 and first in the East, but those are some big names they’re missing.

New Orleans are 25-48. However, Zion Williamson shot 71% from the field over a five-game stretch in mid-March and had 22 on 8-of-10 against New York on Tuesday. Jeremiah Fears chipped in 21 that same night. 

The Pelicans have lost their last two by a combined 10 points. I don’t see them winning outright, but 8.5 is generous on the betting apps NZ sites I use. I’m taking the points.