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Joel Embiid has tested positive for COVID-19. So have Tobias Harris and Matisse Thybulle of the Philadelphia 76ers and Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks. Oh, and Brook Lopez’s bad back and Donte DiVincenzo’s bad ankle will keep them out of tonight’s first TNT game, too.

So we get an episode of The Replacements this evening in the first half of Tuesday’s doubleheader, but at least we will have Giannis Antetokounmpo – provided his balky knee holds up. He played 39 minutes on Sunday against Washington, but we should at least get a chance to see the guy who was the runaway MVP two seasons ago and the Finals MVP last June.

The Bucks have lost two in a row and five of six, which is unfamiliar territory for the defending champs. Last season, they had a five-game losing streak and a pair of three-game losing streaks and still managed to achieve their goal, so take their struggles with a grain of salt.

As for the Sixers, they had won six in a row before last night’s loss to the New York Knicks. And this despite the prolonged absence of Harris and the prolonged trade demand of Ben Simmons, which remains unfulfilled.

Monday night was the first time in six games that the Sixers failed to reached 100 points, while the Bucks have been over 100 just twice in their past six games, once in a victory and once in a loss. So is tonight’s over/under of 218 too high? Philadelphia is 3-8-0 on over/unders and the Bucks are 2-8-0, so the snap answer is “yes.” Milwaukee is favored by 5.5 despite playing on the road but is 4-6-0 ATS compared to Philadelphia’s 7-4-0, and in a game where the regulars are sitting and the bench players are starting, pretty much anything can happen.

Milwaukee is currently +900 to win the championship while Philadelphia is +1800, so let’s not mistake this matchup for a game between two horrible teams. Far from it. It is what it is: A Tuesday night game in early November that will be long forgotten by the time the postseason arrives and both teams have a full season’s body of work to look back on.

But as for the game itself, with Embiid and Lopez out the starting centers figure to be Bobby Portis and Andre Drummond. Portis’ rebound totals in the past three games have been 8, 8 and 13, and his over/under is 7.5, so we like the over at -115. Also, he has blocked at least one shot in four straight games (2 in each of the past two games), so we like the over, which has been set at 0.5. No line on Drummond’s rebounds had been posted by midway East Coast time, but watch for it. He grabbed 25 of them in a loss to the Knicks on Monday night but had only two because of foul trouble in the previous game against Chicago. If that line is set at 9.5 or lower, we counsel taking the over.

The nightcap has Portland playing the Los Angeles Clippers, and it has not been a great start to the season for either of those teams. Heck, the NBA does not have an “it” team this season because of the preponderance of mediocrity, and that is something that has to be troubling to the powers that be inside the league’s Manhattan headquarters. Portland is 4-6-0 against the spread and Steve Ballmer’s team is 5-4-0. On over/unders, Los Angeles is 3-6-0 and Portland is 3-7-0.

Tonight’s Blazers-Clippers over/under is pretty low at 220. This is not surprising because the Clippers are playing without Kawhi Leonard and could be without him for the remainder of the regular season, while Portland’s best player, Damian Lillard, is averaging only 18.5 points, down 10.3 from his average last season. He was even cheered in Philadelphia last week because the fans there believe they have a chance of getting Lillard in a trade for Simmons.

The Blazers have won two in a row, both at home, and tonight’s game begins a four-game road trip as the club plays under a cloud of controversy involving allegations of professional misconduct (creating a hostile work environment) against general manager Neil Olshey. The Blazers are 2.5-point underdogs, which is curious given that they are fully healthy while the Clippers are also without Marcus Morris, who was expected to pick up some of the scoring slack while Leonard recovers from his torn ACL.

Athletes are very good at tuning out problems involving team executives and owners, which the folks in Phoenix are finding out after ESPN published a scathing report about Suns owner Robert Sarver using racist language. The Suns’ five-game winning streak is tied with Golden State’s for the league’s longest.

Ironically, the best game on tonight’s schedule is the one that is not on national television in the United States: Atlanta vs Utah. The Hawks are playing the second night of a back-to-back after watching Steph Curry drop 50 on them in San Francisco on Monday, which leads us to the subject of MVP futures.

Curry is currently the +300 favorite, and it is hard to make a case that anyone can catch him unless he gets injured, which is not an impossibility given his history of ankle sprains.

For now, we advise you to stay away from that market but continue to monitor and consider the merits of Jimmy Butler (+2500), Anthony Davis (+3500) and James Harden (+4000), all of whom are having stronger seasons than those odds might indicate. But the fact of the matter is that Curry is playing so well – second in the league in scoring (27.6) and tops in 3-pointers (52) – he really could be on his way to winning the award unanimously for the second time.

So if you want to look at a competitive futures market with nothing but strong payoffs, take a look at Coach of the Year.

Right now, Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat is the +700 favorite, followed by Billy Donovan of the Chicago Bulls (+800) and Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors (+900). You could make a very strong case for all three right now, with Chicago and Miami tied for 2nd place in the East, and Golden State owning the league’s best record (9-1) despite missing Klay Thompson and James Wiseman. Kerr has things kind of easy, because he can unleash Curry on any game night and let him go nuts.

And so while Kerr is a nice bet at +900, a few other candidates with longer odds merit mention.

Wes Unseld Jr. has the Washington Wizards sitting in that same tie with Chicago and Miami for second place in the East, this coming after the team traded Russell Westbrook and has had to play without starting power forward Rui Hachimura. He is on the board at +2000, and if the Wizards continue to win 70 percent of their games, his odds are going to shrink…. and he may just win the award if Miami fails to continue to win 90 percent of its games.

Cleveland’s J.B Bickerstaff has his team at 7-4 (tied with the Knicks and Nets) after the Cavs were given a win total over/under of 26.5. Bickerstaff, whose team has played only three home games and eight road games and is carrying a four-game winning streak into Wednesday night’s game against Washington, has strung together wins against the Hornets, Blazers, Raptors and Knicks. The Cavs will play eight of their next nine at home, and if they continue overachieving you will not see Bickerstaff on the board at +2000.

In the West, Jason Kidd is overachieving the most with the Dallas Mavericks sitting at 7-3 despite not having Kristaps Porzingis for half of their games. Kidd is priced at +2500. So for futures bettors, Coach of the Year provides the best bet and hedge opportunity, by far. Good luck tonight.

BEST BETS

Bucks vs 76ers under 218 total points (-115)

Bobby Portis over 7.5 rebounds (-115)

Bobby Portis over 0.5 blocks (-115)