NBA Picks of the Day - January 9th, 2019

Hey guys! I want to start this new series where I breakdown the night's NBA games and predict who will win. Today is the perfect day to get this started as we have 10 games on the NBA schedule.

On the docket, we have lots of teams playing the second night of a back-to-back, so it will be interesting to watch how they perform after the fatigue of play and travel. Of course, the matchup of the day is in Houston, where the Milwaukee Bucks will play the Houston Rockets for the first time this year.

It will be a battle of the #1 and #2 players in the MVP race, and it will definitely be an entertaining game to watch. Anyways, let's get into this with the first game of the night, where the Indiana Pacers face off against the Boston Celtics.

Indiana Pacers vs Boston Celtics

This is going to be a matchup of two Eastern Conference heavyweights, as well as teams who have very similar styles. Though they each have designated stars in Victor Oladipo and Kyrie Irving, respectively, a typical night features a balanced scoring effort paired with outstanding defense.

I'm going to give the edge to the Celtics in this matchup; the Pacers are coming off a closer-than-expected game against the Cleveland Cavaliers last night and the Celtics are at home. Should be an intriguing matchup for sure. Celtics win 102-97

Philadelphia 76ers vs Washington Wizards

I literally had to do a double-take when I saw this game on the schedule; these teams just played last night in Philadelphia, with the 76ers pulling out a 132-115 victory. The Wizards had no trouble scoring, but they couldn't stop Philly from getting buckets either.

In this extreme home-and-home series, I expect this to be a lower scoring game due to the fatigue of play and travel of both teams. Regardless, I see Philly getting its second W over the Wizards in as many nights. 76ers win 103-90

Atlanta Hawks vs Brooklyn Nets

This is a matchup of two young teams that have been performing rather well as of late. The Nets are 6-4 in their last 10 games and have slid into 8th place in the East; likewise, the Hawks played a down-to-the-wire against the Raptors last night and were 6-4 in their last 10 before that game. I

'll give Brooklyn the advantage to win as they are at home and Atlanta will be fatigued having played the night before. Nets win 125-118

Milwaukee Bucks vs Houston Rockets

In the night's marquee matchup, we'll see the top two MVP candidates face off in Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden, respectively – I'd be really interested to see if they spend time guarding each other, though we all know it'd only be Giannis guarding Harden and not the other way around.

Before losing to the Raptors, the Bucks were on a 6-game winning streak and the Rockets recently beat the first-seed Denver Nuggets so they're both playing well. While I think Harden and Giannis will essentially match each other's output, I feel Clint Capela will have his way in the paint and swing the game in the Rockets' favor. Rockets win 116-111

San Antonio Spurs vs Memphis Grizzlies

San Antonio Spurs v Memphis Grizzlies - Game Six

The red-hot Spurs will be taking on the struggling Grizzlies team with a chance to move Greg Popovich firmly into 3rd-place on the all-time wins list.

Even though Memphis are at home, I see no reason why DeMar DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge and the crew can't get Pop sole possession of third place. Spurs win 100-91

Cleveland Cavaliers vs New Orleans Pelicans

Cleveland Cavaliers v New Orleans Pelicans

The last time these teams matched up, it was an absolute slaughtering of the Cavaliers on behalf of Anthony Davis and the Pelicans.

Everything is pointing in favor of the Pelicans: they won their last game handily, they're at home, and they're fresher as the Cavs lost a competitive game to the Pacers last night. Expect AD to dominate as he always does and send the Cavs packing with L #34. Pelicans win 113-99

Phoenix Suns vs Dallas Mavericks

Gone are the days where this matchup actually held weight. Sure, both teams have their star players but neither are high enough in the West to make this as significant as the matchups of old.

Regardless, It's pretty easy to see the Mavericks come away with the victory. Following the trend of the day's schedule, they're the home team welcoming an opponent on the second night of a back-to-back, and the Suns are likely to be without Devin Booker once again. Mavericks win 120-104

Orlando Magic vs Utah Jazz

These are two teams both outside the playoff picture in their respective conferences but are on opposing outlooks on their season; the Jazz are woefully underachieving while the Magic have definitely exceeded anyone's expectations.

Everything within me is telling me the Jazz should win, but don't sleep on Nikola Vucevic and his ability to singlehandedly guide the Magic to wins. Jazz win 99-92

Chicago Bulls vs Portland Trailblazers

Let's look at this game this way: the Trailblazers easily handled the New York Knicks on Monday while the Bulls got blown out by 17 on their home-court.

If that's how the Bulls perform at home, how much worse will they be in Portland? Portland wins 115-98

Detroit Pistons vs Los Angeles Lakers

While one could look at this matchup based on each team's last game, that would likely be deceiving in terms of the outcome. Considering the Lakers won on the road while the Pistons lost at home, it'd be easy to assume the Lakers would win being in LA.

However, I see Detroit having great success with their frontcourt attack as the Lakers simply don't have enough bodies to contain Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin. As much as I want LA to win, it'll be hard to overcome that big man duo. Pistons win 102-96

Whew! That was a lot of games to go through. Hopefully, I did a good job picking and we can all see how accurate my guesses were! See y'all tomorrow!