Three Best NBA Bets for Tuesday Feb 24th’s Slate

Tuesday’s NBA slate features multiple rematches from 18 Wednesdays ago, otherwise known as opening night.

New York at Cleveland is the most prominent. Minnesota at Portland is among the others, but to analyze the redux seems awfully cruel given what happened to then-Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups hours after the first matchup.

Here are our best bets.

PHILADELPHIA 76ers AT INDIANA PACERS, 7 P.M.

“Will he or won’t he?” is the time-honored query reserved for the playing status of 76ers big man Joel Embiid, who fittingly is questionable due to right knee injury management and right shin soreness.

Embiid hasn’t played since contributing 33 points and nine rebounds in a Feb. 7 victory at Phoenix. The Sixers are 1-4 since, with the lone victory coming Sunday in a 135-108 rout at Minnesota.

With Philly fighting with Orlando and Miami to stay out of the Eastern Conference play-in tournament, getting Embiid back to game speed soon would seem to be in its best interests. The Pacers have the fewest wins in the East and are banged up themselves. Plus, Embiid has gone for a combined 69 points and 18 rebounds in two wins against Indiana this season.

Will he? Won’t he? Has Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey averaged 31.2 points in the past five games without Embiid?

Right now, we only know the answer to one of those questions. On this night for Philadelphia, it will be enough.

Philadelphia -9 (-114 with FanDuel)

NEW YORK KNICKS AT CLEVELAND CAVALIERS, 7:30 P.M.

Knicks guard Josh Hart slighted the schedule makers Sunday night after New York prevailed at Chicago less than 24 hours after capping a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat the Houston Rockets in a primetime showcase on ABC.

“An 8:30 game and then traveling for a back-to-back game, I think, is outrageous,” Hart said. “But happy we were able to get the win.”

Such inconvenience hardly fazed Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns, who delivered a game-high 28 points on 10-for-17 shooting, including 5-of-9 from long range. Of course, little has confounded KAT lately; Sunday marked the center’s fifth straight effort of at least 20 points.

While Towns was limited to 11 points in the Knicks’ Christmas Day comeback win against the Cavaliers, Cleveland hasn’t exactly been his Kryptonite. He had 19 points and 11 rebounds to help the Knicks win in Northeast Ohio on opening night and averages 21.3 points in 16 games against the Cavs.

Towns shot a combined 1-for-6 from long range in the first two Cleveland games but is 8-of-12 from 3-point land in two contests since the All-Star break. His regained stroke helps keep the 20-point streak intact against a Cleveland defense that entered the week with a 37.2 opponents’ field-goal percentage, fourth-worst in the league.

Karl-Anthony Towns 20+ points (-128 with FanDuel)

BOSTON CELTICS AT PHOENIX SUNS, 9 P.M.

Sure, sure, said schedule makers made their best attempt at keeping folks tuned to NBC after the Winter Olympics by giving Celtics at Lakers the “Sunday Night Basketball” spotlight.

This one might have carried semi-notable luster a half-century after Boston defeated Phoenix in the 1976 NBA Finals if not for the recent injury to Suns’ second-leading scorer Dillon Brooks.

ESPN reported Monday that Brooks will miss four to six weeks after breaking his hand during Saturday’s double-overtime win against Orlando. Brooks is averaging a career-high 21.2 points and 3.7 rebounds in his debut season with the Suns.

Add to that the absence of All-Star leading scorer Devin Booker (strained right hip) and fellow guard Haywood Highsmith (right knee) and this looks like a comfortable “W” for the C’s, who are trying to maintain the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Celtics -6.5 (-115 with BetMGM)