Sports Illustrated's Peter Dewey breaks down his favorite bets for the NBA action on Tuesday, March 17.
kicked things off in my NBA Best Bets column this week, but an upset win by the Los Angeles Lakers helped keep this season’s record in a relatively similar spot heading into Tuesday’s action. There are a ton of stars set to take the floor on Tuesday, as the Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons and others are all in action.
So, why don’t we place a few bets? I’m eyeing four plays for Tuesday’s eight-game slate, including player props for two of the best big men in the NBA in Denver’s Nikola Jokic and New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns.Miami Heat-Charlotte Hornets OVER 233.5 Tuesday marks the fourth and final regular season meeting between the Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets, and all three of the previous meetings have featured some impressive offensive performances. These teams combined for 248 points back on March 6, and they’ve cleared 233.5 points in all three meetings, finishing with 261, 234 and 248 points. So, I’m looking to take the OVER again on Tuesday. Miami is the No. 1 team in the NBA in pace this season, and even though the Hornets are a bottom-10 team in pace, they’ve played a little more to Miami’s style in these three meetings – as evidenced by the final scores. Plus, both offenses are rolling at the moment, ranking sixth and seventh in offensive rating over their last 10 games. The Heat profile as the perfect OVER team since they rank second in points per game and 19th in opponent points per game this season. While Charlotte may try to slow the pace, the team has been a potent offense all season, checking in at No. 6 in the league in offensive rating for the entire season.New York Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns has played in just one of the Knicks’ three games against the Indiana Pacers this season, but he grabbed 14 boards in that matchup. One of the league’s top rebounders, Towns is averaging 11.9 boards on 19.1 rebound chances per game in the 2025-26 season. The star big man has picked up at least 12 boards in all but one game in March. The Pacers are one of the worst rebounding teams in the NBA, ranking 29th in the league in rebound percentage and 29th in opponent rebounds per game. Even with Ivica Zubac potentially in action on Tuesday night, I think Towns is a great bet to come near his season average in this matchup. Towns averaged 12.8 rebounds per game last season, and he’s picked up 12 or more rebounds in over half of his games in the 2025-26 campaign .I’m betting an OVER and an UNDER on Tuesday night after losing an UNDER bet on Phoenix on Monday. The Suns are now playing the second night of a back-to-back, and they’re facing a Minnesota team that is going to be short-handed on offense with Anthony Edwards out and Naz Reid listed as questionable. That’s going to make things tougher on the Wolves, and they’ve scored 110 or fewer points in three of the last four games that Edwards has missed. Meanwhile, the Suns have hit the UNDER in 57.4 percent of their games this season and rank sixth in the NBA in opponent points per game and 26th in points per game on offense. The Wolves have been an up-and-down team all season, but they have been an elite UNDER team at home, hitting it in 23 of 34 games. With Edwards out, I expect this offense to struggle a bit against Phoenix’s top-10 defense.Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic remains in the mix for the MVP award, although he has not been as efficient since going down with a knee injury back in December. Still, Jokic has a triple-double in five of his last six games, and now he’s taking on a Philadelphia team that is short-handed with Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid out. The Sixers are the perfect team for Jokic to stuff the stat sheet against, as they clock in at 19th in the league in opponent rebounds per game and 22nd in opponent assists per game. Jokic is averaging 28.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.5 assists per game this season, putting him easily on pace to average a triple-double. He should be able to keep his streak going on Tuesday night.Peter is a senior editor for Sports Illustrated Betting. He has worked as a writer and editor for BetSided, NBC Sports, the Connecticut Sun and the Meriden Record-Journal covering the NBA, WNBA, NFL, MLB, and more. A New York City resident, he is a hoops fanatic with a soft spot for his New York Knicks.
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