PICKS & PARLAYS

The Chicago Bulls (26-37) travel to Golden 1 Center to face the Sacramento Kings (14-50) on Sunday, March 8, tipping off at 9:00 PM ET, with Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis each listed as questionable after sitting out Thursday's game in Phoenix with ankle sprains. Sacramento reached loss number 50 on Friday, dropping 133-123 at home to New Orleans to push their losing streak to three, with Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, and Keegan Murray all unavailable for what remains of a season Sacramento would rather fast-forward. Chicago opened as a 2.5-point road favorite, and the total sits at 234, which asks a lot from an offense averaging 110.4 points per game. Collin Sexton just put up 30 in a road upset over Phoenix without the two players listed as questionable tonight, making it three straight 20-plus performances, and the Kings rank last in the Western Conference in three-point shooting at 33.4%.

The Indiana Pacers (15-48) stumble into Moda Center to face the Portland Trail Blazers (30-34) on Sunday, March 8, tipping off at 9:00 PM ET, with Deni Avdija confirmed out for his eighth consecutive game due to lower back injury management and Shaedon Sharpe already ruled out for the rest of the regular season with a fibula stress reaction. Portland opened as a significant home favorite and the spread settled at -8.5 (-115), with the total hovering at 237.0, setting up a matchup where the Blazers are the better team on paper but their cover rate as big favorites is genuinely alarming. Indiana is 0-8 straight up in its last eight, on the road with short rest after a Friday night loss in Los Angeles, and riding a 1-5 ATS record in its last six games against Portland. Those are all the obvious reasons to ignore the Pacers. The less obvious reason to back them at +8.5 is that Portland is 1-5 ATS in games they were favored by 8.5 points or more this season and 0-7 ATS in its last seven March games The line is doing most of the work for Indiana here.

The Houston Rockets (39-23, 3rd in the West) travel to Frost Bank Center on Sunday to close out the regular season series against the San Antonio Spurs (46-17, 2nd in the West), tipping off at 8:00 PM ET in a nationally televised Southwest Division game with playoff seeding genuinely at stake. Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun, and Amen Thompson come in fresh off a 106-99 win over Portland on Friday, while Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs finished a 25-point comeback against the Clippers to win 116-112 in what their own star described as leaving "zero left" physically. San Antonio opened as a 5-point favorite and has ticked up to -5.5 at most books, with the total sitting at 222.5. Sengun averages 20.2 points and 5.4 assists across nine career matchups with Wemby, and the season series sits at 2-1 Spurs heading into the fourth and final regular season meeting.

The Orlando Magic (34-28), fresh off a 27-point demolition of Minnesota on Saturday, travel to Fiserv Forum to face the Milwaukee Bucks (27-35) on Sunday, March 8, tipping off at 8:00 PM ET, with Franz Wagner confirmed out with an ankle injury, Anthony Black day-to-day with a quad contusion, and Giannis Antetokounmpo still working through a minutes restriction just three games into his return from a 15-game calf absence. Orlando opened as a 3.5-point road favorite, the total sits at 219.5, and both teams are running on the second night of a back-to-back. The spread tells you the talent gap; the calendar tells you this one stays sloppy.

The Wizards and Pelicans and the Pistons and Heat are squaring off on Sunday, with Dejounte Murray and New Orleans looking for a win in front of their home crowd. Duncan Robinson and the Pistons visit Miami seeking to capture a big win. McBets is targeting both players in his two game parlay.