PICKS & PARLAYS

The Boston Celtics (40-20) travel to Fiserv Forum to face the Milwaukee Bucks (26-33) on Monday, March 2, tipping off at 7:30 PM ET, with Jaylen Brown ruled out due to illness and Neemias Queta resting on the second night of a back-to-back, all while Milwaukee gets Giannis Antetokounmpo back from a five-week calf absence on a minutes restriction. The line moved from Boston -7.5 all the way to -2 after both injury developments confirmed, and the spread is now a genuine coin flip on paper. Boston is also playing their fifth game in seven nights, which is a real concern for a team that relies heavily on perimeter athleticism. The Bucks come in off a 120-97 blowout loss to the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, which is a tough look for a team that was supposed to be building momentum. Two depleted rosters, one genuinely weird line, and one of the bigger injury storylines of the week. This one is worth your attention.

The Pelicans and Clippers and the Grizzlies and Pacers are squaring off on Sunday, with Kris Dunn and Los Angeles looking for a big home win. Ben Sheppard and the Pacers host the Grizzlies seeking to reverse the losing trends. McBets is targeting both players in his two game parlay.

The Cleveland Cavaliers (37-24) close out a three-game road trip at Barclays Center against the Brooklyn Nets (15-44) on Sunday, March 1, tipping off at 3:30 PM ET, with Donovan Mitchell confirmed out (groin) and James Harden listed as questionable (fractured thumb), putting a significantly undermanned Cleveland squad on the road against a Brooklyn team that has dropped seven straight and is broadcasting loud and clear that winning is not the priority right now. The Cavs, sitting fourth in the East and nursing a two-game skid of their own, arrive as 11 to 11.5-point favorites in a matchup where the spread number might actually be the least interesting story on the board.

The New York Knicks (38-22), sitting third in the Eastern Conference, host the San Antonio Spurs (43-16) at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, March 1, tipping off at 1:00 PM ET on ABC, with both squads near full health in a matchup that has "future Finals preview" written all over it. San Antonio arrives riding an 11-game winning streak, the longest active run in the NBA, as the league's hottest team by every meaningful metric over the last ten games, while New York brings a 23-8 home record and one of the most efficient half-court offenses in the league. The Spurs are installed as 1.5-point road favorites, practically a pick'em, and for good reason: six of their last seven meetings with the Knicks have cleared 230 combined points, the total is set at 228.5, and both starting lineups are locked and loaded for what shapes up as the most compelling early afternoon tip of the season.

The Los Angeles Lakers (35-24), sitting seventh in the Western Conference with their eyes on a top-six seed, host the Sacramento Kings (14-47) at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, March 1, tipping off at 9:30 PM ET, with Sacramento missing Zach LaVine (hand surgery, out for the year), Domantas Sabonis (knee, out for the year), De'Andre Hunter (retinal repair, out for the year), Keegan Murray (calf), Drew Eubanks (thumb), and Devin Carter (ankle) while Russell Westbrook enters as questionable with a thigh issue, leaving DeMar DeRozan, Malik Monk, and a skeleton crew to hold off a Los Angeles squad that just ended its three-game losing skid with a bounce-back win over Golden State on Saturday, with Luka Doncic, the NBA's leading scorer at 32.6 points per game, and LeBron James looking to feast on the league's most depleted rotation in what shapes up as the softest spot on the Sunday slate and the cleanest spread on the board at Lakers -13.