2023 NBA betting trends: Heat continue to reward bettors; Can Suns follow suit?

The second half of the NBA season tips off on Thursday after a lengthy All-Star break and each game will start to become drastically more important as we head toward April and the NBA playoffs. The Boston Celtics remain title favorites and used a huge turnaround in the second half of last season to make an NBA Finals appearance in June. The Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets round out the top contenders of the second half of the season.

Here are some trends to look out for as the 2023 NBA season enters the home stretch.

Atlanta Hawks: In theory, an up-tempo team with strong guard play should thrive in high scoring environments, but the Hawks are just 13-20 ATS when over tickets cash.

Boston Celtics: The best teams take care of business in those coin toss spots and the C's are 11-3 ATS when the spread is three or fewer points. They get the Pacers on Thursday, but then figure to have three straight games with a tight spread: at Philadelphia, at New York and vs Cleveland.

Brooklyn Nets: The Nets have covered 10 of 14 games entering the break. In order to keep rolling, they will need to hold serve on the road, as nine of their next 11 are away from home.

Charlotte Hornets: The Hornets play an exciting brand of basketball and that's great, but be careful in how you bet it. Through the first half of the season, unders are 17-6 when a Charlotte game as a projected total of at least 235 points.

Chicago Bulls: Unders are 8-2 in Chicago's past 10 road games and 7-2 in their past nine games on zero days rest. So yea, I'm setting aside a unit per game when they have road games on consecutive nights during the first week following the All-Star Break

Cleveland Cavaliers: The stingy Cavs are 29-21-1 ATS when the projected