2024 NBA bets, lines and stats for Wednesday - ESPN

Down the stretch we go. There are nine games on the slate this Wednesday night, featuring a battle between top seeds in the Eastern and Western conferences in a potential measuring stick game.

As always, let's dig deeper into the matchups to identify some good candidates to outperform expectation.

Oklahoma City Thunder +10.5 (-115) at Boston Celtics (on ESPN)

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Even for a team as great as the Celtics, this is a huge number to lay against a Thunder team that has battled for the top spot in the Western Conference all season. Part of this might be due to both Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (GTD, quad) and Jalen Williams (GTD, ankle) being questionable after having missed Tuesday's game. Without any inside information, my hunch is that both are back to play the Celtics on Wednesday. Williams went through shoot-around on Tuesday, and it's possible one or both may have sat on Tuesday for maintenance purposes. The Thunder won the first matchup between these teams in January in a close, high-scoring affair, and I expect Wednesday's game to be similarly competitive.

Indiana Pacers -7.5 (-110) at Brooklyn Nets

The Nets have lost two straight and eight of their last 11 as they settle into their lottery status to end the season. Two of the losses during that span came at the hands of the Pacers — both by at least 21 points. The Pacers still have a lot to play for as they battle with the Heat for the last playoff spot ahead of the play-in, so they should be motivated to have another strong game Wednesday.

Dalano Banton over 20.5 points (-110)

The Blazers-Hornets game could produce some big performances, with two teams deep in the lottery going at it and plenty of young players