NBA Best Bets Today | Expert Picks for Friday, April 12

Cleveland had an amazing run in January and early February, at one point winning 17 of 18 games. The schedule was mostly light in that run however and the Cavaliers are on a negative trajectory as the playoffs approach, with a 6-11 run since early March.

After losing four of five in a tough west coast trip, the Cavaliers did win Wednesday hosting Memphis, but this will be a difficult game ahead of the season's final regular season game hosting Charlotte in a favorable draw on Sunday.

Cleveland did beat Indiana in Indianapolis in March 108-103, but it was a game where the excellent Pacers offense missed a lot of shots, hitting below 24 percent from 3-point range. The Pacers led most of the first half, but Cleveland took control late with the help of a 2-to-1 edge in free throws.

Indiana won two early season games in this series and can take the season tiebreaker with a win tonight. That is significant as the Cavaliers are just one game ahead of Indiana in the standings right now with the Cavaliers #4 in the East, and Indiana #6.

Orlando is #5 but has a tough game in Philadelphia tonight as the Pacers could land in the #4 position with a win tonight. The Pacers do hold the tiebreaker with #7 Philadelphia as a win tonight would almost certainly keep the Pacers out of the play-in tournament.

Bennedict Mathurin is out for the Pacers, but the team has a strong record without him this season while the Cavaliers are short on depth against the up-tempo Pacers that are the top scoring team in the NBA.

Dean Wade and Sam Merrill are not expected to play with both being excellent 3-point shooters, and 3-point shooting being a key difference in the most recent head-to-head win for Cleveland.

The Cavaliers have a bottom five defensive efficiency in the NBA over the past 10- games for a problematic factor against Indiana's elite offense and the Pacers are catching a nice price here as they were -7 hosting Cleveland less than a month ago and were -3.5 in the last meeting in Indianapolis.

Both teams have a ton to play for as far as seeding is concerned in the Western Conference.

The Pelicans are trying to hold on to the 6th seed, while the Warriors are looking to move up from the 9th. Scheduling clearly favors the Warriors here who are off an easy win last night vs. Portland while the Pelicans are coming off a huge win in Sacramento last night.

Golden State is 9-6-1 ATS when playing without rest this season with an average +/- of +6.1PPG.

New Orleans is 7-5 ATS this season when playing without rest but the scheduling situation warrants a bet against them.

Golden State looks like a team on a mission with a 9-1 SU record their last ten games, 4 of which have come against other playoff bound teams.

New Orleans has won 3 straight, all on the road but this will also be their 3rd game in four nights and 4th in six days.

Golden State has won and covered 3 of the last four meetings with the Pels and we like them by 8+ points here.