I passed on the basketball games for Thursday but have five NBA games I will pick for today:

Hornets (-4.5) over Knicks: The Hornets are really struggling but face a Knicks team that just played the Cavaliers on Thursday night.

Cavaliers (+4) over Raptors: Toronto’s first game back after a long west coast road trip. It was a costly trip for the Raptors as they lost guard DeMar DeRozan to injury. The Cavaliers will be focused for this game against one of the better teams in the conference.

Hawks (-1.5) over Nets: The Hawks are quietly 11-6. The Nets are coming off an overtime win against the Spurs.

Spurs (pick) over Grizzlies: I think the Spurs bounce back after an overtime loss in Brooklyn. Memphis is back home after a long road trip, which is a situation where I like to fade a team.

Suns (+5.5) over Mavericks: Dallas is also playing their first home game after a road trip. They went 4-0 away from home but played some close games. They won in double overtime in Chicago on Tuesday and won on the buzzer-beater over Milwaukee the next night.