{"id":392741,"date":"2026-01-18T10:20:49","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T15:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=392741"},"modified":"2026-01-18T10:20:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T15:20:49","slug":"nba-prop-picks-and-predictions-january-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/nba-prop-picks-and-predictions-january-18\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA prop picks Jan. 18: Back Kevin Durant and LaMelo Ball on Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Kevin Durant and LaMelo Ball headline Sunday&#8217;s NBA prop bets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tonight&#8217;s NBA props narrative:<\/strong> Durant has been on a tear for the Houston Rockets, and can do damage against the bottom-feeding New Orleans Pelicans. Elsewhere, expect Ball to stay red-hot from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-8f1effd0-db18-40a8-916e-091372420d9e\">Check out my top NBA prop picks for Jan. 18, featuring a pick on Chicago&#8217;s Matas Buzelis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-> <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.com\/promoRedirect?key=ej0xMzUyNTA0MiZsPTEzNTI1MDAwJnA9ODMzNw%3D%3D\">Join NorthStar Bets &amp; start betting on the NBA<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"block-0a4ee124-09d4-4260-81c9-fd6fe232dbb3\">NBA prop picks Jan. 18<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-479767b6-5872-497b-ac44-239c07c7e3d5\"><strong>Best bet: Durant over 25.5 points (-125)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Houston is a big favourite in this matchup, setting the table for a game with blowout potential.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s what the -13.5 spread indicates, at least. But I\u2019m not worried about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Rockets are 3-5 in their last eight games with zero double-digit wins. That\u2019s no fault of Durant, who averaged 29.5 points while shooting 49.7% from the field during that span.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The future Hall of Famer has been an incredibly consistent scorer in his 18th season, reaching another gear lately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is 8-3 against this mark in his last 11 games, scoring 30-plus points six times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-> <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.com\/promoRedirect?key=ej0xMzUyNTA0MiZsPTEzNTI1MDAwJnA9ODMzNw%3D%3D\">Bet on Kevin Durant vs. the Pelicans<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>KD has a sky-high shot volume, which is always nice, and now goes up against a Pelicans team which struggles to defend the mid-range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>New Orleans has the fourth-worst mid-range defence (45.9%) and the third-worst defensive rating (119.2) in the NBA, per Cleaning the Glass.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Durant takes 60% of his shots from the mid-range. That ranks in the 99th percentile among all forwards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t expect the Rockets to boatrace a Pelicans team which has kept five straight games within double digits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That means Durant will get ample opportunities to fill the net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-479767b6-5872-497b-ac44-239c07c7e3d5\"><strong>Key stat<\/strong>: Durant has cleared this mark in four of his last six home games.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Best NBA picks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ball 4+ threes (+110):<\/strong> When Ball and Kon Knueppel get hot at the same time, watch out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The former is doing his part to make it rain from beyond-the-arc, putting up some ridiculous numbers since returning from injury on Dec. 18:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>4.5 makes\/game<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>10.1 attempts\/game<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>44.7 3PT%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-> <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.com\/promoRedirect?key=ej0xMzUyNTA0MiZsPTEzNTI1MDAwJnA9ODMzNw%3D%3D\">Full betting markets for Sunday&#8217;s NBA slate<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ball is 10-6 against this line in that span, and is two games removed from hitting nine 3s against the Los Angeles Lakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His opponent tonight, the Denver Nuggets, doesn&#8217;t give up a ton from deep, but is also playing on a back-to-back without Christian Braun and Nikola Jokic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ball is also playing on no rest, but he&#8217;s a career 39.8% three-point shooter on back-to-backs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong><strong>Buzelis over 16.5 points (<\/strong><\/strong>-118)<\/strong>: Buzelis gets another crack at the Brooklyn Nets following a disappointing showing on Friday, where he shot 4-for-15 from the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, the Lithuanian finished <em>just <\/em>shy of this mark with 15 points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his last eight games when playing 20-plus minutes, Buzelis is averaging 19.2 points and is 6-2 against this line. He scored exactly 15 points in both of the outliers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s a great floor to work with, and one he should exceed against Brooklyn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Nets have a bottom-10 defensive rating and give up the ninth-most points per game to opposing power forwards, per Fantasy Pros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong><strong>-> <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.com\/promoRedirect?key=ej0xMzUyNTA0MiZsPTEzNTI1MDAwJnA9ODMzNw%3D%3D\">Don&#8217;t miss out \u2014 bet on tonight&#8217;s NBA prop markets<\/a><\/strong>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-84329f2b-7888-4034-9979-03e8608897e5\"><em>NBA prop picks made at 10 a.m. ET on Jan. 18, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjY1NzMyJnA9MzExMjU%3D\">Sign up to NorthStar Bets today<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kevin Durant and LaMelo Ball headline Sunday&#8217;s NBA prop bets. Tonight&#8217;s NBA props narrative: Durant has been on a tear for the Houston Rockets, and can do damage against the bottom-feeding New Orleans Pelicans. Elsewhere, expect Ball to stay red-hot from beyond the arc. Check out my top NBA prop picks for Jan. 18, featuring [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":392740,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[452,62],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-392741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-com","category-nba","tag-nba"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NBA prop picks Jan. 18: Best bets, predictions &amp; odds | The Boost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NBA prop picks Jan. 18, 2026. 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