BetOnline Odds Boosters for February 18

By Taylor Smith in Sports & Betting on February 18, 2021

6 Minute Read

BetOnline has a nice batch of odds boosters up ahead of what should be an action-packed Thursday. The NBA, NHL, college basketball, and UEFA Europa League are all back in action, which leaves you with no shortage of betting opportunities to enjoy all day long.

NCAAB: Michigan (-9.5) and Arizona (+1.5) BOTH to Cover (+290)

The Arizona Wildcats will hit the road to take on the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday night. Arizona comes into tonight’s game at 14-7 on the year, including a middling 8-7 record in PAC-12 play. The Bruins, meanwhile, are 14-5 and 10-3 in the conference. However, UCLA comes into tonight’s game as losers of three of their last five overall.

The Wildcats got off to a hot start to the year, but they’ve fallen on more difficult times since conference play began. Arizona has split their last eight games coming into this one, including a tough two-point loss at home to Oregon last time out. The Wildcats are just 8-13 against the spread this season, while they have failed to cover in three of their last four games, as well.

Michigan has risen all the way to No. 3 in the country amid an impressive 14-1 start. The Wolverines’ lone loss of the season came two games ago against No. 23 Minnesota on the road. They’ve since bounced back with back-to-back wins over Maryland and Purdue, respectively.

Tonight, Michigan will host Rutgers as 9.5-point favorites. Rutgers is 12-7 on the year, with all seven of their losses coming in Big 10 play. The Scarlet Knights have won five of their last six games, though, with a defeat at Iowa being the lone blemish in that span. Michigan is 12-3 ATS on the season, while Rutgers has a 9-9-1 ATS mark.

NHL: Rangers (+1.5) and Bruins (-1.5) BOTH to Cover (+215)

Things could be going better for the New York Rangers. The Rangers are off to a lackluster 4-7-3 start, which has them next-to-last in the East Division thus far. The only team in the division off to a worse start? That would be the 4-6-2 Buffalo Sabres.

Sunday’s scheduled game between these two was postponed. the Flyers are third in the division with a solid 8-3-2 record, and they come into this one as winners of two straight following back-to-back triumphs over the Penguins.

The Bruins have ridden goaltender Jaroslav Halak to a nice 10-2-2 start to the season. Halak leads all netminders with a goals-against-average of just 1.38 thus far. Boston has a plus-12 goal differential, which is easily the best mark in the division. The Bruins will put their record on the line tonight at home against New Jersey. The Devils are 5-3-2 to this point, but they’ve played just one game since the beginning of February after a series of postponements.

Europa League: Arsenal and Napoli BOTH to Win (+450)

Arsenal have been in lackluster form in the Premier League all year long, but the Gunners are still very much in the mix for another run at a Europa League title. The Gunners are just 10th in the league at 10-4-10, but they’ll resume their European quest on Thursday. Arsenal will take on Benfica in a round-of-32 match in Rome today.

Arsenal will have Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the squad for this one, but Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney are both expected to sit out due to injury. Benfica feature a number of ex-Premier League stars, including Jan Vertonghen and Nicolas Otamendi. The Portuguese side are just fourth in the Liga with an 11-5-3 record on the year, which puts them behind Sporting, Porto, and Braga.

Napoli, meanwhile, are just fifth in Serie A with a 13-1-7 mark so far this season. Napoli did just pick up an impressive 1-0 win over Juve over the weekend, so the side are still very much in the mix for a spot in next season’s Champions League. Napoli will travel to face Granada in the first leg of their tie on Thursday afternoon.

Granada are playing in European competition for the first time ever after finishing seventh in La Liga a season ago.

NBA: Heat (-1.5) to Cover AND Over 223.5 Points (+260)

The Miami Heat are off to a rough start this season. Last year’s runners-up are just 11-17 to start the year thanks to some shaky play and some injury issues. Miami is largely back to full strength, but they blew a very winnable game on Wednesday night. The Heat let a 14-point lead slip away over the final six minutes last night in San Francisco before falling at the hands of Steph Curry and the Warriors in overtime.

The Heat won’t have much time to lick their wounds, as they’re set to travel to Sacramento to face the upstart Kings tonight. This will be the third game in four nights for Miami as they continue a grueling west coast road trip. Jimmy Butler logged 41 minutes last night, and yet has yet to play a back-to-back set since returning from injury last month. We’ll see whether Butler suits up for tonight’s game after last night’s tough loss.

The Kings are just 12-15, but Luke Walton has this team playing competitive basketball. Richaun Holmes and Harrison Barnes will sit this one out, however, which means Walton will have to rely more heavily on bench cogs like Hassan Whiteside, Cory Joseph, and Glenn Robinson III. De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield will have to take on more of the offensive workload, too.

What’s The Best Bet?

It’s hard to have too much faith in the Rangers right now as they look to get on track after a less-than-stellar start. Tonight’s game against Philadelphia is a winnable one, but the Flyers are justifiably favored. I’ll pass on the NHL booster, especially considering the +215 odds are the least-advantageous on the board.

I also don’t love the idea of backing the Heat tonight. Sacramento plays with a lot of pace, which likely isn’t great news for a Heat team coming off of an overtime affair just last night. I’m also not convinced that the Heat will have a full complement of players tonight, so I’ll avoid the NBA option here.

The soccer and college basketball bets look pretty good. Napoli face a tough road test at Granada, but the Italian side are slight favorites here. No team really has home-field advantage in Arsenal-Benfica with the game taking place at a neutral site in Rome, but the +450 odds are awfully tempting.

The top option is probably Michigan and Arizona both to cover. The Wolverines shouldn’t have much trouble at home against Rutgers, while UCLA-Arizona is essentially a coin flip. The Wildcats certainly have the ability to go into Pauley and pick up a road win, so the +290 odds here look pretty good. I’ll side with college hoops tonight.

Taylor Smith

Taylor Smith has been a staff writer with GamblingSites.org since early 2017. Taylor is primarily a sports writer, though he will occasionally dabble in other things like politics and entertainment betting. His primary specialties are writing about the NBA, Major League Baseball, NFL and domestic and international soccer. Fringe sports like golf and horse racing aren’t exactly his cup of tea, bu ...

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Taylor Smith

Taylor Smith has been a staff writer with GamblingSites.org since early 2017. Taylor is pr ...

View all posts by Taylor Smith

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