The defending champion Knicks are still searching for their first win of the season, and they’ll get a tough test Tuesday night when the unbeaten Pistons roll into Madison Square Garden.

New York has opened its title defense 0-3, while Detroit is 3-0 and sitting atop the Eastern Conference. The Pistons will be without starting center Jalen Duren, though, and the Knicks are still laying around 4 points at home as oddsmakers bet on the banner over the slow start.

The nightcap of NBC’s coast-to-coast doubleheader sends the Trail Blazers to Crypto.com Arena to face the Lakers in a matchup of undefeated West teams. Los Angeles is 3-0 behind a red-hot Luka Doncic, while Portland is 2-0 and comes in rested against a Lakers team playing the front end of a back-to-back. The Lakers are short home favorites, and the total sits in the mid-230s.

Tuesday’s slate also includes Nets vs. Celtics and Kings vs. Spurs. We break down the latest odds and our best bets for Knicks vs. Pistons, Lakers vs. Trail Blazers, and more. Basketball season is the perfect time to get into betting, as bet365 offers new users a special promo: Bet $10, get $200 win or lose!

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Knicks vs. Pistons odds

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Knicks vs. Pistons best bet

Whatever the Knicks are running on offense right now, it isn’t working. New York is scoring under 102 points per game through three games, and they’ve shot just 47.6% on an effective field-goal basis. Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges are too good to stay this cold all season, but tonight isn’t the ideal spot for a breakout.

Detroit has been one of the stingiest defenses in the league out of the gate, giving up just 101.6 points per 100 possessions. Opponents are hitting only 48% on an effective field-goal basis against the Pistons so that the Knicks won’t get many easy looks.

The Pistons’ offense has been solid, but they’ve done very little damage inside, averaging just 42.7 points in the paint. That’s a problem against a Knicks defense that has allowed only 36.7 paint points per game, and it only gets tougher with Jalen Duren sidelined. Without their starting center, Cade Cunningham and company will lean more on jumpers, which adds variance to a game that already projects to be a grind.

Neither team plays fast, either. Both sit in the bottom half of the league in pace, and the under has cashed in all three Knicks games so far. It’s early, but everything here points to a half-court battle that lands in the 200s.

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Kings vs. Spurs odds

Kings vs. Spurs best bet

Sacramento’s defense has been a disaster to start the season, and it’s a big reason the Kings are still looking for their first win. They’re giving up 118.1 points per 100 possessions, and opponents are shooting 55.9% on an effective field-goal basis against them. The Grizzlies just hung 123 on them Sunday, and the Spurs have far more firepower.

San Antonio’s offense hasn’t fully clicked yet, which explains why the under is 3-0 in their games. But this is the perfect get-right spot. The Spurs have been one of the best teams in the league at taking care of the ball, coughing it up on just 13% of their possessions, and the Kings rarely force mistakes anyway. That means a ton of shot attempts for San Antonio.

Most of those shots should come at the rim. The Spurs are averaging 53.3 points in the paint, while the Kings are allowing 54 per game inside. Victor Wembanyama and company should feast around the basket all night.

With San Antonio laying 18.5 points, the starters could sit for most of the fourth quarter. Even so, the Kings haven’t shown they can stop anyone, and the Spurs’ bench should keep the scoreboard moving late. San Antonio gets to 125 in a game this lopsided.

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Lakers vs. Trail Blazers odds

Lakers vs. Trail Blazers best bet

On paper, Portland looks like the scarier team. The Trail Blazers have the best net rating in the league through two games, and their defense has held opponents to a 45.1% effective field-goal percentage. That said, one of those games came against a Sacramento team that can’t score or defend right now, so I’m not ready to crown that defense just yet.

The Lakers’ offense is a different animal. Los Angeles leads the league in offensive rating and is shooting a ridiculous 63.8% on an effective field-goal basis. Luka Doncic has been in total control, and the Lakers have also been living at the free-throw line, getting there more often than any team in the league. That’s a nice way to slow down a Portland team that wants to run up threes, as half their shot attempts have come from beyond the arc.

Los Angeles has also been forcing turnovers on 18.7% of opponent possessions, which should lead to some easy buckets in transition. Portland has been careful with the ball, so something has to give, and I trust the Lakers at home to win that battle.

The rebounding battle is the biggest concern here. The Blazers have crashed the offensive glass, while the Lakers have had trouble cleaning up misses. It’s also the front end of a back-to-back for Los Angeles. Even so, I’d rather lay a short price with the best offense in basketball than chase a Portland team whose early numbers came against soft competition.

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Best NBA player props for Tuesday

With Jalen Duren sidelined, someone has to pick up the slack on the glass for Detroit, and John Collins already showed he’s ready to do it. In Sunday’s win over the 76ers, his first full game without Duren, Collins pulled down 11 rebounds to go with 16 points.

The Pistons are also missing Ausar Thompson, so there’s even less size in this lineup. Paul Reed will get his share of boards, but Collins is going to spend more time at the five than he’s used to, and that puts him right in the middle of the action.

The matchup helps, too. The Knicks haven’t been able to buy a basket, and there should be plenty of long misses to go around for a Detroit team that already likes to crash the glass. Collins has cleared this number in two of his three games, and his role has only grown since Duren went down.

Julius Randle’s last outing is probably the reason this number is sitting under 20. He went just 2-for-8 from the field and finished with 10 points in Sunday’s loss to the Pacers. I’m willing to chalk that up to an off night, as he opened the season with 33 points against the Hornets and followed it up with 23 against the Cavaliers.

Randle is the primary creator in Brooklyn’s offense, and outside of Michael Porter Jr., there isn’t much competition for shots. The Nets need him to carry the scoring load every night, and he’s still averaging 22 points even with that dud mixed in.

What I like most is how often he’s getting to the free-throw line. Randle has attempted at least eight free throws in all three games, and that gives him a strong scoring floor even when his jumper isn’t falling. Even on his worst shooting night of the season, he still made six trips’ worth of free throws count.

Boston is a tough matchup, but Brooklyn won’t have many other places to turn. Look for Randle to get back above 20 on a heavy workload.

The beauty of a first-quarter prop in this game is that the blowout doesn’t hurt you. San Antonio is laying 18.5 points, so the starters might not see much of the fourth quarter, but Stephon Castle will be on the floor for nearly all of the opening 12 minutes.

Castle has been aggressive to start the season, averaging 19.3 points and getting up at least 15 shots in every game. He also set the tone early in Saturday’s win over the Mavericks, pouring in nine points in the first quarter alone.

His jumper has opened things up, too. Castle has knocked down 11 threes through three games after hitting a career-high five against the Thunder in the opener. Sacramento allows a ton of looks from deep, giving up 41 three-point attempts per game, so he should get plenty of clean opportunities early.

He only needs a couple of buckets and a free throw to get there. With the Spurs looking to jump on a winless Kings team from the opening tip, Castle should be a big part of that early push.