Today's picks: Why Celtics will cover vs. Raptors, plus more NBA and college basketball plays for Thursday, March 4

Jonathan Coachman is joined by featured sports betting experts Mike McClure and Larry Hartstein on the Early Edge podcast, powered by SportsLine. They reveal their favorite bets for the NBA and college basketball for Thursday, March 4. 

It is the final day before the NBA All-Star break, which means uncertain injury outlooks for several key players. Mike has a comprehensive rundown of issues facing several teams, including the Clippers, Raptors, Pistons, Nuggets, Heat and more. Larry discusses the significant impact of Collin Gillespie's knee injury. What will it mean for Villanova? 

The Coach then comes in with the SportsLine Play of the Day, opting for Dayton -4 over Rhode Island at 3:30 p.m. ET. 

Mike is all in on the Celtics at -8 over the very short-handed Raptors at 7 p.m. ET. "This is a rough, rough, rough spot for the Raptors," he says. "They are on the second night of a back to back. They are going to have eight, maybe nine active players tonight, while Boston is at full strength. It is the last day before the All-Star break, so it's easy for them to just kind of mail this one in here." Normally, Mike says he would fade the Pelicans on the second night of a back to back, but he is taking New Orleans -2.5 over Miami at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Heat have some major injury questions, and Zion Williamson wants to play well in front of a national TV audience. 

Larry is focused on some key college basketball matchups, including UCF -3 over East Carolina at 9 p.m. ET, as the Pirates have been off for almost a month. He also strongly emphasizes why the trends suggest taking Iowa State +17 over Texas Tech at 7 p.m. ET. In the NBA, Larry indicates that the numbers point to the Trail Blazers being a very good play at -4.5 over the Kings at 10 p.m. ET. 

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