Today's top picks: Why Bucks will cover vs. Lakers and more best bets for Thursday

Jonathan Coachman is joined by expert sports bettors Mike McClure and Larry Hartstein on the Early Edge podcast. They give you their best bets for the NBA and college basketball slates for Thursday, January 21 and also toss in a prime NHL play. 

The featured NBA game tonight pits the Lakers against the Bucks at 7:30 p.m. ET. Mike is going with the Bucks at -1, as Milwaukee has not played since Monday and their next game has been postponed, so this is a stand-alone opportunity for the Bucks to score a big win. "They are coming off a loss to the Nets in a spot where they wanted to go out and win," Mike says. "This game is significantly more important to the Bucks at this point of the season as they look to prove something. I like them on the home floor." Mike's prop pick comes from the same game, as he is going with Jrue Holiday Over 5.5 assists. 

Larry then pinpoints the Jazz at -6.5 over the Pelicans at 10 p.m. ET, also spotlighting Bojan Bogdanovich as his prop from that game to make Over 2.5 three-pointers. 

Jonathan skates in with the NHL pick of the day, Tampa Bay -1.5 over Columbus at 7 p.m. ET. 

Mike leads off the college basketball portion of the show with his pick of Akron at -11 over Central Michigan at 6 p.m. ET. Larry then looks to stay hot with Wichita State +3 over Memphis at 7 p.m. ET and Arizona -3 over Arizona State at 9 p.m. ET. 

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