Unfortunately we went 1/3 on our NBA Thursday betting tips with a few late outs hurting our selections. Nevertheless, there’s a great opportunity to get back to winning ways with a big slate on Saturday. We provide our best betting tips here and as always, good luck to everyone following!
NBA Betting Tips Saturday December 22nd
Cleveland Cavaliers @ Toronto Raptors (11am AEDT)
We kick things off with a play from the Eastern Conference duel between the Cavaliers and the Raptors in Toronto. We’ve taken a different approach with our today, opting to tackle a player market that we’re confident on.
In this instance it’s a play on Larry Nance Jr of the Cavaliers to eclipse his rebounds line (9.5 at Sportsbet). With Tristan Thompson on the sidelines, Nance Jr has been given a new role as the anchor of the Cavs defence and has been putting up impressive stat lines as a result. Since starting at the centre spot, Nance Jr has amassed 10+ rebounds in four of his past five games. During that run he’s also enjoyed 16 and 15 rebounds in his last two games, respectively. All things considered, we see this as a great way to start off the day.
The Toronto front court is undersized with Serge Ibaka starting at the 5 for the most part, so there should be plenty of opportunity for Nance Jr to crash the glass and tally another huge line on the boards. Getting over 9.5 or even 10.5 for a line seems like tremendous value here.
Larry Nance Jr Over 9.5
$1.78
Indiana Pacers @ Brooklyn Nets (11:30am AEDT)
Our second play of the day features the match-up between the Pacers and the Nets in another Eastern Conference battle.
The Pacers come into this off back-to-back losses, including a shock loss to the Cavaliers, where they led for the majority of the contest but eventually lost by a point thanks to a Larry Nance Jr tip in at the buzzer. Despite that loss, Pacers have had another great start to the season and are currently in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings with a 20-12 record.
On the other hand, Brooklyn Nets have found a rich vein of form over the past couple of weeks and are on a league best seven game win streak. It’s been a great turnaround for the ball club after a poor start to the season. They’re now sitting in 10th position in the Eastern Conference standings with a 15-18 record. It’s hard to argue with the recent stretch from the Nets, so we’re going to be riding the hot hand here.
The Nets have won seven on the spin and the Pacers lost their most recent two games, with one of them being to the lowly Cavaliers, and now have to hit the road. Don’t be surprised to see the Nets win this, but we’ll be safer and take them at the line.
New Orleans Pelicans @ Los Angeles Lakers (2:30pm AEDT)
Our final play from a busy Saturday slate comes from the Western Conference with the Pelicans travelling to Los Angeles to take on LeBron James and the Lakers.
The Pelicans come into this game with three losses in their last four games. They started the season strong, but have battled with injuries to key players since and find themselves in 13th position in the Western Conference standings with. 15-17 record.
Meanwhile, the Lakers have surpassed nearly all early season expectations to boast a record of 18-13, which has them in fourth position in the stacked Western Conference. They may be coming off back-to-back road losses, but now return home where they’ve won 11 of 15 games this season.
The Pelicans have too many injuries concerns to have any faith in them here. They also bring into this a poor road record that we love to oppose. All things considered, the Lakers need a win and should deliver comfortably.
Los Angeles Lakers -5.5
$1.95
