Tuesday’s NBA betting tips ended in stale mate for us with our three selections ending in one win, one loss and one push. It wasn’t the best of days, but we’re still in decent touch and are confident we’ve got some winning plays for you in the massive 12 game slate on Thursday. As always, good luck to everyone following!
NBA Betting Tips Thursday December 20th
San Antonio Spurs @ Orlando Magic
The Spurs come into this in some really solid form having won five of their last six games to improve their season record to 16-15, which has them in 11th position in the Western Conference standings. It’s been a good couple of months for Popovich and the Spurs, but it must be said that most of these wins have come at home. In fact, 12 of their 16 wins are at home this season and only four have come on the road.
The Magic have had an interesting 2018-19 campaign to date. They haven’t been poor by any means, nor have them been ‘good’, but as it stands they’re 14-15 and are positioned in eighth spot in the Eastern Conference standings. The Magic have struggled with consistency like many teams this season, but right now find themselves on a nice little two game winning streak with an opportunity to make it three on the spin with a victory on Thursday.
We think the Bookies have overcorrected here by pricing this as an even game. The Spurs have been horrible on the road this season and have lost nine of their last 11 games there. On the other hand, Magic are now pushover and will make this a very tough game for the Spurs. We believe they’re too strong at home here.
Phoenix Suns @ Boston Celtics (11:40am AEDT)
After a horrific start to their 2018-19 campaign, the Suns find themselves on a surprising three game winning streak. Even more amazing is that this is the first time in nearly two years the Suns have won three on the spin. However, they have a long way to go to turn their season around and are currently dead last in the West at 7-24. Meanwhile, the Celtics are coming off a loss to the Pistons, which snapped their eight game winning streak. They’ve been in some really nice form, even without a few of their stars throughout this string of games. As it stands, the Celtics are fifth in the East at 18-11.
We’ve gone with something different for this game, opting to go with a player prop bet. With Al Horford set to miss another game through injury, we really like Suns rookie big-man DeAndre Ayton to hit his points line. Ayton has played a lot better with Booker back in the line-up and should get a few easy baskets playing on Celtics back-up bigs Theis and Baynes.
DeAndre Ayton Over 15.5 Points
$1.88
Indiana Pacers @ Toronto Raptors (11:40am AEDT)
The final match we’ve taken a good look at is the Indiana Pacers at Toronto Raptors match-up. The Pacers are on their second leg of a back-to-back here, having played the Cavaliers on Wednesday. Amazingly, the Pacers lost that game to the Cavs as $1.10 favourites thanks to a Larry Nance Jr tip-in at the buzzer. It was a huge blow for the Pacers who now have to travel to take on their conference rivals in the Raptors.
The Raptors were gallant in defeat in their last outing against the Nuggets. They led for long stages of the game, but eventually were outclassed by the Nuggets in the Mile High city. The good news for the Raptors is they now get to come home for a few days and welcome back some of their key players to the line-up.
Although the Pacers have been really solid this season to date, they face one of the toughest challenges on Wednesday when they face the Raptors on the road in the second game of a back-to-back. If the Raptors get their key cogs back like we expect, then they’ll simply be too strong here.
