After hitting a couple of good winners on Wednesday, we now turn our attention to Thursday’s NBA slate where there are 10 games scheduled for play. Jake Smit takes you through his three best bets for the day!
Also, be sure to check out our NBA tips page regularly to find our best bets for multiple slates each week!
NBA Betting Tips: Thursday, 27th October
Brooklyn Nets at Milwaukee Bucks
Fiserv Forum, 10:30am AEDT
Two heavyweights in the Eastern Conference go at it on Thursday with the 1-2 Nets ($2.35) travelling to Milwaukee to take on the 2-0 Bucks ($1.60).
It’s been a shaky start to the season for a Nets team that had its two superstars wanting out in the off-season. However, no trades were executed and both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant will be running it back.
Irving and Durant combined for 74 points in their most recent outing against the Grizzlies, but it still wasn’t enough as Demond Bane and Ja Morant went off for a combined 76 points to deal the Nets their second loss from three games.
It’s been business as usual for the Bucks who have performed strongly in both outings to date. They upset the 76ers on their own floor first up before making light work of the inexperienced Rockets in their second outing.
The Bucks will continue to be without Khris Middleton who’s currently injured. Jevon Carter has been taking a lot of those start minutes along with George Hill and Wesley Matthews.
Although Middleton is a bit out for the Bucks, they’re still an extremely talented and mature roster, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo. Their chemistry is a hell of a lot better than the Nets at the moment and that should prove to be a deciding factor on Thursday.
Milwaukee Bucks -4
$1.90 (2.5 Units)
Indiana Pacers at Chicago Bulls
United Center, 11am AEDT
More Eastern Conference rivals lock horns on Thursday with the Bulls ($1.29) playing hosts to the Pacers ($3.62) at the United Center in Chicago.
It’s still early doors, but the Pacers certainly look the winners of the Tyrese Haliburton and Domantas Sabonis trade, because the former is balling out for the Pacers. He’s averaging 24 points and 10 assists on better than 50% shooting thus far.
Haliburton’s elite play has only helped the Pacers to one win from their four outings to date, which came against the Pistons two starts back. More recently, the Pacers were soundly beaten by the 76ers in Philly.
The Bulls have struggled to keep their guys fit and healthy over the last couple of seasons and that remains true right now with Lonzo Ball side-lined. Ayo Dosunmu has been starting in his place but doesn’t quite have the length on defence nor the playmaking ability on offence.
Last season the Bulls had a habit of beating the teams they should beat and losing to the teams they were expected to lose to, however, that’s been flipped on its head four games into this campaign; the underdog has prevailed on all four occasions.
Despite the current trend of Bulls’ games, I expect them to be far too good for the Pacers in this particular meeting. They have experience, talent, and home court on their side, which should equate to them covering the spread.
Chicago Bulls -7.5
$1.90 (1.5 Units)
Houston Rockets at Utah Jazz
Vivint Arena, 12pm AEDT
Two teams expected to tank their way through the season will meet at noon (AEDT) on Thursday. The Jazz ($1.40) will start as the red-hot favourites against the Rockets ($3) in Utah.
The Rockets continue to add first round talent to their roster and look to have found another gem in the form of Jabari Smith Jr. He, along with Kevin Porter Jr and Jalen Green form the nucleus of the rebuilding Rockets.
Needless to say, there’s going to be plenty of growing pains for the young Rockets. They experienced defeat in each of their first three games this campaign but broke the duck last outing against the Jazz in Houston.
Although the Jazz gave up their two All-Stars in Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, the talent they have on their roster is still good enough to be competitive in most games.
That’s exactly what we’ve seen from Will Hardy’s men to date, with the Jazz entering Thursday’s slate with an impressive 3-1 record.
These teams met just a couple of days ago in Houston when the Rockets dealt the Jazz their first loss of the season in a tight one. Home court advantage has been flipped for Thursday’s meeting and so will the result in my opinion. The Jazz’s roster is too experienced and too proud to lose to such a young squad twice on the bounce.
Utah Jazz -6
$1.90 (2 Units)
