We split our opening day tips by hitting on 2/4 of our plays from the two games, but expect to get ahead of the ledger on Thursday where we have a huge 11-game slate on our hands. Catch our best bets for the key value games right here!
NBA Betting Tips: Thursday, 21st of October
Chicago Bulls at Detroit Pistons
Little Caesars Arena, 10am AEDT
There’s an air of optimism in Chicago about this new-look Bulls team that will certainly have playoffs on their radar this season. The organisation acquired the talents of Nikola Vucevic midway through their last campaign and continued to bolster their roster in the off-season by claiming the signatures of DeMar DeRozan and Lonzo Ball.
Detroit sent their team into full rebuild mode at the start of last season and that resulted in an end record of 20-52, which was the worst in the East and the second worst in the NBA. The fruits of finishing last is obviously the high picks you get in the draft and the Pistons ended up taking Cade Cunningham at #1 overall. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see their prized recruit make his NBA debut due to an ankle injury.
While the young Pistons will be an energetic and fun team to watch on League Pass this season, it’s certain to be a tough campaign in terms of wins and losses. We’re surprised that this stacked Bulls roster isn’t heavier favourites in their season opener and are happy to take them to cover the spread.
Houston Rockets at Minnesota Timberwolves
Target Center, 11am AEDT
Houston were forced into a rebuild last season when superstar James Harden demanded a trade to Brooklyn. As a result, the Rockets finished with the worst record in the NBA and landed the #2 pick in the draft, which they used to select Jalen Green who’s expected to make an immediate impact as a professional.
Minnesota are yet to really get a look at how their team functions when all their key pieces are on the floor together. They have been absolutely plagued by injuries over the past couple of seasons but are expecting to be competitive if they can stay healthy this campaign. Karl-Anthony Towns looks to have finally gotten his body in tip-top shape and should be in for a big season with luck on his side.
Much like the game we previewed above, we expected the favourites to be a lot shorter than they opened at. The Timberwolves are by far the more talented of the two teams in this matchup and should be winning this very comfortably on their home deck.
Minnesota Timberwolves -5.5
$1.90
Orlando Magic at San Antonio Spurs
AT&T Center, 11:30am AEDT
Orlando traded away all three of their key pieces last season in Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier. The Magic have clearly entered a necessary rebuild and now have a stack of young talent on their roster. The clear negative to that is the lack of success they’re certain to achieve in the near future.
San Antonio are coming off a poor season and they too have lost a couple of what were their key players. DeMar DeRozan has left to join the Bulls and Australia’s Patty Mills signed with the Nets. On the plus side, the Spurs have a couple of young studs in Dejounte Murray and Keldon Johnson who are well-equipped to take on bigger roles.
We don’t expect either of these teams to be featuring in the post-season, but we do believe the Spurs are a couple of years ahead in their development. On top of that, they have one of the greatest coaches of all time in Greg Popovic who should be able to guide his team to a win over what we believe might be the worst team in the competition.
San Antonio Spurs -5.5
$1.90
Player Props
10am Bulls at Pistons – Lonzo Ball 6+ Rebounds ($2.30 TAB)
10am Pacers at Hornets – LaMelo Ball O12.5 R+A ($1.96 Sportsbet)
10:30am Wizards at Raptors – OG Anunoby 20+ Points ($2.10 Sportsbet)
10:30am Wizards at Raptors – Scottie Barnes 4+ Assists ($1.80 Sportsbet)
11am Rockets at Timberwolves – Kevin Porter O17.5 Points ($1.96 Sportsbet)
11am 76ers at Pelicans – Nickeil Alexander-Walker O14.5 Points ($1.94 Sportsbet)
11am Cavaliers at Grizzlies – Jaren Jackson O6.5 Rebounds ($2.35 TAB)
11:30am Magic at Spurs – Keldon Johnson 15+ Points ($2.20 Sportsbet)
11:30am Magic at Spurs – Dejounte Murray O17.5 Points ($1.92 Sportsbet)
12pm Thunder at Jazz – Josh Giddey 6+ Rebounds ($2.55 TAB), 8+ Rebounds ($6.50 TAB)
1pm Nuggets at Suns – Michael Porter Jr. 20+ Points ($2 TAB), 25+ Points ($4.20 TAB)
