After a rare day off, NBA action resumes on Thursday with a monster 13-game slate. Jake Smit previews some of the key matchups and brings you his best spread bets for the day!
Also, sure to check out our NBA tips page regularly to find our best bets for multiple slates each week!
NBA Betting Tips: Thursday, 10th November
Dallas Mavericks at Orlando Magic
Amway Center, 9:40am AEDT
Kicking us off in the early timeslot will be the Magic and the Mavericks at the Amway Center in Orlando. The Mavericks ($1.34) are the heavy favourites to get the job done against the inexperienced Magic ($3.30).
The Mavericks are coming off a tight and intense 96-94 win at home against the Nets on Tuesday to take their season record to a respectable 6-3.
Luka Doncic was superb again against the Nets with 36 points on 50% shooting. He’s now had 30+ points in all nine games he’s played this season, which is just absurd behaviour.
The Magic were at home last start against the Rockets who had the worst record in the league at the time, but still couldn’t secure the chocolates. They fell 127-134 to take their season record to 2-9.
Defence is a huge concern for the Magic at the moment, as they’re giving up a whopping 116.1 points per game and that average is only increasing with every game.
This will be the second and final meeting between these teams this season in a series that the Mavericks will be looking to sweep. They’re better in every aspect of the game and should be winning by double-digits on Thursday.
Dallas Mavericks -7
$1.90 (2 Units)
Phoenix Suns at Minnesota Timberwolves
Target Center, 12pm AEDT
The Suns ($1.76) will be looking to make it six straight wins against the Timberwolves ($2.04) when they lock horns in one of the more exciting matchups on Thursday’s slate.
The injury bug has had a nibble at the Suns this season with all their starters bar ironman Mikal Bridges battling some sort of niggle. Cam Johnson has suffered the most serious injury and has no timetable for a return.
The Suns could manage to score only 88 points against the stifling 76ers defence last start, which is easily their lowest score of the season to date. In fact, it’s the first time they’ve stooped below 100 points from their 10 starts.
The Timberwolves frontcourt All-Star duo of Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns are yet to show the chemistry coach Chris Finch would’ve hoped for, albeit still very early days in an 82-game season.
They’re sporting a 5-6 record heading into Thursday’s action after losing four of their last five games. Alarmingly, the Timberwolves have already lost four times on their home deck this season.
The Suns have dominated this matchup over the last 12 or so months and remain great value to defeat the Timberwolves once again. Even if they’re a little shorthanded, the Suns should be able to negotiate their eighth win of their campaign.
Phoenix Suns H2H
$1.76 (1.5 Units)
Los Angeles Lakers at Los Angeles Clippers
Crypto.com Arena, 2pm AEDT
The Clippers ($1.50) will start favourites against the Lakers ($2.60) in one of the late games on Thursday. The Clippers are eyeing off their ninth straight win over their rivals.
The Clippers will be riding a wave of confidence after pulling off a dramatic comeback win against the red-hot Cavs on Tuesday. They were down by 13 points with just five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, yet came away 119-117 winners.
Despite a solid start to the season, Clippers fans will be getting extremely sick of seeing their superstar in Kawhi Leonard wearing street clothes. He’s featured just twice this campaign after missing all of the 2021-22 season.
There haven’t been many positives to report about the Lakers this season, as they enter this slate with an embarrassing 2-8 record. After going on a mini two-game win streak, they’ve now lost their last three games and all of those were by 14+ points.
Russell Westbook had an historically bad first five or so games this campaign but has thrived since moving to a sixth-man role. The former MVP is now averaging splits of 16/6/6, which is not too bad at all.
Westbrook, Davis, and James will have to find a way to make each other better when sharing the court sooner rather than later, or it’s likely there will be big changes coming. They’re not playing at the level capable of beating the competitive teams in the league at the moment, which is why I’ll be siding with the Clippers to cover the small spread here.
Los Angeles Clippers -4.5
$1.90 (2.5 Units)
