With the college basketball season starting to heat up in the States, Foxtel have decided to cut their usual NBA Double Header Saturday back to one game for the time being. The one televised game doesn’t disappoint, however, with superstar outfit the Golden State Warriors travelling to Los Angeles to take on the surprising Lakers. See our preview and NBA betting tips for Saturday the 26th of November below.
Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Lakers (2.30pm AEDT)
After a shaky start to the season, the Warriors look to have hit their stride by beginning to do what we thought they would do from the jump, blow out teams. Saturday will mark the second time in a row these two teams have played, the first of which saw the Warriors put a ridiculous 149 points on their opponents.
The Warriors have won their last nine games since suffering a shock defeat to the Lakers back on November 5th, and have scored over 115 points in eight of those nine games. While the defensive statistics of the last two years definitely aren’t prevalent in 2016, Golden State seem to have taken their offence to another level, with the star shooting trio of Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson all beginning to develop some chemistry.
While the Lakers have surprised many with an 8-8 start to the season, knocking off teams like the Warriors, Thunder and Atlanta earlier in the season, they seem to be slowing coming back to earth with losses to the Spurs, Bulls to go with the blowout loss to the Warriors two nights ago. With Golden States scoring prowess and the Lakers inexperience on defence, I really can’t see them keeping this one close. However, I’ll be backing the under at a line that seems a touch too high for mine with the bookies taking a little too much stock in a massive 255-point total two nights ago.
TIP: Total Points UNDER 233.5 - $1.91 at Sportsbet
San Antonio Spurs at Boston Celtics (5am AEDT)
This one might be a little early/late for us fans here in Australia but if you like a blockbuster matchup then I would suggest staying up/getting up for this one. In their only meeting in Boston this year, the Celtics will take on the Spurs in what I think is the game of the day. The Celtics are starting to re-group after a slowish start where they were ravaged by injuries. Re-joined by stars Al Horford and Jae Crowder, the Celtics have won their last three games and come up against a Spurs team that is quietly making their case for title contenders once again.
With a 12-3 record so far this season, San Antonio have hardly put a foot wrong. Led by reigning 2-time defensive player of the year Kawhi Leonard, it’s amazing that the Spurs already seem to be a well oiled machine despite a number of notable offseason roster changes. Recruit Pau Gasol looks born to play in a Spurs system that thrives on ball movement, and while they do miss the defensive anchoring of Tim Duncan down low, the 1-2 offensive punch that Gasol creates with All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge is a daunting prospect for any team in the league.
The Celtics have been playing some inspired basketball and have a well rounded team. Al Horford seems to have slotted in perfectly to the Celtics system as he doesn’t need a lot of the ball to have an impact on either end. This allows Isiah Thomas to do what he does best, which is dominate the ball and create scoring opportunities for his teammates. A bright light of the C’s season so far has been the play of Avery Bradley. Already renowned as one of the better defensive players in the league, Bradley has improved his offensive skills and could very well be in contention for an All-Star nomination come February.
This is a hard game to call a winner, so ive decided to take the under here has both teams have routinely struggled to score 100 points so far this season, only managing it 17 times over their combined 30 games.
TIP: Total Points UNDER 202 - $1.91 at Sportsbet
Los Angeles Clippers at Detroit Pistons (11.30am AEDT)
The Western Conference leading Clippers travel to Detroit Saturday to take on a Pistons team that has failed to live up to expectations so far this season. Under Stan Van Gundy’s 2nd full year as Pistons coach, the consensus around the league was that Detroit would be a much improved team with Van Gundy implementing a similar system to the one he successfully applied in Orlando in the Dwight Howard era. With ready made Dwight-a-like player Andre Drummond in the fold, it baffles some why the Pistons currently sit at 6-7 on the season.
Some of the decline in form could be attributed to the injury of starting point guard Reggie Jackson, who is the predominant ball handler for the Pistons. Without Jackson, the Pistons have to rely on backups such as Ish Smith and Beno Udrih to create scoring opportunities for Drummond, which isn’t a great thing.
The Clippers on the other hand are rolling. 14-2 on the season so far and showing no signs of slowing down with a demoralising 20-point win over their once rival Dallas Mavericks two nights ago. The Clippers look the class side in the competition despite the Warriors current purple patch and point guard Chris Paul is a real underrated MVP candidate. Look for the Clips to take this one pretty comfortably as Detroit seem to just be holding down the fort until the return of their starting point guard hopefully next week.
TIP: Clippers at the line (-6.5) - $1.95 at Sportsbet
