NBA Multi bet of the Weekend| April 6

With just a few games left in the regular season, every day is a big one in the NBA at the moment, but Saturday Australian time is a particularly significant one. Nearly every team will take to the floor, with 12 games and 24 teams playing across the course of the day, and by day’s end the standings in both conferences – though particularly in the West – could look quite different to what they do at the start. Below, we take a look at three of the best bets from the day’s action to create our weekend multi. 

Saturday, 6th of April at 10.10am AEDT, Gainbridge Fieldhouse 

As the old adage goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and Tyrese Haliburton ain’t broke. Having mounted a legitimate MVP case early in the season, he long ago fell out of that conversation with a comparatively poor stretch over an extended period, and while he is still not playing at the level that he was earlier in the season, he is beginning to come into some better form at the right time of year. The over on his points total was one of our midweek bets, set at 20.5 by betting sites – a number which he had surpassed in five of his previous seven games. Now, he’s at six of eight. He passed that number against the Nets in the Pacers most recent outing by putting up 24 points, and more importantly he took 22 shots – a lot more than the roughly 15 he had been taking prior to that. It wasn’t his most efficient game, but he was more aggressive than he has been in recent times and if that continues, he should have no problems going past that 20.5 point line which has again been set for him for this game. Even if he doesn’t get that many shots, his recent history would suggest he will do enough to get past this total. The Thunder are obviously a quality team but with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out they have been faltering, so it certainly doesn’t loom as a game in which the Pacers will struggle to score. Expect Haliburton to again get 15-20 shots, and having passed 21 points in six of his last eight games there is good reason to think that he will do it again. 

Saturday, 6th of April at 11.10am AEDT, Fiserv Forum 

The Toronto Raptors last few weeks has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. Seven games below the Nets in 11th and five games clear of the Hornets in 13th, they have not got a whole lot to play for over the rest of the season, and while they wouldn’t exactly be world beaters regardless, their lack of motivation has been plain to see over recent games. They’ve now lost a casual 15 games in a row, and many of their recent defeats have been big ones. In their last game, the Timberwolves beat them by a huge 48 points, marking the second time in four games the Raptors have lost by 44 points or more. In the two games sandwiched in between those two they lost by 15 and 17 points, so it’s safe to say they’re not exactly in good form. Nor are the Bucks, who have lost their last two games to the Wizards and Grizzlies to put their spot in second in jeopardy, but they are a team that is no stranger to big victories, and even without Damian Lillard they should have no problem doing that again. The Bucks have been a different team at home to on the road this season, with a 29-9 record at Fiserv Forum, and not only should they be able to continue that trend in this game, they should be able to record a huge victory. NBA betting sites have set the line at a very large 17.5 points, but even that doesn’t look likely to be enough for the woeful Raptors. 

Saturday, 6th of April at 11.10am AEDT 

This is an interesting one. The Knicks are a much better side than the Bulls, but despite that they are very slight underdogs with some betting agencies to win this game. The reason? The Knicks haven’t been in their best form, and lost three games in a row prior to their most recent outing, and will also be playing their second game in as many days. One of those losses came in an incredible overtime game against the lowly Spurs in which Jalen Brunson put up 60 points, while Victor Wembanyama had a 40/20 game. That was a bad loss, but the next one was by just a point to the Thunder, before they subsequently went down to the Heat. But they bounced back in their latest game, knocking off the Kings by 11 points in a solid performance, and with Brunson still leading the charge they should certainly be expecting to knock off the Bulls, even on the road and on the second leg of a back to back. Chicago is a really average team that is playing, unsurprisingly, pretty average basketball – in fact probably even worse. They’ve won just two of their last seven games, and some of those losses have been really poor. In two of their last three they’ve lost to the Nets and the Hawks comfortably, while they’ve also lost to the Wizards in that stretch. Randomly they did beat the Timberwolves two games ago, but that looks like a pretty significant outlier. The Knicks have been the better team all season, and that remains even with Julius Randle now officially out for the season. Despite being on the second leg of a back to back, they look like really good value to win this one.