NBA Multi bet of the Weekend | Jan 10

We’re going early on this week’s multi, with a nice slate of eight games on Friday hopefully setting us up nicely for the weekend. The day’s action tips off at 11am AEDT with a trio of games, while the most enticing of them begins an hour later when the Grizzlies face the Rockets in a battle between two teams vying for top seeds in the competitive Western Conference. Take a look at the three bets which make up our multi for the day below.

Friday 10th of January, 11.10am AEDT, FedExForum

Maybe it’s inadvisable to start off a multi with the longest odds leg because, well, if it misses, the fun is over, but we’re going to do it anyway, because Amen Thompson is an absolute wrecking ball on the glass at the minute. The athletic ability of the 21-year-old has always been plain to see as has his competitive instinct, but it’s all beginning to come together for him in his second year, and his output over the past few games has been the best of his career. He’s been scoring a lot better than usual for starters, putting up at least 20 points in three of his last four games, so his points totals could be a decent bet to look at too. But he has been taking an erratic number of shots, so instead we’re going to take a look at rebounds. Thompson averages only 7.6 of them on the season, but those numbers are irrelevant given how much improvement he has demonstrated of late and the subsequent increased time on the court that he is getting. After missing a couple of games through injury, he has returned and played 41 minutes in each of his last two games, and racked up an impressive 16 and 15 rebounds in those games. What’s more, that appears to be on the back of a concerted effort to increase those numbers. After he picked up 16, he was interviewed on the floor and stated how eager he was to get 20. Clearly, Thompson has a renewed focus on rebounding, and that is good news for us. His over/under is a little over 10, but for some value, based on how he has performed in the last couple of games, we are going beyond that and backing him to get 13 of them at good odds. Depending which NBA betting site you use you may need to go for 12 instead at slightly reduced odds, but that’s still a good bet.

Friday 10th of January, 12.10pm AEDT, Footprint Center

Deandre Hunter deserves more fanfare than he has got this season. After missing the bulk of the first month of the season, he has been brilliant off the bench, and for the season is averaging 19.7 points per game in 27.8 minutes, shooting 47.8% from the field and 43.9% from three-point range. He has been putting up 20-point games most nights – until the last couple, that is. He has had a slight downturn in the past three games, albeit only a very slight one. Hunter had a really uncharacteristic 3-point game a few days ago against the Lakers, and since then has failed to hit the 20-point mark two more times in a row. But he was still fine in those games, putting up 18 and 17 points, which incredibly is right on his points over/under total for this game despite the fact that they were substantially lower numbers than what he has been putting up nearly every game. In essence, he had one bad game against the Lakers and a couple of average ones since – hardly a form slump, and his over/under still looks way too low. For a bit more context, prior to this three-game span, Hunter passed the 17.5-point mark in an incredible 15 of his previous 16 games. That is an absurd strike rate for an even money over/under. Even if he has only hit it in one of his last three games, that he was going at 94% (!!) for over a month prior to that is more than enough to convince me that his over is an excellent bet, particularly against a subpar defensive team like the Suns.

Friday 10th of January, 1.10pm AEDT, Delta Center

Never heard of Johnny Juzang Jr? That’s okay – all you need to know is that he is in some pretty decent form at the minute, and is a few games into an increased role on the Jazz team that is leading him to scoot past his points over/under most games of late. This is the 23-year-old’s third year with the Jazz, though he hasn’t played all that much in that time, hitting the floor just 18 and 20 times in his first two seasons for an average of around 15 minutes. He’s well and truly surpassed that tally this season having already clocked up 31 games, though he’s still only averaging 17.6 minutes and 7.4 points. In his last five games, however, Juzang Jr has played at least 21 minutes in every game, and has seen a surge in his scoring as a result. Not a massive surge by any means – he’s not exactly a volume scorer, but he is a really efficient shooter having hit over 40% of his threes both last season and this one, and with his increased minutes he’s been getting up more of those shots. Across this current five-game span, Juzang Jr has scored at least 8 points in every single game and hit the double-figure mark in all but one, but the over/under set for him by betting sites is only marginally above his overall season average at 8.5. I like those odds. That number is based largely on what he has been averaging for most of the season, but in this game he should again be getting close to 25 minutes and putting up a decent number of shots. He has been really consistently efficient of late, and for a bit of extra value I like him to hit double figures once again in this one.