NBA Multi bet of the Weekend| March 23

Saturday will see just over half of the NBA take to the court across six games, kicking off with the Thunder vs Raptors and Celtics vs Pistons at 10am AEDT, and ending with a Sixers vs Lakers clash which is pivotal for both teams, and plenty of others around them. Our multi for the day is frontloaded, banking on blowout results in each of the first two games and an upset victory to round out the multi. Check out all of the details below.  

Saturday, 16th of March at 10.10am AEDT, Spectrum Center 

The Suns are entering a pivotal phase of their season – as are many teams around them – with a hugely congested mid-section of the Western Conference standing meaning that there is still a lot of water to go under the bridge before the playoffs begin in a few weeks’ time. Phoenix are right in the middle of it, sitting in 8th place at 38-28, just three games clear of 10th but also only a couple behind 5th. With plenty to play for they have hit some decent form of late, beating both the Nuggets and the Cavaliers as well as the Raptors over their past five games, though they have also endured two losses to the Celtics in that time. With every game of utmost importance in the run home they will be desperate to avoid any losses against lower ranked teams, and the Hornets certainly fall into that category. What’s more, the Hornets are limping towards the end of the season, and while they’ve picked up a couple of wins since the All-Star break, when they lose they are generally losing big. In fact, of the nine games that they have lost since that time, seven of them have been by double figures or more, which incidentally is bang on the line set for this game. The Hornets have been given a head start of 9.5 points by NBA betting sites, but that’s a line they’ve been struggling to cover in most games of late. Against a talented Phoenix team with a lot to play for, that line won’t likely be enough for them to cover the spread. 

Saturday, 16th of March at 10.10am AEDT, Little Caesars Arena 

The Pistons have had a difficult season at various times, punctuated by a 27-game losing streak earlier in the year which garnered them attention for all the wrong reasons. But despite a pretty woeful win/loss record, there is actually some reason for optimism in Detroit, with a number of talented young players including Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson, to name just a few, giving them at least some hope for the future. They’ve hit a nice little stretch of form over the past few games, refusing to lie down over the past few games of the season despite the fact that there is not a whole lot for them to gain in that time. They’ve won three of their last four games, beating both the Nets and the Raptors and easily accounting for the Hornets, while their solitary loss came against the Mavericks. Meanwhile, the Heat, who are locked into eighth spot in the Eastern Conference and with plenty of scope to move either up or down, have plenty to play for, but are in the midst of a concerning and very untimely four game losing streak. That came after they won five of their first six out of the All-Star break, but there is no denying that they have struggled since then. Granted three of the losses came against good teams – one to the Nuggets, one to the Thunder and one to the Mavericks – but they also lost to the Wizards, of all teams, and haven’t scored more than 107 points in any of those games. They are a much better team than Detroit and should really be winning this game, but these teams are in very different form over the past few games and it’s hard to back the Heat at -6.5 with most betting agencies against anyone at the moment. The Pistons are playing gallantly at the moment, and while they might not win this game they look like a good bet at the line. 

Saturday, 16th of March at 11.10am AEDT, Smoothie King Center 

Finally, we round out our multi with the most significant game of the day between the fourth placed Clippers and the fifth placed Pelicans in what could easily be a preview of a First Round playoffs matchup in the Western Conference. The Pelicans have been in really good form since the All-Star break while the Clippers have struggled, but in each of their most recent outings those form lines seemed to turnaround. The Pelicans were comprehensively outclassed by the Cavaliers, going down 116-95 on their home turf, while the Clippers put in one of the better performances for a while when they beat the Bulls in Chicago 126-111. They played that game without James Harden, who missed with a shoulder injury, but they didn’t skip a beat, with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George both putting in excellent performances and, importantly, only playing relatively low minutes as the Clips won pretty comfortably. That’s key given that this will be the second leg of a back to back. Harden’s status is still unclear for the game and that may well have a significant influence on the outcome, but with George and Leonard combining with the much improved Ivica Zubac and the ever-dangerous Norman Powell, the Clippers are still a pretty capable team. Heading to New Orleans has not been the easiest of tasks this year, but nor are they that dominant on their home turf. The Clippers have been the better team for the season, and while they will be somewhat up against things with the absence of Russell Westbrook and potentially James Harden, they look like a really appealing bet at pretty long odds. They should be in this game up to their eyeballs and look like the obvious value bet, and can lengthen out the odds nicely for the weekend multi.