NBA Multi bet of the Weekend| December 9

The NBA In-Season Tournament is nearly at a close, with Friday Australia time playing host to the two semi-finals between the Bucks and the Pacers, and the Pelicans and the Lakers. That meant no other team took to the court, and that lack of games will be made up for on Saturday. Aside from the four aforementioned In-Season Tournament semi-finalists, every team in the NBA will play across a huge 13-game slate on Saturday, meaning there is plenty of chance to find value. These are three bets we think combine for a nice weekend multi. 

Saturday December 9, 11am AEDT, Spectrum Center 

Let’s kick things off with our first and only player prop of the day, relating to the man who has taken on a substantially bigger role for the Hornets in the absence of Lamelo Ball; Terry Rozier. Ball has now missed four full games with an ankle injury, and unsurprisingly Rozier’s stats have skyrocketed as a result. The first game that wasn’t so much the case – he had just 11 points and 5 assists in that one – but his performances since suggest we can rule that out as an outlier. He has scored at least 23 points and dished out 7 or more assists in each of the last three games, and while betting sites have adjusted to an extent there still looks like value to be had in his scoring markets. I’ve ignored the assists because, while his line is set at 6.5 and he has exceeded that in each of his last three games, there is a lot of juice on that over (it’s at under $1.70 with most bookies) and two of those three games have yielded exactly 7 assists. His points total, meanwhile, is 22.5 at close to $2. His last three games have resulted in 37, 23 and 25 points, but it’s not the fact that he has surpassed the total that makes this an appealing bet. Clearly he’s only just limped past it the last two games, but that has been despite having poor shooting nights. He went 1-11 from long-range last game, while the game before that he was 8-20. His 37-point game came on the back of 13-25 shooting, meaning he’s taken at least 20 shots in three consecutive games and 24 or more in two of them. That’s a whole lot of shots for a guy whose line is set at 22.5 points. To add a little bit more value still, the 25+ points at $2.30 market looks particularly tempting. There is no reason to believe he won’t again take close to 25 shots, and if he does he should be a good chance of passing 25 points.

Saturday December 9, 12pm AEDT, FedExForum 

The Grizzlies have had a woeful start to the season, life without Ja Morant proving every bit as difficult as anticipated and then some. After going 3-13 over their first 16 games, however, they have finally started to find some winning form, picking up three victories in their past three games. Those wins, however, might prove to be a false dawn, at least for the remaining five games before Morant becomes available. Their win over the Mavericks was a good one, but the other two sides they’ve beaten in that stretch were the Pistons and the Jazz, two teams who would struggle to beat a pick-up side at the moment. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, are increasingly proving their hot start to the season to be more than just a flash in the pan. They’ve won five on the trot, and while they too have had a nice run in that time, a league-best record of 16-4 is not to be sneezed at. They managed to shoulder the blow of missing Edwards for a couple of games, and he is now back. His return was nothing to write home about but the Timberwolves managed to continue their winning ways regardless, and with the cobwebs likely dusted off now they should be able to dispose of the Grizzlies comfortably, even on the road. Last time these two sides met the Timberwolves won by 22 points, and they don’t need to go near that to cover what looks like a tempting -6.5-point line with NBA betting sites. 

Saturday December 9, 12.30pm AEDT, Frost Bank Center 

The Bulls have been subject to plenty of criticism to start the season, and rightly so. Their situation looks about as hopeless as any in the league, with a trio consisting of DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic costing them plenty of money but clearly not good enough to make them any better than a middling team. Seemingly making matters worse, LaVine has missed the last three games with a foot injury and will miss this one too, but seemingly, without him on the floor they have been a better team. Those three games he has missed have yielded three victories after they were at 5-14 prior, and they weren’t easy games either, with those wins coming against the Bucks, Pelicans and Hornets. They’ll now head back onto the road, where admittedly they’ve been terrible this season, but while they’re heading to San Antonio they’re not exactly taking on Tim Duncan’s incarnation of the Spurs. Popovich’s team as it currently stands has a bright future, led by Victor Wembanyama, but at present they are perhaps the worst team in the league. They’ve lost no less than 15 consecutive games and are 1-9 on their home court, but despite that bookmakers have this set as an almost even money game. The Bulls are slight favourites, but as poor as they have been this year, with some better form behind them and against a Spurs team which is struggling mightily, the visitors should be able to cover the very friendly -2.5-point line against the Spurs.