NBA Multi bet of the Weekend| February 10

Saturday, Australia time, will play host to a relatively small slate of NBA games, with only 12 teams across six games set to take to the floor. It is not exactly the most enthralling bunch of matches either, particularly early on, though there will be a little more intrigue surrounding the last two games of the day, which see the Kings host the Nuggets and then the Lakers host the Pelicans. To make things a little more interesting, here is our first weekend multi for the day’s action. 

Saturday, 10th of February at 11:10am AEDT, Wells Fargo Center 

The Philadelphia 76ers have had a really solid season to date thanks, though not exclusively, in large part due to the most dominant season of Joel Embiid’s dominant career. However, he is now set to miss an extended period of time with a meniscus injury, and the early signs are that the Sixers are going to struggle to deal with his absence. He has missed six of the last seven games – the solitary game in which he played coming when he returned from a two-game absence only to be subsequently diagnosed with a more serious injury – and the Sixers have won just one of those. What’s more, that victory came by just three points against the Jazz when Tyrese Maxey scored 51 points. He is the favourite to win the Most Improved Player Award this season and is now their best player, but if you’re banking on 50 points from him to sneak over the line you’re going to lose a lot more often than you win. What’s more, those losses have not been against great teams and have often been comfortable. They’ve gone down to the Trail Blazers in that time, the Nets by 15 points, the Mavericks by 16 and the Warriors by 23. The Hawks are no world beaters, but they are actually in relatively decent form at the moment – they won four games a row before losing their last two, but those losses came in close fashion to the Clippers and the Celtics. Against the Embiid-less Sixers they should be able to get back on the winners list, and can cover the relatively short line of 3.5 points set by NBA betting sites. 

Saturday, 10th of February at 11:40pm AEDT, Scotiabank Arena 

The Jalen Green experience is always an interesting one, with the wildly athletic, highly talented scorer just as capable of putting together a mesmerising 30-point performance as he is of going 2-14 from the field. Lately, however, he has been doing a lot more of the former, and his tendency to deviate significantly from his average means that there is often a little bit of value to be found in him to have either particularly low scoring games, or particularly high scoring ones. Given the form he is in, he looks like good value to have another solid one here. Green’s line is set at 19.5 points, right around his season average, a number he has passed in five of his last eight games. In those five games in which he’s passed it, he has scored at least 29 points, which is in line with his tendency for major fluctuations. Despite that he is paying over $3 to score 25 points – remember, he has done it more often than not in his last eight games – or if you want to get really risky, closer to $9 to have 30. I’m going to stick with the mid-tier risk and just go for 25 points, which to me looks like really good value at this point in time. This doesn’t necessarily loom as the highest scoring game of the day but neither will it likely be particularly low scoring, and considering Green is clearly feeling himself right now, he looks like he can add a little bit of value to our multi at the 25+ point spot.

Saturday, 10th of February at 11:40pm AEDT, TD Garden

Let’s round out the multi with another player prop, this time focusing on an under for a guy who is not so much in bad form at the moment as seemingly completely disinterested. Jordan Poole’s drop off this season has been significant; a talented young player on the Warriors’ 2022 championship team, with the opportunity to play a more substantial role on a bad Wizards team he has fallen in a heap, averaging just 15.9 points per game on 40.4% shooting from the field – the lowest number since his rookie year. Poole has gone through a couple of stretches in which his aggression and interest levels seemed to perk up a little bit, resulting in a few decent games in a row, but equally he has gone through periods where he would appear to prefer to be anywhere else but on an NBA floor. After a 16-point game on 6-21 shooting against the Heat he has gone right back into his shell in the past couple, hitting just one field goal from 12 attempts across the two games for a grand total of 4 points. Coach Wes Unseld Jr appears to have had enough of him, at least in those games, giving him just 20 and then 25 minutes. Poole’s confidence, his desire, or both appear to be at rock bottom at the minute, meaning that his 14.5 point total set by betting agencies for this game looks too high, particularly against the Celtics. The Celtics defence should be able to keep the Wizards very bad offence from scoring too much, which will limit Poole’s opportunity, as will the fact that this game will almost certainly be a blowout and the starters probably won’t need to spend much of the fourth quarter on the bench. Poole is always capable of random games where he displays interest in helping his team, but he doesn’t appear to be anywhere near that frame of mind at the moment. He should stay well away from his 14.5 points total.