NBA Multi bet of the Weekend| February 24

Saturday, Australia time, will be just the second day back since the All-Star break in the NBA, and like the day prior it will see a majority of teams take to the court. The ten-game slate kicks off with an intriguing one between two Eastern Conference contenders in the Cavaliers and the Sixers, while later in the day the Bucks take on the Timberwolves in another huge clash. As always, our weekend bet will be a three-leg multi, including the best value I could find across the course of the day. 

Saturday 24th of February, 11:40am AEDT, Wells Fargo Center 

The Sixers are, obviously, a very different team without Joel Embiid, and not in a good way. In the 11 games out of the last 12 that they have played without their star centre, they have won just three, and in their first game back from the All-Star break they went down comfortably to the Knicks despite 35 points from Tyrese Maxey. He will be absent for at least another month, so they will have to find a way to weather the storm in his absence, but the reality is they are going to be little more than a middling team, if not worse, without him running the show. That doesn’t bode particularly well for their matchup against the Cavaliers. Cleveland entered the All-Star break on the back of an impressive 18-2 run, and though admittedly one of those losses was against the Sixers just prior to the break, it’s very difficult to imagine a repeat of that result. The Cavaliers are playing like a genuine Eastern Conference contender while the Sixers, to put it bluntly, are not, and even on the second leg of a back to back they should be far too good. Despite their respective form lines, however, NBA betting sites have only set the line at 3.5 points, which to my eyes looks much too low. The Cavaliers should be able to roll past that line pretty comfortably to kick off our multi. 

Saturday 24th of February, 12:10pm AEDT, FedExForum 

There are a few things going against this bet, but there is no denying the enormous talent discrepancy between these two teams, which I think will see the Clippers win this one by a double digits margin. The Grizzlies are absolutely decimated by injury and being forced to give big minutes to guys who probably wouldn’t otherwise be playing, but they responded really well before the All-Star break, being consistently competitive and then even beating first the Rockets and then – incredibly – the Bucks. But as Bucks coach Doc Rivers alluded to, half his players were mentally in Cancun for that one. None of the Clippers should be mentally anywhere but FedExForum for this one, with a big few weeks ahead as they try to secure a top two seed at the crowded top of the Western Conference. Assuming all of their stars play what will be the second leg of a back to back, they will have the three best players on the floor by some margin in Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and James Harden, and after Jaren Jackson Jr they might have the next couple too. The Clips didn’t get off to a great start in their first game back from the break against the Thunder, but the fact remains that they have proven themselves in the past couple of months to be one of the best teams in the league and probably the most likely team to win the Western Conference alongside the Nuggets. The Grizzlies, meanwhile, for all of their impressive competitivity of late, just don’t have the personnel to go with a team like the Clippers. The line is set at a pretty solid 9.5 by betting agencies, but I think the visitors should be able to cover even that line pretty well. 

Saturday 24th of February, 12:10pm AEDT, Smoothie King Center 

The Pelicans have been progressively gearing up as the season has worn on, and have now emerged as one of the teams most likely to snatch the coveted fifth and sixth spots in the Western Conference behind the dominant top four, and avoid the Play-In Tournament in the process. Their home form has been particularly strong; they have now won eight of their last 11 games at the Smoothie King Center, including a dominant victory over the Rockets in their first game back from the All-Star break. The Heat have been playing some good ball too; they won four of their last five games before the break, including their last two on the road against the Bucks and the Sixers, and that was with Jimmy Butler absent. He’ll suit up for this game which will significantly bolster the Heat, but while they will no doubt make the Pelicans work for their spoils, the line once again looks a little too low. This should be a tight enough game but the home side deserve to be favourites, and in my view by more than the 2.5 points that betting sites have handicapped them. Expect this to be a relatively low-scoring, tight affair, but with the home crowd behind them and a lot more wins than losses in the past few weeks on their home court, the Pelicans should be able to get over the line by a few points and cover this line in the process to round out our three leg multi.