NBA Expert Tips and Best Bets | Dec 1

The last day of the working week in Australia will play host to nine NBA games, kicking off with the Cavaliers hosting the Trail Blazers and ending with an intriguing all-Californian matchup between the Warriors and the Clippers. Below, we’ve sought out three of the best bets for this Friday of action.

Over 218.5 Total Match Points | $1.90 with PlayUp

This is a low match total line, and though the Cavaliers are a good defensive team and the Blazers not exactly a league-leading offence, it still looks too low. The logic here is pretty simple. The Blazers have surpassed this total in four of their last five games, generally relatively easily, their offence having performed a little better than previously in that time and their defence giving up plenty of points on a couple occasions. The Cavs, meanwhile, have gone past this total in five of their last six games, again generally relatively easily. For all of their defensive talent they have given up a couple of hefty scores, but they have also been scoring big in that time – a period in which they have won four of six games. This doesn’t shape up as a hugely high scoring game, but with these two teams having only failed to surpass this total twice in their combined last 11 games, all signs point to an over result. 

Nets -8.5 | $1.89 with GetSetBet

The Hornets are a fun young team with plenty of upside, with an exciting grouping of wings combined with the supreme talent of Lamelo Ball ensuring there is plenty of reason for Charlotte natives to feel optimistic about the future. That future, however, might have to wait a little while with Ball set to miss an extended period courtesy of an ankle injury. He missed the bulk of the Hornets’ game against the Magic, which they lost by 13 points, while in their first game without him Charlotte went down by 24 to the Knicks. They’re not going to be able to even go close to replacing him, and the initial stages in particular will be difficult as they attempt to figure out who is going to lead the offence and when. The Nets, meanwhile, have come into a rich vein of form after a period of woe, winning their last three games against solid Eastern Conference opposition in the Heat, Bulls and Raptors. Those games have all come by at least nine points and against opposition which is certainly superior to a Lamelo Ball-less Hornets, and the Nets can continue that run of solid wins with a double figure victory over Charlotte. 

Under 222 Total Match Points | $1.90 with BlueBet

There is a lot of reason to expect both of these teams to struggle to score in this game. Let’s start with the Jazz. Their offence has been, to put it politely, not very good of late, with an average of just under 103 points per game over their past five game. They are not a particularly talented roster to start with so it’s easy to understand why they would struggle to score, but that fact has been amplified significantly over the past couple of games with the absence of Lauri Markkanen, far and away their best offensive player. What’s more, they now come up against one of the best defences in the league led by Rudy Gobert, meaning it would be no great surprise to see them struggle to crack 100. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, will likely be without their own best offensive player after Anthony Edwards came down hard on a layup attempt in their last game. Expect Karl-Anthony Towns to pick up a fair bit of the slack created by his absence, but they will not be as potent an offence without Edwards, and they haven’t been scoring particularly big of late anyway. In their last four games they have averaged a solid but unspectacular 109.5 points per game, and that’s with Edwards. Even if they go close to that number in this game it feels like we will be comfortably under with the Jazz’s scoring woes, but don’t be surprised if they fail to get to that number and Utah doesn’t crack 100, leading to a game closer to a 200 point total than the 222 set by bookies.