NBA Expert Tips and Best Bets | Dec 7

The last two days of In-Season Tournament quarterfinal action have been enthralling, but equally they’ve meant that only two games have been played over the course of each of those days. On Thursday Australian time, normal transmission will resume with no less than 11 games taking place, with every team not involved in those aforementioned quarterfinals making their way back onto the court. With plenty of value on offer as a result, these are three best bets for the day’s NBA action. 

Rockets to win outright @ $2.10 | PlayUp 

The Rockets have been one of the surprise packets of the season, with their young and energetic squad taking it up to many far more seasoned outfits to lead them to a competitive 8-9 start to the season. Intriguingly, that is without a single victory on the road, where they are 0-8. Inevitably that means they have been excellent on their own home floor, where they’ve lost just a single game – that coming in their home opener against the Warriors. Since then they have won eight on the trot in Houston, with their victories including two against the Nuggets, a 34-point drubbing of the Lakers, and two wins by a combined margin of 43 points against the Kings. That is some serious opposition they have been beating, and beating comfortably, which means that they look very tempting at above even money with NBA betting sites to beat the Thunder. That’s not to denigrate the Thunder – they too have improved markedly this year to become not just a playoff contender, but a contender for a top seed in a competitive Western Conference. They will win more games than the Rockets this season, but there is no denying just how good the home side in this game has been on their home floor, so at $2.10 with PlayUp they look like good value. 

Timberwolves – 12.5 @ $1.89 | GetSetBet 

For all of the anticipation about the Spurs’ future – predominantly a result of a certain lanky Frenchman named Victor Wembanyama – they are having a season which could only be described as uncompetitive, and have not so quietly lost 14 games in a row to take their record to 3-16 – better only than the Pistons, who have lost 17 in a row of their own. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, have been fantastic, and currently find themselves on top of the Western Conference with a 15-4 record. What’s more, they have lost just one of the ten games that they have played in Minnesota, that coming against the Kings in the In-Season Tournament, and many of those victories have been big ones against far better teams than the Spurs. Their last two home games have been 11 and 3-point wins respectively and the loss against the Kings came before that, but prior to that six of the seven consecutive games they won there were by more than the 12.5-point line set for this game, the sole exception being an overtime victory against the Celtics. Significantly, Anthony Edwards has missed their last couple of games, but he appears more likely than not to return for this game after participating in the team’s most recent practice. If he suits up, and even if he doesn’t, this is a big mismatch and should result in a significant victory for the Timberwolves. 

Trae Young to score 30+ points @ $2.02 | BlueBet

Trae Young is no stranger to criticism regardless of how gaudy the numbers he puts up are, but he has been in some serious scoring form of late. After consecutive poor scoring games in which he went first 4-12 and then 5-14, he flicked a switch with 38 points against the Pacers and hasn’t looked back since. Including that game, he has surpassed the 30-point mark in five of his last seven games, and often easily, with that stretch including three games of 38 points or more. Pivotally for a bet like this, those numbers are not a result of some streaky shooting – he is taking a hell of a lot of shots, and that should continue against the Nets. He has taken a huge 27 shots or more in four of his last six games, and with many of those being three point attempts combined with the fact that he generally gets a few at the line, too, if he takes that many shots then he will generally be clearing the 30-point mark. At better than even money with betting agencies, this one looks like a quality bet in what should be another high scoring game for the Hawks.