NBA Expert Tips and Best Bets | Jan 8

There will be seven games taking place in the NBA on Wednesday, and while there are a few likely lopsided matchups, a couple of big games look set to make the day’s action a little more interesting. The first of those will see the Lakers head to Dallas to take on the Mavericks, while the best is saved for last with the Nuggets hosting the Celtics in a clash between the last two NBA champions at 2pm AEDT. We’ll kick off our days bets with a couple of line bets for two teams vying for playoff spots in the Western Conference, before rounding things out with a player prop on the game’s best player when the Nugs take on the Celts.

Suns -2.5 @ $1.88 with QuestBet

In what world are the Suns only a 2.5-point better team than the Hornets? Admittedly they have not been playing all that well – in fact prior to their latest clash against the Sixers, they had lost four on the trot. But they recaptured a little bit of form on Tuesday, bouncing back from a poor first quarter to win by ten points despite Devin Booker shooting 3-16 from the field. Each of he, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are actually available at the moment, the latter of whom came off the bench in that latest game and responded brilliantly with 25 points on 15 shots. While they have not played at nearly the level they are capable of for much of this season, they are still a very talented team and should be able to beat the Hornets with ease. Charlotte has lost an enormous ten games in a row, and while they have got close in a few of them, not a single one of those defeats has come by less than the 2.5-point line betting sites have set for this game. Included among the teams that have beaten them in that time are the Pistons, and the Wizards twice – teams that are not a patch on the Suns. Granted this is the second leg of a back to back for Phoenix, but even a fatigued version of this team should have no problems disposing of a side which has lost ten games on the trot. This line just looks way too short, and the Suns should be able to get a little run going with their second consecutive win, likely by comfortably more than 2.5 points.

Lakers -4.5 @ $1.88 with PlayUp

It’s no secret that the Mavericks are a top heavy side, so when star Luka Doncic went down with an injury on Christmas Day it was always likely to have a significant effect on their results. And so it has. They won their first game without him against the Suns, but since then last season’s NBA Finalists have lost five on the trot. The first of those was against the Trail Blazers, who sit third last in the Western Conference, and while the next four were all against decent teams, each of those losses also came by at least ten points. They are really struggling without their star, and this won’t be an easy game for them against a Lakers team which is actually in some decent form. LeBron James and co have won seven of their last ten games, with one of those three losses coming against the unstoppable Cavaliers and the other in their most recent outing against the Rockets – that one by just four points after a miscommunication on a potentially game-tying possession saw them turn the ball over without getting a shot up. LeBron James has started life in his 40s with a couple of big games, Anthony Davis is doing what he does, Austin Reaves is playing the best basketball of his career and Max Christie has taken about three steps forward in the past week. For all the criticism they are on the receiving end of, the Lakers are right up there with the best teams outside of the three that have established themselves at the top of the Western Conference. The Mavericks, with Doncic leading the charge, should be included within that group too, but without him they are a shadow of their former selves. They need to find a way to keep their record intact until he gets back, but at the moment they are proving incapable of doing that, and the Lakers should be able to knock them off by more than the 4.5-point line set by betting agencies.

Nikola Jokic to record a triple-double @ $2.80 with Unibet

Somehow, Nikola Jokic is having the best season of his career. Given the extraordinary level at which he has performed for years now, that is not an easy feat, but the numbers speak for themselves; 31.5 points per game, 55.4% shooting from the field and 47.7% from three-point range (!!), 13.0 rebounds and 9.7 assists. Those are truly ridiculous numbers, and they’re not even a patch on what he is doing over his past five games. In that time, the three-time MVP is 36.6 points, 15 rebounds and 10.6 assists, and is coming off back to back 40-point games against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. Jokic is averaging basically a triple-double on the season, and has achieved that feat in two of his last four games. In the other two, however, he has been just a solitary stat away from it, having picked up 18 rebounds and 9 assists in the first clash against the Spurs, and 10 rebounds and 9 assists in the second. He is either recording a triple-double or going close to it in every game, so at close to $3 to do it with most NBA betting sites he looks like good value here. Admittedly the Celtics are an intelligent defensive team that will make life a little tougher for him, but Jokic has proven for a very long time that he is more than capable of figuring out virtually every defensive scheme opposing teams can throw at him. What’s more, if anything the Celtics’ will likely look to make scoring as tough as possible for him, given how productive he has been in that regard over the last couple of games, and that is perfect for us. Jokic will get his ten points in his sleep regardless of what sort of defence is played on him, but if the Celtics try to limit his scoring it will only serve to open the door for a greater number of assists and even further heighten his chances of obtaining yet another triple-double. I’ve got him as closer to a 50% chance of hitting this mark in this game if not better, so at the odds on offer he looks like great value to round out the day.