NBA Best Bets: Wednesday, December 1

Injuries, injuries, injuries.

That’s been the name of the game for the past couple of weeks in the NBA. Because we release this in the early afternoon, I would HIGHLY recommend looking at the injury report before the games start. Teams like waiting until the last minute to announce that a player is held out of the lineup.

From now on, I’ll include the note that if a certain player is out, don’t bet the game (so we can have all our bases covered).

Categories
Layups: The bets I really like and feel the most confident in.
Two-Pointers: The bets I like a lot and feel fairly confident in.
Three-Pointers: The bets I like but don’t feel as confident in.
Half-Court Shot: A long underdog I like to win straight-up.

Record ATS: 14-15-1

Layups

No layup selections this week due to the uncertainty surrounding injuries and a tougher slate of games.

Two-Pointers

76ers (+3) vs. Celtics: The 76ers are now fully healthy. What a sentence to type. After losing Joel Embiid to COVID-19 protocols and Tobias Harris to a hip injury, Philly is pretty much back to full strength, so I will gladly take them as road dogs.

The Celtics are… fine? They’ve had their fair share of injury issues as well, and I trust them more as underdogs than favorites — even at home. The 76ers are also a pretty solid road team, going 7-4 ATS on the road this year, while Boston is a sub-par 4-5 ATS at home. The 76ers dominated their series against Boston last season, and as long as they’re underdogs tonight, I’ll gladly back them.

Mavericks (-3.5) vs. Pelicans: As I’ve previously mentioned, the Pelicans are not the NBA’s best. Sure, they’ve beaten some quality teams recently, but I don’t think they’re good enough to sustain that type of consistency. And in this game, we get them coming off a wild win over the Clippers where Jonas Valanciunas scored 39 points.

Let’s fade New Orleans and back the Mavs in a solid spot, as they’re coming off two losses themselves and can rebound against a bad Pelicans squad who ranks as one of the worst teams in the league in defensive efficiency.

Three-Pointers

T-Wolves (+4.5) vs. Wizards: If Anthony Edwards is ruled out, stay away. The Timberwolves are on the rise again. They’re the most “rollercoaster” team in the NBA, currently having won seven of their last eight. The Wiz on the other hand? Not great, Bob. Defensively, they’ve fallen off, and they’re losing to teams they have no business struggling against.

If this game were in Minnesota and Edwards played, this would be closer to a pick‘em. As long as the injury report stays relatively clean tonight for Minnesota, I’ll back them as underdogs.

Clippers (-8) vs. Kings: This is the ideal spot to bet the Clippers. They’re coming off an embarrassing loss to the Pelicans and the Kings are on the second game of a back-to-back (their fourth game in six days). This is the type of spot where the Clippers can shine, especially at home.

Firing head coach Luke Walton has seemingly done nothing to turn Sacramento’s luck around, and the Clippers have a more talented roster across the board. This is a game the Clippers will win by double digits.

Half-Court Shot (2-1 OTY)

Hornets ML (+300): The Bucks have had it too good for too long! Milwaukee is riding a seven-game winning streak while the Hornets are coming off two tough losses. This really is a long underdog, but the Hornets have shown resilience by beating teams like the Warriors and Grizzlies. Don’t put all the money in the world on this, but if you’re feeling daring, I don’t think it’s the worst spot for the Hornets tonight.