Saturday’s ESPN NBA Double Header kicks off at midday with the Celtics travelling to East coast rivals the Atlanta Hawks. It’s followed by the Utah Jazz hosting the Pistons at 2.30pm. After a tough 1-2 day on Thursday, we are 30-21 on our NBA tips so far, this season, all coming at minimum of line prices. We’ll be looking to add 3 wins here as we preview the televised games plus another great matchup in the Magic at Portland in our NBA Betting Tips for Saturday, the 14th of January.
Boston Celtics at Atlanta Hawks (12pm AEDT)
Al Horford will face his old club for the first time as the Celtics travel to Atlanta for a Eastern Conference clash. Boston have been in some hot form of late. Apart from losses to the only two teams that sit above them on the East standings, Cleveland and Toronto, they have not lost a match in the last 9 games, with wins over quality teams such as Memphis and Utah in the mix. Many thought they’d drop away without the defensive presence of Avery Bradley, who’s been out with injury, but Marcus Smart has stepped right into the starting rolled and relished the opportunity. Boston are just a team that does every pretty well, they aren’t outstanding in any one aspect of the game, but rank anywhere from 8-15 in all major team stats. They shoot the 3 ball better than they are given credit for, and if they do lack anything, it’s probably the absence of a strong interior big man.
The Hawks are also one of the hotter teams in the league at the moment. They are on a 7-game win streak, which includes a great overtime win over the Spurs. Dwight Howard have been in dominant rebounding form, averaging 15 over his last 4 games. Due to their lack of interior big men, Boston are one of the worst rebounding teams in the league, they rely on smaller players like Bradley, Smart and Jae Crowder to crash the defensive glass. However, they do it well enough to consistently get wins, and I like the Celtics to come away with this one. Most of Atlanta’s wins in this current streak have come against sub .500 teams and I think the bookies are giving them a little more respect than they deserve.
TIP: Boston Celtics +2.5 - $1.95 at Sportsbet
Detroit Pistons at Utah Jazz (2.30pm AEDT)
The Pistons just haven’t been able to get it right so far, this season. At 18-22, they are in the mix of playoffs contention in the East, but don’t look threatening when they come up against the premier teams in the league. Their star centre Andre Drummond is still a little wet behind the ears, and he needs to improve his scoring ability if the Pistons aim to get consistent wins on the board. Unfortunately for him, he’ll have a tough time scoring against one of the best defending centres in the league on Saturday.
Utah centre Rudy Gobert leads the league in blocks per game and has been the main reason that the Jazz are top 5 in most defensive team stats. Detroit struggle to score at the best of times, ranked 21st in offensive efficiency and in the bottom 5 in points per game, they’ll have an even tougher prospect against the Jazz. A few lackluster Utah performances lately hasn’t swayed the bookies into giving us any value, with Utah at $1.24, however, I like them to cover the -8.5 line.
TIP: Utah Jazz -8.5 - $1.91 at Sportsbet
Orlando Magic at Portland Trailblazers (12pm AEDT)
The Trailblazers turned it on against the Cavs on Thursday to sink our tip for the game. They were red hot from three, with Allen Crabbe exploding for 24 points on the game while C.J McCollum shot 5 threes and had 27 points. Just after I said they might be headed for a downward slide in form, they pull out their best performance of the year, and now look tough to beat if they can continue shooting the 3 at a decent clip.
The Magic have much been the forgotten team of the 2016-17 season. At 16-24 on the season, we haven’t heard a whimper from them, possibly because they haven’t had any televised games to date. They are currently on a four-game losing streak, and travelling to Portland should be a tough ask in this one. Portland is currently buried in snow, so teams are having to deal with all sorts of problems in flights, accommodation and travel to and from the stadium. Experts say that it took its tole on the Cavs on Thursday, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened again to the Magic in this one.
TIP: Portland Trailblazers -6 - $1.95 at Sportsbet
_ _ _
Take note: Any of the tips in this article are simply the author’s opinion, so bet at your own risk and always gamble responsibly. Also be sure to check out the Before You Bet Twitter Page for all our thoughts in the lead up to bets! Happy punting!
