We hit on two out of three of our best bets on Saturday’s NBA slate, which capped off a pretty successful week for us. We now shift our focus to this week’s Tuesday slate, where we’re confident we’ve got some more winners on the way. Good luck to everyone following!
NBA Betting Tips Tuesday December 18th
Milwaukee Bucks @ Detroit Pistons (11am AEDT)
Our first tip of the game comes from the Milwaukee Bucks at Detroit Pistons match-up. The Bucks come into this in winning form, but have mostly taken advantage of a soft draw over the past couple of weeks. However, they do find themselves in a favourable position in the Eastern Conference standings in second with a 19-9 record. One minor concern for the Bucks coming into this game is the fitness of Brogdon and Middleton, who were forced to sit out their latest game.
Meanwhile, the Pistons continue to be one of those teams that tease with a few good wins, but then go on to lose games that the good teams simply don’t. As it stands, the Pistons have one game above .500 and sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings. Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond continue to dominate the front court, but they’ll need a real lift from their back court if they’re to elevate themselves into the top tier in the East.
Although the Bucks are the better team here, their form hasn’t travelled as well as they would’ve liked. They’re just a .500 team so far this season, whereas the Pistons are a very handy 10-6 at home. When you throw in the Bucks injury concerns, we feel that getting 3.5 points for the Pistons here is great value.
Utah Jazz @ Houston Rockets (12pm AEDT)
The second game we’ve take a fancy to is the Utah Jazz at Houston Rockets game. The Jazz have recovered from a sloppy start to the season to hold a 14-16 record, which would be serviceable in the East, but amazingly has them in third last position in the Western Conference standings. The Rockets season to date has been fairly similar to their opponents here. Again, they got off to a poor start, but have now gone on a decent stretch to elevate themselves to 11th in the West standings at 14-14.
This match-up has turned into a bit of a rivalry over the past six months, stemming from their playoff series last season, which of course the Rockets won quite comfortably. This season however, the Jazz have already got a 2-0 lead in the four game series. Not only have the Jazz won both at home and away against the Rockets, but they’ve done so by an average margin of 19 points. Based on these results and the depth of the Jazz, we’re more than happy to back them in with a five point start.
Philadelphia 76ers @ San Antonio Spurs (12:30pm AEDT)
The final game we’ve taken a look at is the Philadelphia 76ers at San Antonio Spurs match-up. This cross conference duel will be the first of two games between these teams this season. Last season the 76ers swept the series 2-0 with a 19 point win on the road and a six point win at home.
The 76ers have grinded their way up to fourth spot in the Eastern Conference standings with a 20-11 record. They struggled to get wins away from their home deck in the beginning, but have now elevated their record to 6-8 on the road with wins in four of their last 5 road games. Meanwhile, the Spurs have rectified a poor start to the season to bring their record to 15-15, which has them in 10th spot in the West and three games back from eighth. At home the Spurs are 11-5 this season, which is far better than their road form (4-10).
Although the Spurs do have an impressive record at home, we feel the talent gap is too great here in advantage of the Sixers. In addition, the Sixers have perfect match-ups to cover DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge. We’re happy to take them at near even odds here.
