The NBA season continues this Thursday, the 9th of January with another nine-game slate. Headlining the day is the Nuggets at Mavericks clash at 11:30am, which is one of many exciting battles on the slate.
We have a full preview and betting tips for some of the key games of the day below.
NBA Betting Tips Thursday 9th January
San Antonio Spurs @ Boston Celtics
11:10am AEDT
The Spurs seem to have put their early season struggles behind them and are now playing consistently competitive basketball. They were very impressive winners last time out against the league leading Bucks, defeating them at home by 22 points (126-104). That win was the Spurs third from their past five games, which takes their record to 15-20 on the season.
No one quite knew what to expect from the new look Celtics this season, but so far, they’ve proven to be a consistently competitive team in the East and will be one of the major players in the playoffs. They come into this off a loss last time out to the Wizards (94-99), which was a disappointing way to end their three-game winning streak. The Celtics are now 25-9 on the season and are second in the East standings.
The Celtics have been really solid all year, but on current form we like the Spurs to cover the spread here. They’ve had a handful of really impressive upset wins of late and their confidence is sure to by high after knocking over the league leading Bucks last start. We have them keeping this close and having their fair share of chances to secure a win.
San Antonio Spurs +6.5
$1.93
Denver Nuggets @ Dallas Mavericks
11:40am AEDT
The Nuggets were winners last time out against the Hawks by eight points. Nikola Jokic was phenomenal when scoring a career high 47 points, helping the Nuggets to their 25th win of the season against 11 losses. They’ll finally end their five-game road trip (currently 2-2) when they head to Dallas on Thursday.
The Mavericks have been one of the surprise packets this season and look almost like a sure thing to feature in the playoffs in a few months’ time. They were comfortable eight-point winners last time out against the Bullets, which was a great way to bounce back from a couple of disappointing performances in a row.
Luka Doncic has led the Mavericks to a very impressive 23-13 record on the season and are 13-6 against Western Conference opponents. We strongly fancy them to improve on both of those stats when they host the Nuggets who are vulnerable on the road (10-7) and are sure to be fatigued after such a long trip. We expect the Mavs to win this by a fairly comfortable margin at home.
Dallas Mavericks -2.5
$1.87
Chicago Bulls @ New Orleans Pelicans
12:10pm AEDT
As mentioned above, the Bulls fell to the Mavericks in Dallas last time out to make it four losses on the spin. This has come after they had won five of their eight games prior and were playing easily their best basketball of the season. It certainly won’t get any easier for the Bulls anytime soon as they continue their Western Conference road trip.
The Pelicans were in the game against the Jazz up their eyeballs but unfortunately ended up falling two points short (126-128). Despite the loss, it was still another great performance that they will take plenty of positives out of. The Pelicans come into this having won six of their last nine games and have a young point guard in Lonzo Ball who is playing the best basketball of his career.
The Bulls have lost their winning touch and we feel a fifth loss in a row is on the cards for them here. The Pelicans are playing inspired basketball at the moment and will be desperate to make amends for their recent heartbreaker against the Jazz. We have them bouncing back with a big win at home.
New Orleans Pelicans -5
$1.93
