The always exciting 2021-22 NBA season continues on Saturday with eight games on the card. As always, we bring you our best spread and player prop bets for the day right here. Good luck to everyone following!
NBA Betting Tips: Saturday, 18th of December
Denver Nuggets at Atlanta Hawks
State Farm Arena, 11:30am AEDT
The Nuggets were really disappointing in their most recent game against the Timberwolves where they lost by 17 points on their home deck. Nikola Jokic did his best to carry his team to another win, but the lack of supporting cast due to injuries was as evident as ever. The Nuggets are now 14-14 on the season and sit eight in the West standings.
The Hawks rebounded from two poor losses on their home floor with an easy win away to the Magic in a quick one-game road trip. They managed to keep the opposition to less than 100 points for the first time in six games which was the key to their success. The Hawks are also now 14-14 on the season and are in ninth spot in the East standings.
These teams come into this clash with equal records and will be desperate to record a win to avoid falling under .500. The Hawks will start as the narrow favourites and deservingly so in our opinion, as they’re 8-6 on their home floor this season compared the Nuggets 6-9 road record. We expect form to hold true and for the Hawks to cover the spread here.
Golden State Warriors at Boston Celtics
TD Garden, 11:30am AEDT
The Warriors lost their first game of their current road trip against the 76ers but have bounced back beautifully with wins against the Pacers and the Knicks. The Warriors are now 23-5 on the season and are tied with Phoenix for best record in the league. On another note, Steph Curry recently broke an NBA record for the most three-pointers and has plenty more in the tank.
The Celtics were impressive winners in their most recent outing against the Bucks when defeating them by 14 points at home. It was an important win for a number of reasons, firstly because it broke a three-game losing streak and secondly, it brought them back to .500 for the season, which is a decent result considering their injury problems this campaign.
The Celtics have had the wood over the Warriors in recent times with wins in each of their last five meetings, but just about all of those are redundant due to the line-ups the Warriors were putting out. Now, the Warriors are clearly the better of the two teams and are deserving of being heavier favourites here in our opinion.
Golden State Warriors -3
$1.90
Los Angeles Lakers at Minnesota Timberwolves
Target Center, 2pm AEDT
The Lakers have had an disrupted season to date due to injuries and will be hoping for a much better run going forward. They come into this off an overtime win away to the Mavericks last time out, which made it three wins in a row and six from their last eight. The Lakers are now 16-13 on the season and have improved into sixth in the West standings.
The Timberwolves have had a bizarre campaign filled with streaks of both the good and the bad kind. They recently broke one of their bad five-game losing streaks with a clutch win against the Trail Blazers, which they backed up last time out with another big road win against the Nuggets. The Timberwolves are now 13-15 and are ninth in the West standings.
Both teams are building solid winning streaks as they approach this slate, but only one will continue on their way. For us, we’re really keen to back the Timberwolves on their home deck at even odds. They’ve proven to be very hard to beat when they have a full bill of health and with that expected to be the case on Saturday, we simply love their value.
Minnesota Timberwolves H2H
$1.87
Player Props
11:30am Nuggets at Hawks – Clint Capela 12+ Points $1.80 TAB
11:30am Nuggets at Hawks – Trae Young 27+ Points $1.87 TAB
11:30am Warriors at Celtics – Marcus Smart 12+ Points $1.90 Sportsbet
12pm Bucks at Pelicans – Devonte Graham 14+ Points $1.87 Sportsbet
12pm Bucks at Pelicans – Brandon Ingram 24+ Points $1.90 TAB
2pm Lakers at Timberwolves – Karl-Anthony Towns 26+ Points $1.95 TAB
2pm Lakers at Timberwolves – D’Angelo Russell 6+ Assists $1.75 TAB
