NBA Multi bet of the Weekend | November 15-17

Day 2 of the Emirates NBA Cup takes place on Saturday in Australia, giving fans and punters alike plenty of opportunity soak in as much of the 12-game slate as humanly possible. And with so many games taking place, there is a whole lot of value to be hunted down, and hopefully we have done just that. We will kick off our weekend’s multi with a player prop on a talented Magic player who has already come up trumps for us in the recent past, before banking on a high scoring game between the Hawks and the Wizards, and for the Pelicans’ injury-ravaged roster to continue to struggle. Check out our insights below.

Saturday 16th of November, 11.05am AEDT, Kia Center

No need to change a winning formula here. Franz Wagner has been in brilliant form since being forced into the role of the number one option for his Orlando Magic due to Paolo Banchero’s extended absence. In his past five games he is averaging 27.8 points per game and has scored at least 27 in four of them, and it could easily have been more. In the middle three of those games, he was needed for only 32 minutes or less in games that were decided long before the final buzzer, while last game he blew by the over/under total set by betting sites early in the third quarter. Admittedly he did not play that game out particularly well, missing his last nine shots, but he still ended up with 29 points on 9-24 shooting (having previously been 9-15). Importantly, two games ago he also took bulk shots, that time putting up 25 of them in just 32 minutes. Those are some massive numbers and demonstrate the huge offensive load he is taking on for the Magic, a load which means he should be passing his line of 26.5 for this game barring a catastrophic shooting night. Wagner has now taken at least 24 shots in his past two games, in one of which he only played three quarters, and even while not shooting all that efficiently he has breezed past 27 points. With Banchero set to miss this game, and plenty more, there is no reason that Wagner will not once again put up big numbers. For more value, I wouldn’t be opposed to a 30+ point bet either, but let’s play it safe to start off with and just stick with him getting past his 26.5-point line.

Saturday 16th of November, 11.35am AEDT, State Farm Arena

Defence will not exactly be at a premium in this game. The Hawks and the Wizards are two of the worst defensive teams in the league, with the Wizards dead last in defensive rating, conceding 118.9 points per possession, and the Hawks not much better at 117.5 and in fifth last. What’s more, they both love to get the ball up and down the court, each of them ranking inside the top four in the league for pace. That means that we will see plenty of possessions and some defence shoddy enough to offset the fact that neither of these sides is all that good offensively. The Hawks have been going past the over/under totals set by betting agencies with a lot of regularity. Only one of their 12 games this season has seen less than 232 points scored – just under the line of 236.5 set for this game – and seven of their past nine games have gone over this line. The Wizards have not been in high scoring games quite as regularly, generally because of their own offensive failings, but they are coming off a mammoth 269-pointer against the Spurs in their latest outing. What’s more, this will be the third time already this season that these two teams have played, and that evidence points to the over here as well. In the first of those games the Wizards won 121-119 in a 240-point game, while the next one was even higher – 133-120 to the Wizards for 253 total points. There is a lot to suggest that this one will go over – two very fast-paced teams, two bad defences, and two games between the sies which have already cleared this line relatively comfortably this season. There is no reason to think that will not happen once again.

Saturday 16th of November, 12.05pm AEDT, Smoothie King Center

The Pelicans should be a really good team. Their potential starting line-up has enormous talent on both ends of the floor and no weak link; Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson – and that’s with the very capable Trey Murphy III coming off the bench. Unfortunately for them, virtually none of those players is available. Of the starters, Ingram is the only one who has been suiting up in recent times and that will continue in this one, while Trey Murphy III has just returned from an extended absence. Even Jose Alvarado – who is not particularly good but was filling a role as the starting point guard with so many injuries – is now out for a decent chunk of time. Unsurprisingly, with hardly anyone playing, the Pelicans have flat out sucked of late. They have lost six games in a row, most of them comfortably. Their closest loss was by two points to the Nets, the next closest they have got in six games was a nine-point defeat, while the other four losses have all been by 15+ - and not all against good teams either. In that period they have been beaten by 15 points by the Hawks and 18 by the Trail Blazers, which doesn’t bode particularly well for how they will fare against the Nuggets. After a slow start to the season, Denver is starting to come into some form, having picked up five consecutive wins in impressive fashion. A number of those have been close, but two-point wins against the Mavericks and in particular the Thunder are nothing to sneeze at. Nikola Jokic is obviously the catalyst of those results, but the rest of the team is gearing up too and Jamal Murray’s return over the past two games has been a welcome one. They are being slept on a little and are still a bonafide contender, while the Pelicans in their current form are one of the worst teams in the league. The 9.5-point line set for this game by NBA betting sites doesn’t look like being nearly enough based on the severity of most of the Pelicans’ recent losses, and the in-form Nuggets should be able to cruise past it.