NBA Multi bet of the Weekend| January 6

After a light day of games on Friday, Australia time, Saturday is set to be a huge day in the NBA with nearly every single team in the league hitting the floor. Of the 26 teams that didn’t play the day prior, 25 will play on Saturday while the Nuggets will have the second leg of a back to back, making for a 13-game slate of action. There are plenty of opportunities to find value and put together a multi for the day, and this is what we’re going with for the day’s action.

January 6, 11.10am AEDT, Gainbridge Fieldhouse 

These are two high scoring teams, in particular the Pacers, but the total match points line set for this game is nuts. It’s set at an incredible 263.5 points by NBA betting sites – for reference, that means if this game ends up 132-130, for example, it will still go under the line. Both, incidentally, are coming off games which surpassed this total, but that has been a rarity even for them. The Pacers, who score and concede more points than virtually anyone in the league, have still only passed this total twice in their last eight games. The Hawks, meanwhile, didn’t surpass it for fourteen consecutive games prior to their most recent outing – and that’s despite having some pretty high scoring games in that time. I don’t think I have ever seen a line as high as this in my life. Expect this to be a fast paced, up and down game with plenty of shots going up and a whole lot of points, but for it to get past that line a disproportionate number of those shots will have to go in. Considering the Pacers are six of their past eight under this line and the Hawks are one of 15, the under 263.5 total match points for this game looks like a great bet. 

January 6, 11.40am AEDT, Wells Fargo Center 

Now to a player prop based around a man who may very well be in line to become the third consecutive player to win back to back MVP awards. Joel Embiid won, somewhat controversially in the eyes of many, last year over Nikola Jokic, and there’s little doubting that he’s playing even better this season. His points are marginally up to a huge 34.8 per game, but more importantly his assist numbers have jumped significantly, from 4.2 last season to 6.2 this season. Plenty of teams are opting to double him pretty regularly, unsurprisingly given he scores at will once he gets the ball in the post, and Embiid has shown an improved ability to find the open man when that does happen. The line set by betting agencies for his assists is 5.5 and the over for that is at better than even money, which already looks like good value based on his averages for the season, let alone his recent form. Prior to his recent injury his last game saw the big man dish out nine assists, and in his comeback against the Bulls he managed ten in just 31 minutes of action. The Tom Thibodeau led Knicks will more than likely send two to Embiid pretty regularly to avoid him backing down Isaiah Hartenstein at will, and that, combined with the fact that he has 19 assists in his last two games, suggests that getting six dimes at better than even money looks like pretty damn good value.  

January 6, 12.10pm AEDT, Toyota Center 

Alperen Sengun has been one of the most improved players of this season, justifiably earning the monker ‘Mini Jokic’ for his terrific passing ability, nous around the rim and capacity to basically do what he wants on the floor despite boasting a relative lack of athleticism compared to many of those around him. For the season, he averages 5.2 assists per game, up on 3.9 last season, and while he yoyos around that a fair bit, he has covered his assists line of 4.5 in four of his last six games, including games with 9 and 8 assists in his last three outings. That alone might not be enough to justify the over here, but with the matchup against the Timberwolves there is good reason to think he’ll snatch at least five of them. Sengun has been on a scoring tear of late, managing at least 24 points and surpassing his points over/under in six consecutive games, but this time around he’ll come against the raging favourite to win the Defensive Player of the Year award in Rudy Gobert. Scoring in the paint won’t be easy and there will likely be plenty of moves that would normally earn him a bucket nullified Gobert, which will invariably force him to pass more often. Sengun is an excellent passer under the bucket in tight spaces, and with Gobert likely to keep him from a lot of finishes that he is accustomed to getting, expect Sengun to rack up plenty of dimes instead in this game, and pass – pardon the pun – his over 4.5 assists total comfortably.