NBA Multi bet of the Weekend | Apr 12

Unfortunately it was not our best day yesterday, with all three bets missing the mark. But as the old adage goes, there’s no point crying over spilt milk. We’ve headed back to the drawing board for this weekend’s NBA multi, and with every single team taking to the floor for their 81st game of the 82-game regular season, there are plenty of options for our three legs. It was actually somewhat difficult to narrow down to just three bets, but below are those that we have settled on to hopefully compensate for what has been a down week.

Saturday 12th of April, 10.00am AEST, United Center

Alexandre Sarr has had a solid rookie season, being handed a starting role on a Wizards team which has, admittedly, been tanking since the get-go. But for someone who came into the league relatively raw, the French number two pick has been pretty solid, averaging 13.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.5 blocks in his 27 minutes per game over the course of the season. He has been better lately, too, as rookies so often are, and has put together a couple of really nice games over the latter stages of the season. But in contrast to what is normally the case, betting sites appear to have drastically over-compensated for this improved. Sure he’s been better, but the 19.5 points that betting agencies have set as his line looks way too high, particularly given the fact that his strong late season form has deserted him a little of late. In his past seven games, Sarr is right back to around his season averaging of just over 13 points, and he has surpassed his line set for this game on just one occasion – and in that game, he scored exactly 20 points, passing it by just one. Sarr is generally taking around 15 shots per game, which is certainly enough to get to 20 points, but his efficiency is not yet at the point where he’s more likely than not to get there with that number of shots, and that has been patently evident over the past seven games. Having not scored more than 20 points once in those last seven games, 19.5 looks like a pretty high line, and the under a good bet to start off our multi.

Saturday 12th of April, 11.00am AEST, Ball Arena

Unlike some teams, the Nuggets still have plenty to play for over the remaining two games of the regular season. Just one game behind the Lakers in 3rd and just one game ahead of three teams – including their opponent in this game in the Grizzlies – stretching all the way back to 8th, the Nuggets have the capacity to either earn home court advantage in the First Round of the playoffs, or miss them entirely over the next couple of games. This means, of course, that we can expect some big, big performances from Nikola Jokic. He might not be looking likely to win this year’s MVP, but the Serbian is still far and away the best player in the NBA, and has the ability to simply take his game to another level or three when required. With the Nuggets’ season at a critical juncture he has been as dominant as ever over the past few games – since returning from injury he has played six games, in that time averaging, wait for it: 36.8 points, 12.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 2.3 steals. Four times in that six-game period, the Joker has picked up a triple-double, and on one of the occasions in which he didn’t he was just an assist away. It’s no secret that Jokic is pretty good at TDs – he averages one, after all – but in a game of this magnitude his likelihood of securing one is amplified. He will want to run the show even more than usual in this game, and while that could easily translate to a big scoring game and his points totals would be a decent bet too, given the ease with which he has managed a triple-double in the last two pivotal games, with this the Nuggets’ biggest of the season to date he feels far more likely than the 50/50 chances the NBA betting sites’ odds would suggest he is to pick up another here.

Saturday 12th of April, 12.00pm AEST, Golden 1 Center

This is a proper playoff game in the regular season, with both the Kings and the Clippers having plenty to play for. The Kings are locked into either 9th or 10th, but they will be keen to hang on to the 9th position in which they currently sit to secure a home first Play-In game against the Mavericks, who could still theoretically overtake them over the next couple of games. The Clippers, meanwhile, are wedged among the logjam of teams between 3rd and 8th in the Western Conference, currently sitting level with the Nuggets one game clear of 6-8th, and one game back from the Lakers in 3rd. That means that unlike many other games on today’s slate, both teams will be going all out to win this one. Given how well the Clippers have been playing for an extended period now, that makes the 6.5-point line look very low. The Kings are not bad by any means and have been in reasonable enough form, with their recent eight-point loss to the Nugs ending a three-game winning streak, though prior to that they lost to the Wizards. The Clippers, meanwhile, have lost just two times in a month, boasting a record of 13-2 in that time. The two teams that beat them? The Cavaliers and Thunder, the two teams with the best records in the league, and by a combined total of just seven points. What’s more, the Clippers haven’t just been winning – they have been pumping teams. In those 13 wins over the past month, just once has a team got within this line of them, that happening when the Spurs scored a few late buckets to lose by five points. Other than that, there’s been a nine-point win over the Magic, and the rest have been easy double-figure margins. That includes big wins over teams like the Cavaliers, Grizzlies and Magic, all teams better than or similar to the Kings. Sacramento are not a bad team, but the Clippers have emerged as one of the best chances in the Western Conference to knock off the Thunder, and should have been given a double-figure line for this game. 6.5 points does not look like enough.