NBA Expert Tips and Best Bets | Jan 23

Friday is a big day in the NBA, with the first game tipping off at 6am AEDT in la ville la plus jolie du monde. There will be no shortage of anticipation for the Paris Game between the Spurs and Pacers, with France’s own Victor Wembanyama taking centre stage for the Spurs. Of course, there are other games throughout the day too – nine of them, in fact – and while we will kick off our three best bets of the day in France, our next two will be taking place back on home soil for the yanks. Check them out below.

Victor Wembanyama to record 5+ blocks @ $2.75 with PlayUp

It might seem obvious to single out Wembanyama for the Paris game, but hey – he’s French, and will probably be as keen as ever to make an impact in this game. Wemby has actually not been playing particularly well of late, so I am a little hesitant to back him to do anything too outrageous from an offensive perspective, though it’s certainly still possible that he will. Instead, however, I’m backing him to make an impact on the other end of the floor. Of course, that’s not a particularly big claim – he is the favourite to win the Defensive Player of the Year by a mile, but five blocks is still a hell of a lot and not a number that very many players reach very often. Wembanyama is a different kettle of fish though, and at close to $3 with some major betting sites like PlayUp he looks like pretty good value to get there. Wemby averages right on 4 blocks per game – the best in the league – but he is more than capable of putting up massive numbers in this statistical category. He had just one in his last outing, but in the two games prior to that he managed a massive 6 and 8, and hit 8 another couple of games before that too. This guy has a defensive impact like no other player in the league, and front of his adoring home fans he can put on a show at that end of the floor.

Trail Blazers +7.5 @ $1.92 with QuestBet

For most of the season there has been a pretty big gap between these two teams and realistically there still is, but the line set by NBA betting sites still looks very much in the Trail Blazers favour. After dealing relatively well with the absence of their two best players for an extended period of time, the Magic finally have Paolo Banchero back out on the floor, but it’s so far had the reverse impact to what they would have hoped. They have struggled immensely of late, losing their last four games all in really disappointing fashion. They have lost each of those games by at least 13 points and have an average losing margin of 21.3 points in that time, their latest defeat probably the most disappointing of the lot when they went down by 16 points to the lowly Raptors. The Blazers have been right in the doldrums with teams like Toronto throughout the season, but in contrast to the Magic they have been really solid in their last couple of games. They have won two on the trot in impressive fashion, beating two Eastern Conference playoff contenders in the Bulls and Heat relatively comfortably – the first by 11 points and the second by nine. That does not mean that they will be knocking off the Magic, though given the lack of form the home side has shown of late the Blazers do still look like decent value to do that. But after a longer odds bet to start off the day, we will keep it a little safer here and just play the generous 7.5-point line.

Kel’El Ware 25+ points and rebounds @ $1.85 with Unibet

The Heat have uncovered something in Kel’el Ware. The 7’0” 20-year-old was getting some solid enough minutes off the bench over the first part of the season, but coach Spoelstra generally appeared reluctant to play him alongside nominal centre Bam Adebayo. A couple of solid outings from Ware forced his hand though, and the results have been pretty solid and have seen the minutes of the 15th pick from last year’s draft drastically increase. After averaging less than 15 per game, he has played 34 and then 39 in his last two, and unsurprisingly that has seen his production improve massive. In those two games, Ware has had 25 points and 8 rebounds in one and 20 points and 15 rebounds in the other, both really impressive performances by the rookie. He may not play like that all season, but he is in a rich vein of form, playing with plenty of confidence, and seemingly set to get some solid minutes at least for the moment. Betting agencies have adjusted his odds a little to reflect all that, but not enough. If you want to just back him for points that would be a reasonable enough bet too, but given that I think both points and rebounds are a little too low, joining the two together is a good way to even further improve that edge. He’s hit 33 and 35 for combined points and rebounds over his last two games, but is right around even money just to get 25 of them in this game, which looks like a really solid bet to round out the day’s action.