The comprehensive Friday NBA preview as we head towards another enormous weekend of basketball action from the USA.
Four games, four best bets and we are ready to go.
detroit @ indiana
december 17th 11:00am
A Central Division battle on the hardwood in the Hoosier State ensues when the Detroit Pistons hit the road to face the Indiana Pacers.
Detroit comes in off a 116-104 home loss to Brooklyn in their previous contest, while the Pacers fell 114-99 against last year’s champion Milwaukee.
Indiana is playing the second game of back-to-back contests and is attempting to push its way back towards a playoffs berth.
These are games it will need to win in order to achieve that feat.
Without Jerami Grant taking to the court, the Pistons are going to have a hard time of it when it comes to keeping up with Indiana.
Suggested Bet: Indiana Pacers -9.5 at $1.90
philadelphia @ brookyln
december 17th 11:30am
Two NBA heavyweights go head to head when the Brooklyn Nets take on the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Nets may very well be ahead of Sixers in the division, but they are dealing with a ton of injuries/covid protocols.
James Harden and LaMarcus Aldridge have already been ruled out, which means the Nets likely have just eight players eligible.
Kevin Durant might be one of, if not, the best player in the league, but he can only shoulder so much of a load against a 76ers team which will be keen to bounce back after a disappointing 101-96 defeat against Miami.
Incredibly, the 76ers have a brilliant 5-0 against the spread in their five road games as underdogs.
That is a trend we are happy to oblige by, especially with the Nets struggling for rotations.
Suggested Bet: Philadelphia 76ers +1.5 at $1.88
new york @ houston
december 17th 12:00pm
New York books it ticket down south when it heads over to the Toyota Center to face the Houston Rockets.
The Knicks had the momentum against them in their loss against Golden State as Madison Square Garden cheered home Stephen Curry breaking the all-time three-point record.
But that buzz no dwindles away and they can focus on a Rockets team which was abysmal in a 124-89 loss against Cleveland.
The Rockets had slowly been improving over the last month, but almost undid all of that in a poor performance.
The Knicks should be able to put a halt to their poor run of form with Julius Randle holding things together… just.
Suggested Bet: New York Knicks -6.5 at $1.91
washington @ phoenix
december 17th 1:00pm
In the middle of its six-game road trip, the Washington Wizards will attempt to arrest a three-game slide on its travels to Arizona when it faces the Phoenix Suns.
Bradley Beal stole the NBA headlines this week by declaring he had been ‘playing like s&^t,’ for the majority of the season.
Individually, he has still been strong and hits this game off another 30-point performance, but it might the frustrating of his team not being able to pull away from the middle of the pack that has boiled over.
Beating the Suns at home is going to prove a mammoth task for any team this season with their imposing 12-2 record good enough to catapult them to second spot in the Western Conference.
Whether or not Devin Booker recovers in time from a hamstring injury to play in this game remains to be seen.
Regardless of his injury status, Chris Paul and DeAndre Ayton have stepped up to the plate in his absence and should be able to guide the Suns to victory.
Suggested Bet: Phoenix Suns -8.5 at $1.91
