There won’t be a greater single day for a particular sport than Christmas for basketball. The NBA provides us 12-plus hours of hoops from a fastidiously curated group of the league’s most attention-grabbing groups. Decide the video games you are most excited to see earlier than the season, and odds are, that sport goes to get performed on Christmas.

Structurally talking, Christmas is an ideal day for basketball betting. There’s just one sport performed at a time. With out overlap, you possibly can reset after every sport, regulate your models, rethink strains and dive again in when the chance strikes. So let’s undergo Wednesday’s 5 video games and decide the most effective bets from every to preview the NBA’s Christmas extravaganza.

The place to look at NBA Christmas Day video games

All video games on Wednesday are being broadcast on ABC and will likely be streaming on fubo (Strive at no cost). 

• Knicks vs. Spurs, 12 p.m. ET, ABC/fubo 
• Mavericks vs. Timberwolves, 2:30 p.m. ET, ABC/fubo
• Celtics vs. 76ers, 5 p.m. ET, ABC/fubo
• Warriors vs. Lakers, 8 p.m. ET, ABC/fubo
• Suns vs. Nuggets, 10:30 p.m. ET, ABC/fubo

• Beting line: Knicks -9; O/U 223.5

The secret towards Victor Wembanyama is spacing. The Knicks are going to wish to hold him as distant from the basket as attainable to create affordable driving lanes for his or her ball-handlers, and the simplest approach to do this is to verify their middle is capturing 3s. San Antonio may counter by placing Wembanyama on Josh Hart, the weakest Knicks shooter, so he can function a helper, however Hart is making 40% of his 3s this season and giving Karl-Anthony Cities a mismatch when he’s enjoying in addition to he’s looks like a nonstarter. So anticipate Wembanyama to protect Cities, and for the Knicks to be intentional about Cities capturing 3s to maintain him the Defensive Participant of the Yr favourite away from the basket. The Decide: Cities Over 2.5 3s

• Beting line: Mavericks -5.5; O/U 221.5

We noticed this matchup within the playoffs a season in the past, and Dallas received it comfortably, however extra pertinently, the Timberwolves are only a mess proper now. They miss the spacing Cities introduced. The decline of Mike Conley and the introduction of Julius Randle has eliminated lots of the offense’s construction. The protection has gone from impenetrable to backyard selection good. I simply cannot fairly decide a staff enjoying this chaotically to win on the highway towards a Dallas staff that has come collectively superbly over the previous couple of weeks. The Mavericks are 8-2 of their final 10. Luka Doncic is able to make his MVP push. These are simply two groups shifting in several instructions. The Decide: Mavericks -5.5

• Beting line: Celtics -10; O/U 222

Derrick White loves enjoying the Sixers. He averaged over 18 factors per sport towards them final season and 16 factors per sport towards them the 12 months earlier than, and be mindful, his general scoring wasn’t almost as excessive as it’s now. Philly’s sluggish entrance court docket and horrible point-of-attack protection simply brings the most effective out of White. Count on him to be aggressive in a sport the Celtics ought to management. The Decide: White Over 14.5 Factors

• Beting line: Warriors -4; O/U 225.5

Hey, talking of messes, the Warriors are 3-10 of their final 13 video games. They’re nonetheless working Dennis Schroder into the fold, and the Lakers clearly know Schroder fairly nicely. The Lakers are under no circumstances good, however they’ve quietly tightened just a few issues up recently. Their once-abhorrent protection ranks No. 2 within the NBA over the previous six video games, hardly a significant pattern, however no less than the hassle and power has improved. That is the fourth time LeBron James and Stephen Curry have met on Christmas, and whereas Curry’s staff was favored in all three, James received two of them outright. Video games between them are usually fairly shut, so even when the Warriors win, I like having these additional factors in my again pocket in case it goes all the way down to the wire. The Decide: Lakers +4

• Beting line: Nuggets -3; O/U 233.5

Sure, on paper, this must be a shootout. However these two groups simply performed on Monday in a sport that produced 207 whole factors. Jamal Murray, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and Grayson Allen all missed the sport and it’s unclear who will truly be accessible for this one. The Suns rank twenty third in tempo. The Nuggets take the fewest 3-pointers within the NBA. There are simply too many the reason why this sport might be low-scoring to take such a excessive over. The Decide: Underneath 233.5