NBA Betting: December 2015 Update
- Details
- Category: NBA
- Created: Sunday, 27 December 2015 17:13
While the Thanksgiving holiday belongs to the NFL, Christmas belongs to the NBA and they annually give us the present of a string of high-profile matchups. This year is no different with five games played between noon to midnight ET, anchored by the massive NBA Finals rematch of first place Cleveland against first place Golden State.
This is the matchup many have been waiting for, and it couldn’t have come at a better time as the Cavs backcourt is finally getting healthy. Cleveland just got back Iman Shumpert to shore up the perimeter defense and they saw star guard Kyrie Irving play his first game of the season on Sunday against Philadelphia.
Cavs are heating up with five consecutive victories and four straight ATS covers heading into Wednesday night’s game vs. New York – the longest ATS winning streak this season.
Irving hurt his knee in Game One of the NBA Finals at Golden State, and already missing star forward Kevin Love the injuries to their star players were too much for LeBron James and company to overcome as the Warriors eventually went on to win the NBA Finals. Golden State has easily been the best team in the league this season, and enters Wednesday night with a superb 26-1 straight up record (also 17-9-1 ATS – third best in the league). These online sportsbooks don’t yet have a line posted for this game, but no doubt the Warriors will be favored on their home court where they are a perfect 12-0.
Immediately following the Cavs-Warriors clash, San Antonio takes on a reeling Houston team that looked like a much bigger matchup at the start of the season than it does this week. Spurs have been on an absolute tear of late, winning six straight games both straight up and against the spread and are only three games behind one-loss Golden State in the Western Conference. Houston is only one game over .500 but appears to have finally turned things around going 3-0 SU and ATS in their last three games, including a ten-point home win against the LA Clippers.
While the Warriors and Spurs have been great both winning outright as well as covering the pointspread, the Orlando Magic remain the top team in terms of overall profit. Magic have covered the spread in 19 of their 28 games (one push) for 10.2 units of profit (one tenth of a unit better than the Spurs). Rounding out the top four (after San Antonio and Golden State) is a bit of a surprise, as Utah check in with a 15-9-2 ATS mark (+5.1 units) despite owning a losing 12-14 straight up record.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Lakers and Bulls are the two worst teams to back blindly this season, with LA down 9.8 units and the Bulls down 9.7 units. Chicago has suffered a pair of three-game losing streaks this month and most recently fell at home vs. Brooklyn as a big 11-point home favorite. To make matters worse, Joakim Noah was injured in that loss vs. the Nets.
Be sure to check out the NBA lines on Christmas morning and have a great holiday!
Comments powered by CComment