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The three NFL games on Sunday will get most of the attention today on DraftKings Sportsbook, but don’t forget about the NBA! There are eight games available to wager on, starting with the Pistons vs. the Jazz at 3 p.m. ET and wrapping up with the Warriors vs. the Raptors at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Let’s dive into some of my favorite wagers on DraftKings Sportsbook for Sunday’s NBA slate.
Place your NBA bets at DraftKings Sportsbook and bet online by downloading the DraftKings Sportsbook app.
Denver Nuggets (-6.5) @ New York Knicks:
Knicks +6.5
Are the Knicks actually… decent? Probably not, but they have been competitive to start the year. They’ve won five of their first nine games, and they’ve been outscored by an average of just -1.44 points per 100 possessions. Obviously, that’s still not a great number — it ranks 20th in the league — but it’s still better than the Knicks were expected to be.
They’ve been led by Julius Randle, who is on pace for the best season of his career. He’s averaging a career-high 22.6 points, 12.0 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game, and he’s playing a whopping 37.7 minutes per game. That’s a ton of playing time in 2021, and the Knicks have benefited from all those minutes. They’ve increased their Net Rating by +14.4 points per 100 possessions with Randle on the court this season, which is the top mark on the team.
They’re moderate home underdogs tonight vs. the Nuggets, but Denver will be on the second leg of a back-to-back. That gives them the rest advantage, so this should be a competitive contest.
Utah Jazz (-7.5) @ Detroit Pistons:
Under 215.5
NBA players are creatures of habit. They are not designed like you and me, and they operate on a different schedule. The vast majority of their games are played at night, so they have trained their bodies to perform at peak efficiency during those time frames.
With that in mind, these afternoon games tend to be lower scoring. Sunday afternoon games in particular — which comes after Saturday night, if you catch my drift — can be challenging for the players. Overall, the under in those contests has gone 351-300-12 dating back to 2006, which is good for a solid win rate.
Points could be tough to come by with these two teams. The Jazz rank 14th in offensive efficiency this season, but the Pistons rank 21st. More importantly, these two teams are also below average in terms of pace.
San Antonio Spurs (-3.5) @ Minnesota Timberwolves:
Over TBD
There’s no total on this game currently, but they couldn’t set it high enough to stop me from taking the over.
The Timberwolves have been an absolute over machine recently. It starts with the fact that their defense is historically bad. They’ve allowed a ridiculous 119.23 points per 100 possessions this season, which is on pace to be the worst mark in at least a decade. They’ve also played at the eighth-fastest pace, which is a good formula for allowing a ton of points. Overall, Minnesota has allowed at least 123 points in each of their past seven games.
The Spurs also have some deficiencies on the defensive end. They rank 22nd in defensive efficiency, which is a far cry from the team during the Tim Duncan era.
Add it all up and this game should feature plenty of points.
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is mlamarca) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
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