The 2024-25 NBA season is in full swing. Make sure you check out the fantastic work of Jonathan Von Tobel, who will be writing NBA deep-dive features for us this year. And try to listen to A Numbers Game every morning, as Kelley Bydlon often dishes out his favorite NBA picks. But I’ll be giving out NBA best bets and player props here as often as possible, and I’ll also occasionally write up features on big news that shakes up the league. So, make sure you check out my work throughout the season. With that out of the way, let’s get into some NBA best bets and NBA player props for Sunday, December 22nd. Also, make sure you check out the picks page (linked right below) before games tip off. I occasionally add picks throughout the day.
MORE: Check out our Pro Picks page for everything our experts have on December 22nd
NBA Best Bets Today – December 22nd
Houston Rockets at Toronto Raptors – 6:00 pm ET
I’m fully aware of the fact that the Raptors are bad. They’re now 7-21 on the season, they lose a lot of close games and they have had some of the worst injury luck in the league thus far. However, the books keep putting massive spreads on their games and they keep covering them. Toronto is 18-9-1 against the spread this season, and that includes a 10-4-1 mark in home games. The Raptors are also 9-3 ATS when facing Western Conference opponents.
There are bad teams in this league that fall apart at the drop of a hat, and those are the teams that have miserable straight-up and ATS records. But there are also teams that compete and play the right way, and that’s this Toronto squad. The Raptors might be losing, but they play hard every night and they aren’t going to roll over. With that in mind, I’m a little surprised this number is so high against a Rockets team that is just 2-4 ATS in its last six games. Houston is also missing Tari Eason, who brings energy, tenacity and elite defense off the bench.
The Raptors also happen to have Scottie Barnes back now, and it’s not crazy to think that he’ll be the best player on the floor in this game. At the very least, it’s close between Barnes and Alperen Sengun. And Barnes isn’t completely devoid of help right now. Sure, Jakob Poeltl and Immanuel Quickley are out, and Davion Mitchell is questionable. But RJ Barrett has been good all year, and the Raptors have several other players that can step up and play well in a spot like this.
Houston will probably find a way to win this one outright, as the Rockets are tremendous defensively and they have learned how to win close games together this year. But don’t be surprised if Toronto is feisty through three quarters and makes Houston sweat.
Bet: Raptors +8.5 (-114 – 2 units)
Indiana Pacers at Sacramento Kings – 6:00 pm ET
The Pacers have won three games in a row and four of their last five. They have also had two days to rest since beating the Suns in Phoenix. Meanwhile, the Kings are playing the second night of a back-to-back and a third game in four nights. That is a major rest advantage for Indiana, and the Pacers are a better basketball team than the Kings anyway.
Indiana has had its struggles offensively this season, but the team’s offensive rating is back up to 117.6 over the last five games. The Pacers are looking like the team they were to end last season, and that makes it hard to pass them up at a plus-money price tonight. Indiana should be able to pick apart a Sacramento team that is really struggling defensively. We just saw Los Angeles do exactly that in back-to-back games. The Pacers just need to hold up defensively, but they have been a little better on that end of the floor lately. The Kings are also dealing with some off-court drama, as Rich Paul has apparently put some pressure on the Kings front office to improve the individual situation for De’Aaron Fox.
Another thing to point out when looking at the rest is that Indiana has outscored opponents by 11.4 points per game when playing just a second game in seven days under Rick Carlisle. The Pacers are 10-1 in those games.
Bet: Pacers ML (+115 – 1.5 units)
NBA Player Props Today – December 22nd
Denver Nuggets at New Orleans Pelicans – 7:00 pm ET
Based on the weights listed at ESPN, Nikola Jokic has 49 pounds on rookie Yves Missi. There are a million reasons the MVP favorite will dominate this game, but that’s a big one. He’s going to be able to move Missi around whenever he wants, and he’ll probably get the 20-year-old in foul trouble at some point. However, Missi is a solid shot blocker. In fact, the rookie is 16th in the NBA in block rate (4.1%), and that’s why it’s a little interesting that he’s going off at plus-money odds to finish with at least two blocks this evening. Even though Jokic will have his way with Missi, the youngster is going to be around the ball a lot. And based strictly on his advantage in both athleticism and length, it’s hard to imagine Missi not picking up a few blocks in this game. In addition to having plenty of chances to block Jokic’s shots, he’ll also be able to do his usual work as a weak-side shot blocker. And Denver does have some players that can be guilty of aimlessly attacking the rim. Not to name names, but one of them is Russell Westbrook.
Bet: Missi Over 1.5 Blocks (+135)
Parlays/Teasers/Late Added Plays/In-Season Futures
Nothing yet.
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2024-25 NBA Record: 124-116 (+6.19 units)
