The 2024-25 NBA season is in full swing. 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 29th. 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 29th
NBA Best Bets Today – December 29th
Indiana Pacers at Boston Celtics – 6:00 pm ET
The Celtics beat the Pacers by 37 when the two teams met on Friday. However, Indiana was coming off a hard-fought loss to Oklahoma City the night before. It was a brutal spot for the Pacers, so it’s not one I’m looking into very much. What I am looking into is that Boston has failed to cover in 10 of its last 15 games. And I continue to think it’s a mistake that the Celtics are being favored by 10 or more in meetings with good basketball teams. Sure, Boston’s absolute best allows the team to pummel opponents, but we haven’t seen much of that all year. And with Indiana having had a day off on Saturday, you can count on a much better performance from a team that had won five in a row before the loss to the Thunder.
The Pacers are also 16-10 against the spread as underdogs of 10 or more under Rick Carlisle, so they tend to enjoy the spot they were in a few nights ago. Also, under Carlisle, they’re 56-46-4 ATS when trying to avenge a loss to an opponent. And the Celtics could be without Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis here, as both are questionable. But even if they’re out there, I’m expecting a much better offensive approach from Indiana. Let’s not forget that the Pacers covered in three of the four games these teams played in the playoffs, and Haliburton missed two of the games in that series. We know this Indiana team can play with Boston.
It’s also worth noting that our analytics expert Steve Makinen had a great trend for this game in his NBA top trends report. Teams that are coming off a game in which they beat the spread by 20 or more points are just 204-254-12 ATS over the last six seasons.
Bet: Pacers +10.5 (-105 – 1.5 units)
NBA Player Props Today – December 29th
Brooklyn Nets at Orlando Magic – 3:30 pm ET
Jalen Suggs has had to play a much bigger role on offense with Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner out, so he has gone five games without having a multi-steal performance. But Suggs still has a steal percentage of 3.3% this season, which is the highest number in the league amongst point guards. And he’s now playing against a Nets team that has the seventh-highest turnover percentage (15.9%) in basketball. With that in mind, I like Suggs to make his mark as a defender here — especially at +140 odds. Let’s just hope this isn’t a blowout, as we don’t want Suggs playing less than 30 minutes.
Bet: Suggs Over 1.5 Steals (+140)
Parlays/Teasers/Late Added Plays/In-Season Futures
PARLAY: Raptors Alt Spread +7.5 vs. Hawks & Timberwolves ML vs. Spurs (-108 – 1.5 units)
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2024-25 NBA Record: 139-130-1 (+10.53 units)
