NBA Christmas Day Odds and Best Bets
The Los Angeles Lakers are 0-7 straight up and 3-4 against the spread in their last seven games against the Golden State Warriors. The Lakers are hoping to snap their losing streak against the Warriors with LeBron James on their side this Tuesday night.
Los Angeles is a nine-point road underdog on the NBA odds in Oakland at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Over their last four games, the Lakers are 1-3 SU and ATS, with three losses as a betting favorite over that stretch. Worse yet, Los Angeles is 2-5 SU in its last seven games on the road and 2-6 ATS in its last eight.
These trends may all point to taking the Warriors, but Golden State has gone just 1-6 ATS over its last seven games. Instead, the play in this one may be on the UNDER 236 points. The UNDER is 13-5 in Los Angeles’ last 18 games and 8-4 in the last 12 games between these two teams, according to the OddsShark NBA Database.
Both of these teams can score in bunches, but the sky-high total and tons of square action on casual fans betting the OVER makes the UNDER a nice value play.
Sometimes it's best not to overthink things, and that could be the case this Christmas when the Boston Celtics host the Philadelphia 76ers as four-point home favorites. Since 2015, Boston is 11-1 SU and 8-4 ATS in 12 home games against the 76ers, including a current 4-0 SU and ATS run with last year’s postseason wins and this year’s season-opening 105-87 victory.
Boston is 9-3 SU and ATS over its last 12 games and should continue its torment over Philadelphia in this one.
Rounding out the rest of the games on Christmas Day: The Milwaukee Bucks (-10) visit the New York Knicks, the Houston Rockets (-1.5) host the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Portland Trail Blazers head to Utah to take on the Jazz (-6.5). Chris Paul will be out for Houston with a hamstring injury.
Milwaukee will probably roll over the hapless Knicks, who are just 1-9 SU and 2-8 ATS over their last 10 games, but 10 points is a big number. The best bet in this batch could be on Portland at +6.5; the Trail Blazers are 4-1 SU and 3-2 ATS over their last five games and should at least keep this one competitive, even if they don’t win outright.
