Merry Christmas to all NBA fans! We get another exciting 5-game slate on the most important day of the regular season, and it all starts with a clash at Madison Square Garden between the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks, which tips off at Noon ET, live on ABC. To start our NBA Christmas feast in style, I’ve pieced together my Cavaliers vs. Knicks Same Game Parlay picks at +532 odds. Let’s dive in, while you can also check out our NBA picks for every matchup on the Christmas Day slate.
Cavaliers +6 (-108)
De’Andre Hunter (CLE) 2+ made threes (-162)
Darius Garland (CLE) to record 6+ assists (-330)
Karl-Anthony Towns (NYK) 2+ made threes (-113)
Cavaliers vs Knicks Same Game Parlay odds: +532
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Cleveland Cavaliers +6 over New York Knicks (-108)
Is it too early to say the Cavaliers from last season are back? With 139 and 141 points scored in their last 2 wins over Charlotte and New Orleans, they resembled the team that went 64-18 last season. There’s still plenty of work in front of Kenny Atkinson and his men if they are to turn things around, but I like the start of a potentially season altering run here. Playing at Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day is very motivating, I reckon it should bring the best out of this Cavs team.
New York is the odds-on favorite here and for a good reason. The Knicks have gone 14-2 SU in 16 home games this season, but there has been some slippage in their play lately with 2 losses in 3 games. Jalen Brunson not playing could be attributed to the loss in Minnesota on Tuesday, as he has an ankle problem and probably won’t be at 100% here. So, can we trust the Knicks with a limited Brunson? In most cases yes, but this time around, something tells me the Cavaliers will have a say or two in how this game ends. They are 4-1 ATS/SU in 5 meetings with the Knicks, so let’s give them the benefit on Christmas Day.
Read our full Cavaliers vs Knicks predictions for the opening matchup on NBA Christmas
De’Andre Hunter (CLE) 2+ made threes (-162)
Hunter has been one of the most criticized Cavaliers players this season. He just hasn’t played up to the standards he set last year after coming over from the Atlanta Hawks. So you might be wondering why is he part of my Same Game Parlay bet then? Well, despite the struggles, he’s still remained a net positive for the Cavaliers from three-point land, especially in road games — where he’s cleared this line in 7 of 9 games played (78%).
New York currently gives up the 5th-most threes to opposing small forwards and the 6th-most threes overall on the season. He’s played the Knicks a total of 16 times in his brief career, knocking down a pair of threes in 12 of those games. Sometimes you just have to rely on the averages, and that’s exactly what we’re doing with this bet.
Darius Garland (CLE) to record 6+ assists (-330)
Speaking of averages, Darius Garland has also done really well in head-to-head meetings against the Knicks. The last time he played them was in April of this year at Madison Square Garden, and in that game, he finished with 26 points and 13 assists. He’s cleared this line in back-to-back games against them, while in 17 career meetings, he’s averaging 6.1 dimes per game.
In many ways, this season has been a struggle for Garland, but not because of his basketball skills declining. The injury sustained to his big toe hasn’t healed as well as he would have liked and that has limited his assists output in some of the games. He is still averaging 6.8 dimes per game though. Right now, he is on a streak of 6 consecutive games with at least 6 assists with the highlight being a 10-assist game against Charlotte. The Cavaliers are at their best when their point guard flourishes.
Karl-Anthony Towns (NYK) 2+ made threes (-113)
KAT just had the best game of the season, scoring 40 points and grabbing 13 rebounds against his old team on Tuesday. The Knicks lost that game by 11 points, but from an individual standpoint it was really good to see Towns have that explosion on offense. The Knicks have been riding Jalen Brunson heavily on that end and so far, it has worked, but in the long run, someone else will have to take over some of the burden in order to prevent Brunson from burning out.
KAT is our guy; he is a proven scorer and a mismatch due to his shooting ability on most nights. The self-proclaimed best shooter of all time is making 44.8% of his deep shots in December, that’s quite an improvement compared to the month prior when he was shooting 33.3%. He’s on a run of at least 2 threes made in 6 of his last 9 games, make it 7 of 10 after Thursday.
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