Ho ho ho! The tradition of playing NBA games on Christmas Day continues with another enticing 5-game slate this Thursday. ABC will have all 5 games live from Noon ET, my focus is on the Minnesota Timberwolves vs Denver Nuggets clash which is set to begin at 10.30 pm ET.
This is a battle between two of the top 5 players in the league, I have them both in my Same Game Parlay priced at +447 odds. Make sure you head over to our NBA Picks page for predictions on this 5-game Christmas Day slate, but now let’s dive into my bet!
Nikola Jokic to Record a Triple-Double (-135)
Anthony Edwards to Score 35+ Points (+265)
Same Game Parlay odds: +447
Nikola Jokic to Record a Triple-Double (-135)
The walking triple-double machine Jokic is averaging 28.7 points, 11.6 rebounds and 10.4 assists in the month of December. For the 3rd month in a row he is averaging a triple-double, these are video game type numbers that we are witnessing from the Joker. It is no wonder he and SGA are in a dead heat for the regular season MVP trophy, the Serbian already has 3 of those under his belt, but you could argue statistically that this is his best season as a professional. He’s notched a triple-double 3 times in his last 5 outings, he’s also done it in both meetings against the Timberwolves averaging 26 points, 15.5 rebounds and 10.5 assists. It’s quite obvious that this match-up just isn’t working out for Rudy Gobert, the Timberwolves rank 2nd for Triple-Doubles allowed to opposing centers this season and 5th for triple-doubles allowed overall. Jokic has hit this line 9 times in 14 outings, that’s a success rate of 64% which is more than enough for me to back him to do it yet again.
Anthony Edwards to Score 35+ Points (+265)
Ant Man is a type of player that really wants the spotlight in big moments and it hardly gets bigger during the NBA regular season than Christmas Day. This will be his 2nd time playing on this special day, last year he scored 26 in a winning effort over the Mavericks, there’s no way the Timberwolves are getting a result here with a sub 30 point performance from their best player. Edwards has been on a scoring binge for a while now – he’s averaging 32 points per game over his last 12 outings, shooting the lights out at 52.2% from the field and an astonishing 44% from three. During this stretch he has eclipsed the 30-point mark 8 times, while in 6 of those he went over 35 which is what we need from him on Thursday. His last visit to Ball Arena saw him go for 34 and 10 rebounds, he’s scored that many points against Denver twice in 4 meetings. With the Nuggets leading the regular season series 2-0 already, you just know he will be extra motivated to do well here.
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