Parlays

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, 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 yeah, 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.

De’Andre Hunter 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 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, in that game he finished with 26 points and 13 assists. He’s cleared this line in back-to-back games against them, while for his career in 17 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 vs Charlotte. The Cavaliers are at their best when their point guard flourishes, we can only hope he is on top of his game on Christmas Day, otherwise the Cavaliers are doomed.

Karl-Anthony Towns 2+ made threes (-113)

KAT just had the best game of the season scoring 40 points and grabbing 13 rebounds against his old team the Timberwolves 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.

Dallas Cowboys -7 over Washington Commanders (-110)

For the first leg of our Cowboys vs Commanders Same Game Parlay, we’re going to be backing the visitors by laying the points. Each of these teams has struggled for consistency on a week-to-week basis, as the Dallas defense has proven to be a massive weakness, while the Commanders have struggled on both sides of the ball due to injuries and poor play.

However, even though it’s hard to trust the Cowboys on the road, the Commanders are clearly handicapped with third-string quarterback Josh Johnson at the controls of an offense that is already struggling. On the other side, the Cowboys offense is one of the better units in the NFC, and Dallas should see plenty of success against this porous Washington pass defense. 

Under 50.5 (-105)

This is an instance where I’m bullish on a lower-scoring game than what the market is projecting, and it all starts with Washington’s situation on offense. Even though the Cowboys defense has struggled, the secondary is catching a major break by facing a Commanders passing attack that likely won’t have much juice with Johnson under center. Conversely, the Cowboys offense is still potent, but Dallas has leaned on its ground attack moreso in recent weeks compared what we saw earlier in the season. This number is just under the key of 51, but we’ll rely on Dallas to sit on the ball late in the game and grind this game out on the road.

Javonte Williams anytime touchdown scorer (-175)

The Dallas run game has been a lot better than what most were expecting heading into this season, and Javonte Williams has found himself within this Cowboys offense. The lead running back has racked up 10 touchdowns on the season, and his previous matchup against the Commanders could certainly be instructive for how Thursday’s meeting could shake out. Williams tallied 19 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown in the first meeting back on October 19, and it would be hard to see Williams not getting at least a handful of carries around the goal line in this one.

Minnesota Vikings +7.5 over Detroit Lions (-110)

For the first leg of our Lions vs Vikings Same Game Parlay, we’re going to be backing the hosts with the points. This is a terrible situational spot for the Lions, as Detroit is coming off a brutal loss in the final seconds at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers at home. Now, the Lions playoff aspirations are on life support and it doesn’t appear that Detroit is going to be able to come back from this crushing defeat. Therefore, while the Vikings are dealing with a number of key injuries on the offensive line and at quarterback, our expert is just fine fading a sputtering Lions team that is just 4-6 over their last 10 contests. Look for this matchup to be decided by one possession on Thursday. 

Under 43.5 (-110)

As previously mentioned, this is a difficult game to handicap, given the injuries and lack of motivation for both sides. With that in mind, the Under is the only way our expert can look in this game, especially now factoring in the quarterback situation for the Vikings. Ultimately, regardless of the motivation angle at play here, Detroit shouldn’t need to score much to outpace a Minnesota offense led by Max Brosmer — who was dreadful against the Seahawks a few weeks ago — and the Lions should look to keep the ball on the ground and grind out scoring drives in a matchup that shouldn’t produce many explosive plays.

Amon-Ra St. Brown over 76.5 receiving yards (-114)

To close out our Vikings vs Lions SGP, we’re going to take Amon-Ra St. Brown to clear his receiving yards prop on Thursday. While the Detroit offense has been inconsistent in recent weeks, one constant has been the production of St. Brown in the leading role. St. Brown and Jared Goff have established a great rapport with each other over the last few seasons, and the top Lions wideout should be able to see plenty of success in an indoor, pass-friendly environment on Thursday. St. Brown has cleared this number in 3 of the last 4 games and in 9 games this season, so let’s bank on that trend to continue in this one.

Denver Broncos -12.5 over Kansas City Chiefs (-120)

These 2 division rivals squared off in Week 11, which is when the Chiefs’ 2025 campaign came to an end for all intents and purposes. Patrick Mahomes and company suffered a 22-19 loss, dropping to 5-5 as Denver improved to 9-2. Improbably, things have actually managed to get worse for Kansas City since that result. Head coach Andy Reid’s team is mathematically eliminated at 6-9 and Mahomes is out for the year with a torn ACL. In fact, backup quarterback Gardner Minshew also tore an ACL – leaving Chris Oladokun (who?!?!) to run the offense. You can hardly blame the Chiefs for waving the white flag, which was apparent during last Sunday’s 26-9 blowout loss at the hands of the lowly Titans.

The Broncos, on the other hand, won 11 games in a row before falling to Jacksonville this past week. With a lot at stake and a loss in the rearview mirror, you know Denver is going to come out with fire on Christmas Day. This should be a complete beatdown.

Courtland Sutton to score a touchdown (+140)

Sutton is coming down the stretch of a stellar season with 69 receptions for 972 yards and 7 touchdowns. The SMU product has found the endzone in 3 of the past 4 games. During this stretch, he has gained at least 62 yards on every occasion, including performances of 113 and 86 yards the past 2 weeks. There is no reason to think that Sutton will slow down against the Chiefs, whom Nix torched for 295 yards on 24-of-37 passing in the previous head-to-head matchup.

Troy Franklin to record 50+ receiving yards (+220)

Franklin enjoyed a big outing against Kansas City in Week 11, leading his team in receiving with 4 catches on 8 targets for 84 yards. The former Oregon standout has been productive of late, too, with 85 and 66 yards over the past 2 weeks. He now faces a Chiefs defense that is surrendering 7.2 yards per pass attempt – 10th most in the NFL. With Pat Bryant likely out following the scary concussion he sustained last weekend, both Franklin and Sutton will have to shoulder even more of the pass-catching load on Thursday.

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.