Saturday, December 16 NBA Parlay Picks

Weekends are always a good time for sports and Saturday promises to be huge both on the field and at the BetRivers sportsbook betting window. With the NFL invading the space along with the opening of college football bowl season, the NBA has to get its slice of the pie with 10 games on the slate for Dec. 16. That gives us plenty of options for our NBA parlay picks. You wouldn’t think a mid-December matchup between the Indiana Pacers and Minnesota Timberwolves would draw much attention outside the team markets. However, with both teams enjoying solid starts and the Pacers scorching the nets this has plenty of intrigue. The Wolves started the week as the top team in the Western Conference boasting the NBA’s best defense.

Welp, my most recent three-team NBA parlay failed with two of my picks coming up losers. I haven’t had as much success as I would like, but it’s still early and I can make up the difference. The Oklahoma City Thunder are the best NBA pick against the spread on the road with a 77.8 cover percentage. They visit Denver, one of the best home teams in the league, in a Western Conference showdown. The Nuggets are experiencing some health concerns leaving them vulnerable. Are the Milwaukee Bucks a NBA line pick lock at home against the league worst Pistons? Not so fast since Milwaukee won the earlier matchup by a bucket as a 12.5-point favorite on the NBA betting line.

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NBA Schedule for Saturday, December 16

Indiana at Minnesota, 8 p.m. ET

Brooklyn at Golden State, 8:30 p.m. ET

Utah at Sacramento, 10 p.m. ET (NBA TV)

The more I thought about the Indiana-Minnesota contest the more I had to investigate. The Pacers are scoring at an outrageous pace averaging 128.5 points while shooting 51 percent from the field, both tops in the NBA. The Wolves are winning with one of the best defenses allowing only 105.9 points while holding opponents to 43 percent shooting, which is tops in the NBA. Minnesota’s defensive rating of 108.1 is a full point better than the next closest team. So, you can see this is going to be strength against strength.

The Pacers have all kinds of weapons with seven regulars averaging more than 11 points making them hard to defend. Tyrese Haliburton has emerged as a stud averaging 26.3 points and a league best 12.3 assists. The Wolves will benefit from having this game at home, where they are 10-1 and 7-2-2 as a NBA spread pick allowing them to get the cover win.

I’m going to venture west for my next pick backing the Golden State Warriors in their tilt with Brooklyn. The Dubs have struggled with Klay Thompson suffering through a season-long shooting slump and Draymond Green acting like an idiot facing another suspension after whacking a Phoenix player for no reason. But I digress and will let Steph Curry do the talking for GSW. This is also the penultimate game of a five-game Western Conference road swing for the Nets and they’re likely to be fatigued with this being their fourth game in six nights. This isn’t so much an endorsement for the Warriors as it is fading the Nets. And with Golden State below .500 the spread is likely to be shorter than in previous years, so backing the home team is a NBA best pick.

I’ll cash my winning NBA parlay ticket when the Utah Jazz cover the NBA betting line in their matchup with the Sacramento Kings. How’s that you ask since the Jazz stink. Well, they’ve had all kinds of success in the Capital City with seven straight payouts. Utah has lost its last two trips to Sac Town and will be a big underdog again, but the Jazz match up well and were close the last two times. Plus Utah is about to get reinforcements with John Collins, Walker Kessler and Lauri Markkanen all due back in the lineup possibly in time for this game. And that’s a big boost since Markkanen leads the team in scoring and Collins is third. In addition, Kessler is the defensive stopper averaging 8.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks.

Timberwolves ATS

Nets ATS

Jazz / Kings OVER

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