The Bookie Brief: NBA Betting On Christmas Day Matchups

• The Miami Heat are favored to beat the New Orleans Pelicans by five points.
• The LA Clippers and the Denver Nuggets are a pick’em.
• The Brooklyn Nets are -1 ½ point favorites against the Boston Celtics.

LOS ANGELES – The NBA is back and NBA Christmas will be hosting some of the biggest matchups of the year. This is a great chance for bettors to win big on Christmas Day.

Major matchups like the Dallas Mavericks vs. the LA Lakers, the Boston Celtics vs. the Brooklyn Nets, and the LA Clippers vs. the Denver Nuggets will be attracting major action at online sportsbooks.

NBA bettors will find no shortage of action on Christmas. With the season just recently starting, the matchups become more unpredictable as teams haven’t gotten their rhythms as of yet.

Currently, at legal sports betting sites, the Lakers are favored by six points to take the win against the Mavericks.

The defending champions lost their first game against the LA Clippers 109-116 and showed a slight sign of Championship Hangover as they had no answer defensively for Paul George who dropped 33 points on 13/18 shooting and 5/8 from the three.

Should the Lakers run into a red hot Luka Doncic while playing their lackluster defense, it may be hard for the Lakers to win, let alone cover the spread.

The Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant tandem has already shown itself to be a force, as the Brooklyn Nets made easy work of the Golden State Warriors with a 125-99 victory and Irving and Durant combining for 48 points.

The team is already scary for the East, but the Boston Celtics will be a major test for the young team. Boston is coming off of a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals and star wing Jason Tatum has incrementally improved every year since he’s joined the league.

The Brooklyn Nets are only favored by over a point, so if you are leaning in favor of Brooklyn, taking them to cover the spread as well is a great way to increase your potential winnings.

This may be the biggest game of the night, as the Denver Nuggets are the sole reason the NBA didn’t get the ‘Battle of LA’ after Denver came back from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the LA Clippers in the second round.

A motivated Clippers could possibly come out with something to prove, attempting to make a statement by beating the Nuggets in the same degree that they took down the Lakers during opening night.

Paul George specifically has a lot to prove this season, giving public remarks about how motivated and focused he is following his lackluster performance against the Nuggets in the playoffs.

George also has to prove doubters wrong, after signing his $190 million max extension, many fans questioned the Clippers decision.

Sports bettors looking to take action on the Clippers would likely be holding these things into account. On top of that, the Clippers now have Serge Ibaka, which may be a better matchup for dealing with Nuggets star center Nikola Jokic.

Outside of the core team getting better every year, the Nuggets are essentially the same team that took out the Clippers as no major moves were made during the offseason.

Sports bettors who are leaning in favor of Denver would be harping on the Nuggets still being able to outclass LA. The Clippers had no defensive answer for the Jokic and Jamal Murray pick and roll offense during the postseason.

This game will be a major one at online sportsbooks, so those taking action could go either way. Christmas Games are among the biggest matchups of the season, and there will be plenty of action available at legal sports betting sites.

News tags: Boston Celtics | Brooklyn Nets | Dallas Mavericks | Denver Nuggets | Golden State Warriors | Los Angeles Clippers | Los Angeles Lakers | Miami Heat | Milwaukee Bucks | New Orleans Pelicans