Christmas Day NBA Games Betting Lines And Picks

These December 25th basketball matchups are a great chance for all sports bettors and fans. Watch and bet on these NBA games that promise to be high tension. Check out our betting lines and picks:

Boston Celtics (-165) Vs. Toronto Raptors (+145)

We start the Christmas Day slate with a much-anticipated matchup that has been somewhat derailed due to significant injured on the side of the Raptors.

They will be without Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol, and Norman Powell, which is a significant blow to their team as a whole. Somehow, this team has still won 5 of their last six and almost made an insane comeback against the Pacers last game but fell in overtime.

The Celtics have continued their steamrolling and have found themselves in second in the Eastern Conference. Even on the road here, a completely healthy Celtics team should be able to overpower this injury-ridden Raptors squad. They are sixth in offensive rating and an impressive third in defensive rating.

With the Raptors missing their best offensive player, this Celtics squad should be able to stifle the rest of the Raptors offense. Linemakers are expecting a close game, but I think the Celtics run away with this one. We should definitely take the Celtics moneyline at -165 and the spread at -4.

I would probably stay away from the over/under since both teams are slower paced. I don’t expect the Raptors to keep this one close, so it’s not likely that this total hits, but it’s still too risky of a bet when we can take the Celtics spread and moneyline.

Milwaukee Bucks (-170) Vs. Philadelphia 76ers (+150)

The Milwaukee Bucks are the only team that has less than five losses and have perched themselves in first place in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia, on the other hand, has slipped to fifth place, but they’re only half a game behind second place.

The Bucks, led by Giannis Antentokoumpo, thrashed the Indiana Pacers in a game many expected to be a close affair. They have the second-best offensive rating and the best defensive rating in the league, which isn’t surprising since they tend to stomp their opponents in three and a half quarters.

The 76ers haven’t been a bad team at all. Joel Embiid has had a resurgence ever since Charles Barkley and Shaq called him out for not giving his full effort every game. This team is 14th in offensive rating and seventh in defensive rating. They are also the best rebounding team in the league, which makes this matchup interesting since the Bucks are the third-best rebounding team.

Giannis has been showing his range lately, which is going to be crucial if the Bucks want to win this one. He will have a tough time driving in against the towers of Embiid and Horford.

I think this game will be super close and back and forth. Since the Bucks play at the fastest pace in the league, the 76ers will have to play faster to match that. This over/under seems much too low, so we should lock in the over at 221.5.

As for the picks, the safest pick would be to take the Bucks at -170 and expect them to continue their success against every team.

Houston Rockets (-600) Vs. Golden State Warriors (+440)

Moneyline Rockets -600, Warriors +440, Over/Under 227.5 -110 both ways

I feel bad for the fans who bought tickets to this game before the season started. Sure the Warriors weren’t going to have Klay Thompson, but I think they were expecting Stephen Curry at least. Right now, it looks like the Warriors are in tank mode.

They are dead last in the Western Conference and have no hopes for the playoffs. Due to this, we get a matchup of the third-best offensive rating team in the league in Houston against the worst offensive rating team in the league in Golden State.

Alas, it’s still a Christmas game, and the Rockets will want to show that they are a contender. Lately, Westbrook has been shooting incredibly efficiently, which makes this team a scary threat. Harden is averaging almost 39 points a game while making his case for MVP this season.

There’s not much to talk about on the Warriors side since they sometimes look like a real team when D’Angelo Russell pops off, but most of the team this team can’t keep up with an elite one. We should expect the Rockets to win this pretty easily and cover this spread at -10.5.

Even though we hear about the Rockets being this insane offensive team, they have only hit the over 43% this season. This is also a day game where usually the over does not hit. I think we can be a bit cheeky here and take the under in this game at 227.5.

Los Angeles Clippers (-140) Vs. Los Angeles Lakers (+120)

Moneyline Clippers -140 vs Lakers +120, Over/Under 222.5 -110 both ways

Okay okay, we don’t have to freak out. LeBron James is expected to play on Christmas Day and the early indication is that Anthony Davis will play as well. Adam Silver would be freaking out if this game became a ratings nightmare as well.

The much-hyped up rematch of the Los Angeles teams is ready to be played at full strength. Two of the best duos in the league will battle at the Staples Center to see who is the elite LA team. The Lakers are on an odd three-game losing streak, but one of those games was against the juggernaut Bucks. The last game against the Nuggets they were without LeBron.

The last time these two teams met was at the beginning of the season in a game that the Clippers took. However, in that game, the Clippers didn’t have Paul George and the Lakers didn’t have Kyle Kuzma, Rajan Rondo, and Alex Caruso. Kawhi Leonard is currently questionable for this one, but after sitting Sunday’s game, we should expect him to play.

Assuming both teams will be healthy for this one, I believe the Clippers should take it. The Lakers have yet to be tested this season since their schedule has been easy to start the season. However, they have been dealing with some nagging injuries lately and have struggled against the upper echelon of teams.

The Clippers have the seventh-best offense and the fifth-best defense in the league which makes them incredibly balanced. Their biggest struggle will be to contain Anthony Davis since Montrezl Harrell isn’t really a defensively-minded center. In addition, the Clippers bench is much deeper than the Lakers which will be useful given we are in the heart of the season. Our best bet in this game is to take the Clippers -140 to win outright and cover the spread at -2.

New Orleans Pelicans (+455) Vs. Denver Nuggets (-655)

I feel bad for the Pelicans. They came into this season really expecting to at least make the playoffs. Unfortunately, Zion Williamson still hasn’t taken the floor this season and the rest of the Pelicans haven’t lived up to expectations. Lonzo Ball is still looking like a draft bust and the growth of Brandon Ingram isn’t enough to compensate for it.

The Denver Nuggets had a big win against the LeBron-less Lakers and are coming into this game on vacation mode. They know they should handily beat New Orleans at home.

The Denver Nuggets play at the slowest pace in the league while the Pelicans play at the seventh quickest pace. The Nuggets also have the second-best defensive rating and the 13th best offensive rating.

Contrasting this with the Pelicans who are 25th and 23rd in defense and offense respectively. Frankly, we know the Pelicans just aren’t a good team, but from a betting standpoint, the best bet here is to take the under at 219.5.

We should expect the Nuggets to play their simple controlled style and just choke out the Pelicans offense. This total seems a bit too high for these teams to hit given that this game won’t end up being close. If we do want to take a spread then we should take the Nuggets -10 spread, but the under bet is better here.

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