Happy Holidays to all and welcome to one of the high holy days in sports. Major League Baseball has Opening Day, the NFL has Super Bowl Sunday and the NBA has Christmas Day. Today will be the most heavily bet day in the NBA regular season. There are five games on the slate and I have best bets for three of them. I will not wager the Rockets and Warriors but I think Houston is the side to lean. There will be a lot of fans getting their first real look at the NBA today so Houston should take this chance to hammer the Dubs in their new building. But there is also a side of me that says that Draymond Green and Steve Kerr don’t want to be embarrassed today and Golden State could put up a fight. In the nightcap, the Pelicans are only playing in this game because of the thought that Zion Willaims would be playing. But that not the case and unfortunately the Pelicans are one of the worst teams in the league. I think they can hang with the Nuggets though but not enough to place a wager on it. Here are our NBA Christmas Day best bets.
Boston Celtics vs Toronto Raptors: Raptors +3.5
The Celtics opened up as 2.5-point favorites in this Christmas Day showdown with the defending NBA champions. Both teams are dealing with injuries but Toronto will have a lot of key players missing. In the past week those missing players have not been a problem for the champs, they have won six of their last 10 with the losses coming on the road to the 76ers and Pacers and home losses to the Clippers and Rockets. Toronto is a contender in the East yet again. Boston is better this year than they were last year. Kemba Walker has been great for them, the Celtics are on a three-game winning streak and have won seven of their last 10. This is a very big spot for Toronto and I love catching points with them today versus the very public Celtics. This will be the first time Toronto has hosted a Christmas Day game, and I expect them to cover the number and win the contest.
