3 NBA Best Bets and Predictions for Thursday 12/26/24

The 82-game NBA regular season offers us a wide variety of betting options, including point spreads, moneylines, and totals. The Association features 1,230 regular season games, which can make sifting through the odds an overwhelming task.

However, various advanced statistics can help narrow the choices. numberFire's NBA power rankings and NBA game projections paired with advanced stats from the NBA can help give the inside track to quality bets.

While utilizing some of the mentioned tools, which NBA odds from FanDuel Sportsbook look like the best bets today?

Please note lines are subject to change throughout the day after this article is published.

Today's Best NBA Betting Picks

Oklahoma City Thunder at Indiana Pacers

Over 227.0 Total Points (-110)

This Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Indiana Pacers matchup may not have made the Christmas Day cut, but it still figures to be wildly entertaining. Both sides feature explosive offenses and talented lead guards, yet the total is a mild 227.0 points. As such, we can look to the over here.

To start, Oklahoma City and Indiana can both pour on the points at will. The Thunder are ninth in scoring (115.1 points per game) and seventh in offensive rating while the Pacers are 11th in both stats, averaging 114.8 points per game. Both teams are happy to get up and down, too. Indiana is sixth in pace, and OKC is 11th.

The Thunder sport the Association's top scoring defense (103.1 points per game allowed), and they lead the league in defensive rating by a significant margin. But they've given up 111.7 points per game to teams .500 or better, so good teams can score on OKC.

And the Pacers are a good team, especially of late. Indiana has won five straight games coming into tonight, a span during which they've averaged 118.6 points per game. But they're still just 20th in defensive rating on the year, so we shouldn't expect the Thunder to have much trouble holding up their end of the bargain in terms of scoring.

numberFire's NBA projections peg this game for a massive 237-point total. That's hard to ignore given how strong both offenses are.

Heat at Magic

Magic Moneyline (-118)

The Miami Heat and Orlando Magic square off for the third time this season. The home Magic have handled this head-to-head matchup with relative ease thus far, defeating their division rival by 19 and 7 points. Even so, they're only favored by 1.5 and sport -118 moneyline odds -- both of which are in play tonight.

Orlando has been the better team all season, sitting 3.0 games up on Miami in the Eastern Conference standings while posting a better net rating (+3.7 to +2.5).

With that said, the Heat are top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating, so they're a good team. The Magic aren't nearly as well-rounded, ranking third on defense but just 26th on offense. They haven't had any issues scoring on Miami in head-to-head matchups, however, netting 116 and 121 points across two meetings.

Granted, it took the Magic out-scoring the Heat 37-8 in the fourth quarter to overcome a 25-point deficit when they matched up last weekend. But they also did that without Jalen Suggs -- Orlando's leading healthy scorer. He returned in their next game and is not on the injury report tonight.

Suggs' return is especially important with Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero both inactive. In six games since Wagner went down, the Magic are 3-3 despite facing three of the top five teams in the NBA standings over that stretch.

Miami, meanwhile, could be down two of their four leading scorers if Terry Rozier (questionable) joins Jimmy Butler (out) on the bench.

This is a good spot for the Magic to clinch the season series on their home floor, and their two previous head-to-head games suggest Orlando could cover as 1.5-point favorites. But at -118 odds, I'm more than fine with taking Orlando's moneyline.

Nets at Bucks

Bucks Over 111.5 Total Points (-118)

I'm certainly interested in backing some part of the Milwaukee Bucks against a Brooklyn Nets side that's dropped eight of their last 10 games. But with the Bucks favored by 10.5 and still just 12th in defensive rating on the year, I can't quite get there laying the points.

Instead, we can look to the over on Milwaukee's 111.5-point team total.

The Bucks enter Thursday averaging 111.6 points per game this month, cracking 112 points in half their December games. Over that same span, Brooklyn ranks 20th in defensive rating and has let up the third-highest opponent field goal percentage (48.9%).

This is a massive pace-down spot for Milwaukee as the Nets are dead-last in pace. The Bucks are just 15th in pace to begin with, though both sides are playing faster in December.

Still, the Bucks could wind up just flat-out boat-racing the Nets as 10.5-point favorites. They've won by at least 11 points 16 times this season, scoring at least 112 points in 12 of those 16 such wins.

numberFire projects Milwaukee to score 116.6 points tonight, further instilling confidence in their ability to go over 111.5 points.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.