NBA Best Bets: Free Picks for Tuesday, December 19

NBA Best Bets: Free Picks for Tuesday, December 19

This article is part of our NBA Picks series.

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Best Bets

Jusuf Nurkic over 1.5 blocks (+172) at Trail Blazers

FanDuel, 4:35 PM CT

Alex Barutha: Nurkic isn't known for his shot-blocking and is averaging 1.2 on the year, but this is a good spot for him. The Trail Blazers allow the second-most blocks per game to opposing centers, and when these two teams faced off earlier in the year, Nukic had four swats -- tied for his highest mark of the season. Approaching 2-to-1 odds on this bet feels like good value as a result.

Damian Lillard O40.5 P+R+A vs. Spurs

DraftKings Sportsbook, 3pm CT

Nick Whalen: The Bucks are big favorites against the Wembanyama-less Spurs, so there's obviously some blowout risk here, but this should be a great spot for Lillard against a team that ranks near the top of the league in points, assists and threes allowed – specifically to point guards. Lillard has been running hot of late, piling up 33-5-4 against Detroit on Saturday and 39-11-5 in a win over Houston on Sunday. If the blowout potential scares you, I also like Lillard O7.5 assists as a safer option.

Jonas Valanciunas over 26.5 points+ rebounds vs. Grizzlies (-115)

FanDuel, 2:25pm ET

Ken Crites: The Lithuanian center is on a bit of a heater. Over his last four games, Valanciunas has averaged 18.5 points and 15.0 rebounds (33.5 total). And now Zion was just added to the injury report as questionable with an illness.  No Zion means more inside work for the Lithuanian Lightning.  (Not that out-of-shape Zion is a good rebounder, but that's for another column). Memphis has had a bunch of issues at center since they lost Steven Adams (knee) for the season. Journeyman big man Bismack Biyombo returns tonight for the Grizzlies after dealing with a back issue, but I suspect he's not 100%.  And Xavier Tillman has had a very up and down season.  The K-Train is a pedestrian 13-9 after a recent 3-game heater, but certainly feel free to fade.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Alex Barutha
Alex is RotoWire's Chief NBA Editor. He writes articles about daily fantasy, year-long fantasy and sports betting. You can hear him on the RotoWire NBA Podcast, Sirius XM, VSiN and other platforms. He firmly believes Robert Covington is the most underrated fantasy player of the past decade.
Ken
An early RotoWire contributor from the 90's, K-Train returns with the grace of Gheorghe Muresan and the wisdom of Joe Gibbs. Ken is a two-time FSWA award winner and a co-host on the RW NBA Podcast. Championships incude: 2016 RW Staff NBA Keeper, 2019 RW Staff NFL Ottoneu Keeper, 2022-23 SiriusXM NBA Experts, 2022-23 SiriusXM NBA Kamla Keeper and 2023-24 FSGA NBA Expert Champions. Ken still owns a RotoNews shirt.
Nick Whalen
Now in his 10th year with the company, Nick is RotoWire's Senior Media Analyst, a position he took on after several years as the Head of Basketball Content. A multi-time FSGA and FSWA award winner, Nick co-hosts RotoWire's flagship show on Sirius XM Fantasy alongside Jeff Erickson, as well as The RotoWire NBA Show on Sirius XM NBA with Alex Barutha. He also co-hosts RotoWire's Football and Basketball podcasts. You can catch Nick's NBA and NFL analysis on VSiN and DraftKings, as well as RotoWire's various social and video channels. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @wha1en.
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