{"id":25179,"date":"2025-12-20T18:53:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T05:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/?p=25179"},"modified":"2025-12-20T18:53:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T05:53:13","slug":"us-basketball-tips-preview-sunday-21-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/12\/us-basketball-tips-preview-sunday-21-december\/","title":{"rendered":"US Basketball Tips & Preview | Sunday 21 December"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n \n
\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n
\n
Denver<\/div>\n
vs<\/div>\n
Houston<\/div>\n
Sunday, 11:10am<\/div>\n
Houston +1.0 ($1.88)<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n

Denver have won six straight games after a 126-115 victory over Orlando on Friday. It was an elongated 48-13 run that saw Denver turn a 14-point deficit into a 21-point lead, in what was a dominant stretch across the second and third quarters to get the hosts the win. Jamal Murray was immense with 32 points on 7\/12 from deep and Nikola Joki\u0107 was equally as impressive with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. Cameron Johnson provided lights-out shooting, going 6\/9 for 19 points and 11 boards and Jalen Pickett\u2019s nine points and seven assists off the bench were a big boost.<\/p>\n

Houston have lost three of their last four games, including an overtime defeat against Denver on Tuesday before another overtime loss on Friday, this time against New Orleans. It was a dramatic collapse by Houston, who led by as many as 25 points early in the third quarter and led 99-83 at three-quarter time, before a terrible 20-36 fourth quarter sent the game to OT. In the extra period, Houston simply couldn\u2019t get stops, trailing for most of the five minutes, seeing the visitors fall to a 16-8 record. Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn was again Houston\u2019s best, with 28 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, two steals and two blocks and Kevin Durant had an incredibly efficient 32 points, going 12\/15 from the field. However, it was another poor defensive night from Ime Udoka\u2019s men, making it four disappointing defensive efforts in a row, and that will need to change on Sunday.<\/p>\n

We can expect another classic battle on Sunday and I expect another thrilling duel between \u015eeng\u00fcn and Joki\u0107. This one will go down to the wire again but I have to side with Houston here. Their second quarter collapse cost them in the first matchup, but they are the deeper and more athletic team and they will throw more defensive attention Joki\u0107\u2019s way on Sunday, which will disrupt Denver\u2019s offence and help the visitors come out on top.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\n Bet Now<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
\n
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\n \n
\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n
\n
Philadelphia<\/div>\n
vs<\/div>\n
Dallas<\/div>\n
Sunday, 1:10pm<\/div>\n
Dallas +2.5 ($1.88)<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n

Philadelphia picked up a big 116-107 victory in New York on Saturday to make it a winning return for Tyrese Maxey. After missing the prior two games, Maxey put together an impressive 30 points and nine assists to guide Philly to victory without Joel Embiid. VJ Edgecombe looked happy to have his running mate back, putting up 23 points on 10\/18 from the floor, to go with four assists, two steals and one block. Andre Drummond had a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double and while he struggled on the offensive end, Paul George put in a good defensive effort against some strong NY wings.<\/p>\n

Dallas picked up another impressive win on Friday, beating Detroit 116-114 in overtime. It was an intriguing game throughout and it looked like Dallas was going to coast to victory midway through the third, as they found themselves up by 18 points, before Detroit mounted a comeback to lead by three points with less than a minute to play. However, Cooper Flagg stood tall with a couple of big buckets in the final minute to help force OT and Anthony Davis came to life from there to get Dallas a big dub. Flagg was impressive throughout, especially on the defensive end, as he finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three blocks, while AD followed suit with 15 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks.<\/p>\n

On night two of a back-to-back for Philly, there\u2019s a good chance that Maxey sits out or plays low minutes, given that he has just returned from injury, and that gives Dallas a very good chance in this clash. Davis will be able to disrupt Embiid and with good wing defenders, I have Dallas as slim favourites here, which makes them the play as underdogs in the market.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\n Bet Now<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
\n
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\n \n
\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n
\n
LA Clippers<\/div>\n
vs<\/div>\n
Los Angeles Lakers<\/div>\n
Sunday, 4:40pm<\/div>\n
Los Angeles Lakers -2.5 ($1.88)<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n

The Clippers\u2019 woeful season continued on Friday, with a 101-122 against Oklahoma City. A hot start from Kawhi Leonard helped LA get out to a 26-15 lead late in the first quarter, but he and his team cooled off from there against the league\u2019s best defence, was OKC hit the lead in the second quarter and produced a blowout. Leonard was the Clippers\u2019 best, with 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while John Collins put up 20 points. Bogdan Bogdanovi\u0107 and Kris Dunn each had 14 points but with no James Harden, LA\u2019s lack of point guard made for a rough offensive night and, with that, another loss.<\/p>\n

The Lakers powered their way to a 143-135 victory in Utah on Friday, with a 41-point final quarter getting them over the line. The hosts headed into the final quarter with a four-point lead, but a couple of big runs from LA in the fourth saw the Lakers pick up their 19th win of the season. Luka Don\u010di\u0107 was outstanding in this win, with 45 points, 11 rebounds, 14 assists and five steals in another monster game from the MVP candidate. LeBron James had 28 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists, Jaxson Hayes had some strong finishes again for 16 points and Jake LaRavia continued to show his importance with 12 points, six boards and four assists.<\/p>\n

Harden will be back for this clash and Austin Reaves remains out with a calf injury, but the Lakers will still be too strong.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\n Bet Now<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denver have won six straight games after a 126-115 victory over Orlando on Friday. It was an elongated 48-13 run that saw Denver turn a 14-point deficit into a 21-point lead, in what was a dominant stretch across the second and third quarters to get the hosts the win. Jamal Murray was immense with 32 points on 7\/12 from deep and Nikola Joki\u0107 was equally as impressive with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. Cameron Johnson provided lights-out shooting, going 6\/9 for 19 points and 11 boards and Jalen Pickett\u2019s nine points and seven assists off the bench were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,232],"tags":[576,234],"hub_post_cat":[],"class_list":["post-25179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-basketball-tips","tag-basketball-tips","tag-nba-tips"],"acf":{"md_tip_date":"","md_tip_date_end":"","md_market_url":"","tip_date":"20\/12\/2025","event_country":"New Zealand"},"yoast_head":"\nUS Basketball Tips & Preview | Sunday 21 December - TAB NZ Punters Lounge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Visit the TAB NZ for our expert US basketball tips, NBA previews for the major matches, NBA best bets & tips today!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/12\/us-basketball-tips-preview-sunday-21-december\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Basketball Tips & Preview | Sunday 21 December - 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