{"id":25517,"date":"2026-01-09T08:20:49","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T19:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/?p=25517"},"modified":"2026-01-09T08:42:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T19:42:54","slug":"us-basketball-tips-preview-friday-9-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2026\/01\/us-basketball-tips-preview-friday-9-january\/","title":{"rendered":"US Basketball Tips & Preview | Friday 9 January"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n \n
\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n
\n
Chicago<\/div>\n
vs<\/div>\n
Miami<\/div>\n
Friday, 2:10pm<\/div>\n
Miami -7.0 ($1.90)<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n

Chicago were made to look very ordinary by Detroit on Thursday, going down 93-108. Even without Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, among others, the East leaders were far too strong, with Chicago putting together a lacklustre 16-32 fourth quarter to go down in disappointing fashion. Ayo Dosunmu got hot early on and finished his night with 24 points on 10\/15 shooting, while Nikola Vu\u010devi\u0107 had a big statistical game with 20 points, 16 rebounds and four assists. Matas Buzelis also hit the 20-point mark and provided four blocks, but there were plenty of offensive struggles across the floor, as the team sorely missed the injured Josh Giddey and Coby White.<\/p>\n

Miami were humbled in Minnesota on Wednesday, crashing to a 94-122 loss. It was by far the team\u2019s worst offensive game of the season, putting together an atrocious 85.4 offensive rating as almost nothing went their way on that end of the floor. Their 41.1% eFG% gave them no chance of winning this game, while their 17 turnovers and just 16 free throw attempts made for a very rough night at the office. Norman Powell was the only player from the visitors to enjoy some offensive success, with 21 points and four assists, while Tyler Herro had 17 points and nine boards in his return from injury.<\/p>\n

White will likely return for Chicago on Friday but that isn\u2019t going to help them much in a battle against a rampant Miami offence. Coming off their worst showing of the season, the visitors will come out swinging and I can\u2019t see Chicago being able to keep up, making this one a blowout.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\n Bet Now<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n \n
\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n
\n
Minnesota<\/div>\n
vs<\/div>\n
Cleveland<\/div>\n
Friday, 2:10pm<\/div>\n
Under 240.5 ($1.90)<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n

Minnesota strolled to a 122-94 victory over Miami on Wednesday, making it three wins on the bounce. It was also their second straight 20+ point victory, and this one was all thanks to their defence, recording an outstanding 85.4 defensive rating. This was largely thanks to another standout performance from Rudy Gobert, who helped force Miami into shooting an awful 48% at the rim, while also making the visitors take 39% of their shot attempts as midrangers. Gobert finished with 13 points, 17 rebounds and two blocks to be a +20, while Anthony Edwards waltzed his way to 26 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Julius Randle had another strong night with 15 points, 11 boards and five assists and Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo had impressive stints off the bench once more.<\/p>\n

Cleveland survived a real scare against Indiana on Wednesday, pulling off a 21-7 fourth quarter run to turn an 86-95 deficit into a 107-102 lead and they held on for a 120-116 victory from there. Darius Garland was largely to thank for the fourth quarter turnaround, going 7\/7 from the floor for 14 points and two assists in the period, finishing the game with 29 points and six dimes. Jarrett Allen was also huge in the fourth, with nine points and four boards on his way to 19 points, 12 rebounds and two steals on the night, while Evan Mobley had 20 points, six rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks. With Donovan Mitchell out, Craig Porter Jr started and put up eight points, nine rebounds, nine assists, two steals and three blocks.<\/p>\n

Mitchell will return for Cleveland in this heavyweight clash but with the way that Minnesota\u2019s defence has been performing lately, I am not expecting a huge offensive night for Cleveland \u2014 or Minnesota. The hosts have the third-best defence in the league in the past three weeks and the under has hit in five of Cleveland\u2019s last six games, and that is my bet here.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\n Bet Now<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n \n
\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n
\n
Utah<\/div>\n
vs<\/div>\n
Dallas<\/div>\n
Friday, 3:10pm<\/div>\n
Utah +8.0 ($1.88)<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n

Utah got agonisingly close to a win in Oklahoma City on Thursday but couldn\u2019t finish the job, losing 125-129 in overtime. Despite a couple of big pushes from the defending champions, resulting in a 20-point deficit in the second quarter, Utah never let the game get truly away from them, reeling OKC back in to take the lead in the fourth quarter. The visitors then built a 107-99 lead with just over five minutes to play and Lauri Markkanen gave Utah a 114-112 lead with just three seconds on the clock. However, they couldn\u2019t stop Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the other end, seeing the game go to OT, where the champs were simply too good.<\/p>\n

Dallas pulled off a decent comeback to beat Sacramento 100-98 on Wednesday. Trailing 46-58 at halftime, Dallas were left with some work to do in the second half, but a 16-5 run in the tail end of the third quarter got them right back in the game and it was Brandon Williams\u2019 three-pointer with 34 seconds remaining that put Dallas up 100-98 and proved to be the game-winner. The team\u2019s defence did the job on the other end of the floor, even as Naji Marshall missed a pair of free throws to keep the door open for the hosts, to see Dallas pick up consecutive wins. Cooper Flagg was Dallas\u2019 best, with an efficient 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Williams put up 18 points and two steals for some big plays. Anthony Davis really struggled with his shot, going 7\/23 for 19 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks, while Daniel Gafford had a tidier 10 points and 13 boards.<\/p>\n

On a back-to-back after a tough overtime loss, Utah are on the back foot heading into this contest but I don\u2019t expect that to make it a blowout win for Dallas. Utah have been a great bet at home this season, having covered 13 of their 19 games, and Dallas are just 6-11 ATS on the road. As eight-point favourites and with just three wins from their last nine games, I am avoiding the visitors.<\/p>\n

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

Chicago were made to look very ordinary by Detroit on Thursday, going down 93-108. Even without Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, among others, the East leaders were far too strong, with Chicago putting together a lacklustre 16-32 fourth quarter to go down in disappointing fashion. Ayo Dosunmu got hot early on and finished his night with 24 points on 10\/15 shooting, while Nikola Vu\u010devi\u0107 had a big statistical game with 20 points, 16 rebounds and four assists. Matas Buzelis also hit the 20-point mark and provided four blocks, but there were plenty of offensive struggles across the floor, as the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":342,"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-25517","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":"09\/01\/2026","event_country":"New Zealand"},"yoast_head":"\nUS Basketball Tips & Preview | Friday 9 January - 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\/2026\/01\/us-basketball-tips-preview-friday-9-january\/\" \/>\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 | Friday 9 January - 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