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00:00Welcome back into the early line.
00:04Happy holidays.
00:05Appreciate you coming along for the ride here with us on Christmas Eve.
00:09I'm Dov Zanderson.
00:10That is Joe Ranieri.
00:11Joe, on the spot, best gift under 50 bucks to take to Christmas Day lunch tomorrow.
00:16What do we buy?
00:19Oh, it's easy.
00:20It's a bottle of whiskey pig bourbon.
00:23I mean, it's quite honestly, you're making these questions easy here, Dov.
00:28You ought to see what's under my tree right now.
00:31Might as well just be a bar at this point.
00:33But yes, under 50 bucks, outstanding stuff can't go wrong.
00:38I bought a plethora of scratch off tickets from the gas station.
00:44That's going to be my season of giving to the people.
00:48But I tell you what, Joe, if it's not the bottle of whiskey pig bourbon,
00:53and geez, that sounds succulent.
00:54What about a couple of winning plays?
00:55Can we give the people what they're looking for?
00:58Wednesday will feature five games on the NBA slate,
01:01and the 76ers going against the Celtics.
01:04What a showdown this one looks to be.
01:07Philly, they're playing better basketball.
01:09The Celtics been very strong at home, 11 and 4 for the season.
01:13Joey Mazzullo getting the boys fired up.
01:15There won't be a Jason Tatum out there on the floor,
01:17but certainly no shortage of star power for this one, Joe.
01:22Yeah, and this, of course, coming off the heels of Embiid being injected
01:26last night for going after an official.
01:30And I'm assuming he will not be suspended and be available for that game.
01:38Because I do believe there is a rule there, Dubs.
01:41If you get too technical, I believe there is a suspension that's supposed to follow that.
01:47But I'm sure they'll make room and allow him to be able to play in this game here.
01:54I don't know what to make of the Sixers, honestly.
01:57I don't.
01:58I mean, that was a great win last night.
02:01But what are we doing here?
02:03We know for a fact that if they are usually, and you mentioned here,
02:08Jason Tatum likely out in that game.
02:12But is that going to matter if we have a less than 100% Sixers team here?
02:19I don't know.
02:19I thought the Sixers were playing better heading into that game last night,
02:23and mostly because they had been healthy enough there, especially with Embiid,
02:29even though he's wearing the mask.
02:31Great come from behind win.
02:33I just feel all of these games, especially this one on Christmas Day,
02:37probably going to get a lot less defense, Dubs, and a lot more offense.
02:42It feels like we should just be backing the overs.
02:46And especially in a game like this with the Sixers and the Celtics,
02:50it's going to rain threes.
02:51I don't think anybody's going to go out there and lay it all out on the court.
02:55I like the over in the game.
02:57I think that's not a bad way to look at it.
03:00Seeing that number hover right around 222 and a half there.
03:0476ers over in Boston taking on the Celtics.
03:07I feel like it's a lot of points for the 76ers.
03:10If Maxi can get back to what we saw there on Monday evening,
03:13I think the 76ers are certainly alive to keep it close enough.
03:17Straight up, well, yeah, I got question marks on that side of things.
03:21Let's bring it out to the West Coast.
03:22West Coast, the Lakers going against the Golden State Warriors.
03:26Again, superstar, star power, plus 150.
03:30The Lakers' outside is going up to San Francisco in another low total.
03:34I believe this one opened at 231 and a half.
03:36We have seen a bit of movement towards the unders job.
03:40Yeah, and again, Lakers have been playing some defense,
03:43have been playing to the unders here.
03:47But my goodness here, as long as everyone for the Warriors who is playing
03:54that we think will be playing there, like Gary Payton Jr.
03:57and Draymond Green and others, if they are healthy,
04:02I got no problem backing and taking the points here with the Golden State Warriors.
04:06But I agree with the market move.
04:08I think the under is probably the better look.
04:11We really do have some enticing matchups for Christmas Day.
04:15The Denver Nuggets and the Suns, this will be the late game for Wednesday evening.
04:19The Nuggets are playing some fantastic basketball led by,
04:22surprise, surprise, Nikola Jokic has been in the bag, minus 146 there.
04:27So a bit of juice, but looks to be worth the squeeze
04:29with a total sitting at 233 and a half.
04:32The Phoenix Suns, Joe, they just haven't found a way through the last couple.
04:37And it's a team that's really hard to trust.
04:39On the betting side of things, you think you're getting one thing
04:41and then they just show up with a dud.
04:43So it's a bad spot for them.
04:48Listen, I don't get it.
04:50The Phoenix Suns have completely fallen off defensively.
04:54Devin Booker is not coming back anytime soon with a groin injury.
04:59They look as disconnected as possible.
05:01I wanted whoever won that game last night to fade them in the next game,
05:06but I can't fade Denver because I can't trust Phoenix here.
05:09It would be Nuggets for me or pass.
05:13Five games coming up for the Wednesday split.
05:16Happy holidays.
05:17We are getting out of the association betting.
05:19Time for a timeout.
05:20We'll be back here on the other side of the early line.
05:24Welcome back into the early line.
05:25The NBA talk continues as we get set for a monster Wednesday.
05:29A monster Wednesday Christmas card coming up there, Joe.
05:33So let's take a look at the early games batting leadoff.
05:36San Antonio Spurs out in New York taking on the Knicks.
05:40Tell you what, the Knicks absolutely masterclassed there on Monday night
05:44from their dynamic duo.
05:45The Spurs though, Wamby, CP3, they've been playing some really good basketball.
05:49224 and a half is the total.
05:52Look at this.
05:53The odds maker is projected to be an absolute landslide over there at MSG.
05:58Yeah, and I agree with it.
06:00I think the Knicks will have no problem running over this Spurs team, unfortunately,
06:08especially at home on Christmas.
06:11I mean, I had made the Knicks somewhere around that 11, 11 and a half point favorite.
06:16It did look like the total is starting to come down a little bit here.
06:20And here's the numbers, Doves, with what I was talking about.
06:23The over on Christmas games going back the last five years, 16 and 9, 64% to the over.
06:32A Knicks team total over, maybe.
06:35A full game over, maybe.
06:37A lot of props to the over.
06:40It feels like this is where the Knicks will kick off Christmas with a big show.
06:45And they will have no problem bombing away.
06:47And let's face it, Wamby can't block all of them.
06:51So I do think the Knicks are going to win this game by double digits.
06:55But I think the over is probably the better play.
06:58Wamby will do his best to try and block every single player in the facility.
07:02Yeah.
07:03He's that good.
07:03He's an absolute monster there.
07:05So that's going to be the early game coming up for the Wednesday card.
07:09We then move into the Timberwolves going against the Mavericks.
07:12And I feel like things just haven't been working out for Minnesota so far through the season.
07:17Anthony Edwards has been a little chippy, taking shots at the officials.
07:22It feels like that locker room's slightly off right now.
07:25And for the Mavericks, they got confidence.
07:28Luka returned there on Monday night.
07:29He put an absolute monster performance.
07:32They're set as five and a half point favorites at home in what projects to be a low scorer,
07:37221 and a half.
07:40Listen, the Minnesota Timberwolves are a mess.
07:44And the idea that they swapped out Cat for Julius Randall and thought somehow or another
07:52he was just going to slide right into this team and make them the same, it's not the case.
07:58They're a mess.
07:59They're a mess to the point where they don't even like one another.
08:03Dubbs watching this team play, Anthony Edwards is getting fined left and right
08:08because he's telling us this team hates one another.
08:11He doesn't like them.
08:13They can't play well together.
08:15There is no, I mean, there's no, there's nobody spacing the floor for the Minnesota
08:21Timberwolves right now.
08:23You can't play Julius Randall and McDaniels at the same time.
08:27All they do is chuck up threes.
08:29Everybody knows how to defend Anthony Edwards now because there's nobody else there that
08:34that can actually shoot or they have to worry about it.
08:37And you got the Mavericks team who has been one of the most consistent teams in the NBA.
08:42And they'll have no problem healthy beating this team.
08:46I mean, to me, I got no problem backing Dallas here.
08:49I know what we're going to get with Donchik back in the lineup and the inconsistency and
08:55just the sheer dysfunction of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
08:58No way.
08:59I'll take it all day long here with the Dallas Mavericks.
09:02Yeah, we're seeing that one the same.
09:04Happy Spritemas to Minnesota and Anthony Edwards.
09:08The Mavs, 17-11-1 against the spread.
09:11On the flip side, you look at Minnesota, 11-17, so have not been strong in trying to cover
09:17that number.
09:17It sits at five and a half.
09:19So that is the five-game slate coming up in the association for Wednesday afternoon on
09:24Christmas Day.