NBA Best Bets Today - Free Picks for Thursday, December 21

NBA Best Bets Today - Free Picks for Thursday, December 21

This article is part of our NBA Picks series.

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Best Bets

Daniel Gafford over 1.5 blocks (-186) at Trail Blazers

FanDuel, 3:41 PM CT

Alex Barutha: You're laying a lot of juice here, but Gafford has multiple blocks in 11 straight games, averaging 2.5 swats during this stretch. Portland allows opposing centers to block the second-most shots in the league, so this is a great opportunity for him to pad his stats even more. 

DeMar DeRozan over 33.5 points + rebounds + assists versus San Antonio (-125)

BetMGM, 3:45pm ET

Ken Crites: The Spurs' defense is terrible. They rank 27th in the Association, giving up 122.5 points per contest. And the Bulls are playing very well without Zach LaVine (addition by subtraction?).  The veteran DeRozan has been cooking as of late, averaging 24.5 points, 4.6 boards and 6.5 helpers over his last eight games (35.6 total).  This season, with LaVine off the court, DeRozan's per 36 averages are 23.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.3 dimes (34.4 total).  DeRozan has also been playing slightly better at home, scoring 2.0 points more per contest versus road games. The K-Train is an improving 14-9 this season, but certainly feel free to fade.  I'm due for some regression.

Detroit Pistons moneyline against the Utah Jazz (+136)

FanDuel Sportsbook, 2:45 p.m. EST

Michael Gillow: Will the Pistons snap their losing streak tonight? If they don't, they might not ever. It's not often you see a team that has lost their last 24 games being favored. But the Pistons are 2.5-point favorites against Utah for good reason. The Jazz are 10-18, playing on the second night of a road back-to-back, and are without Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson, Talen Horton-Tucker, Keyonte George and Omer Yurtseven. This is Detroit's most winnable game they might have all season.

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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.
Michael Gillow
Michael Gillow is a breaking news writer for the NBA, WNBA, college basketball and college football for RotoWire. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in journalism. He loves everything about sports and is an avid sports-bettor.
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