In what will no doubt be a historic night for the NBA, the Minnesota Timberwolves head to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers. Let’s not waste any time and jump right into the Same Game Parlay (SGP) picks.
Tuesday’s Best NBA Same Game Parlay Bets: Timberwolves vs. Lakers
(Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Leg 1: Los Angeles Lakers Moneyline (-106)
- Leg 2: Under 219 Points (-110)
- Leg 3: Julius Randle Under 18.5 Points (-120)
While most of the attention will be on the first father-and-son NBA moment, we will instead focus on new players and coaches, and how that will impact this contest.
The Timberwolves traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks and brought in two key pieces they hope will land them in championship contention for the 2024-2025 season. As for the Lakers, this will be the maiden voyage into coaching for JJ Reddick. After some controversial comments about coaches in the past, he will have the opportunity to put his stamp on Lakers basketball.
Even though Los Angeles will be playing on their home court, they come into this contest as underdogs against a Minnesota team welcoming some new faces into the organization. Familiarity and cohesiveness should play a major role tonight, giving the Lakers a slight edge in this game. Note that this number has been bet down from +100 due to the high amount of action on the Lakers’ side.
As much of a defensive force as Rudy Gobert can be, Anthony Davis dominates the Timberwolves, and we expect the same to ring true tonight on the way to a victory for Los Angeles. Before a 12-minute performance in April, the four prior times Davis faced Minnesota he did not score fewer than 31 points and shot an astounding 59% from the field.
Los Angeles went 28-14 in home games last season, while Minnesota lost five more games on the road last season than when they played at the Target Center. The Lakers are 0-7 in season openers over the last seven seasons. We feel the eighth time will be the charm, especially in place of the importance this game will carry for LeBron James.
The amount of additions and subtractions makes it difficult to confidently believe scoring will be at the forefront of this contest. On one team, players are still learning how to function together after losing their second scoring option and implementing new pieces. For the Lakers, it will come down to whether they can successfully execute the offensive and defensive schemes of a coach who has zero experience at the professional level.
Unfortunately, we just cannot confidently get behind each team scoring almost 110 points tonight. There’s no doubt both teams will hit their stride at some point this season. However, for the first game, we will take the lower end of 219 points combined.
A big question that will be of concern tonight is how Julius Randle will fare after not playing since January 27. The newly acquired forward is presented with a sizeable total of 18.5 points considering the time away from the court.
Randle averaged 24.0 points per game for the Knicks last season, yet he only played 46 before going down with a shoulder injury. Minnesota also elected to rest the veteran forward for the preseason.
After not having played in nine months, there’s not much confidence supporting Randle will thrive in a new system in his very first contest. The rebounds and assists combination seems to be a little more manageable than the points selection on its own.
Parlay Odds: +580
