NBA Christmas Day Bucks vs. Knicks odds, predictions, game and player props: Giannis, Brunson best bets

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The Knicks look to avenge three straight losses to Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks to kick off the NBA Christmas Day schedule, and we have a full preview of tonight’s game, including player prop picks for the contest.

You can take below for the latest odds on the game, and you can also see who leads the latest NBA Championship odds.

Let’s put it out there bluntly: this season, the Bucks own the Knicks. They were just beaten 130-111 at home against Milwaukee two days ago, with Giannis dropping 28, and five players overall scoring 19 or more. You can tell the Knicks are missing Mitchell Robinson, who is now out for the season.

You’ll see the same cast out there for both teams, as the Knicks are now 0-3 against them this season (although one of those was from the In-Season Tournament Quarterfinals, where they were trounced 146-122).

The tandem of Julius Randle and Isaiah Hartenstein had trouble keeping Milwaukee out of the paint in the last outing, with the Bucks shooting 52.7% overall in that game.

After reading the preview above, it doesn’t take much for me to pick what amounts to a four-point difference between the Bucks and Knicks to come through. It’s hard to see this Knicks frontcourt without Robinson, being able to stop Giannis and the Bucks in the paint again, and that’s without mentioning Milwaukee shooting 50% from three in their last game (16-for-32).

Their closest game was the 110-105 Bucks win in Milwaukee on November 3, and that took 45 from Jalen Brunson to be that close. I see another dominant outing from the Bucks and they should easily cover the spread here.

Giannis had a fairly easy night in his last outing against the Knicks and combined for 42 points in these stats in 32 minutes. With a seven-rebound total when he averages 11, I can imagine he’ll grab much more than that this time around, especially if the Knicks get into a shooting slump again.

In fact, the three games prior had Antetokounmpo register 10, 14, and 17 rebounds along with 16 assists in his Dec 19 game against the Spurs. I think Giannis will have a very merry Christmas in these stat categories and make it past the over threshold.

Jalen Brunson’s 3-point shooting has been phenomenal this season, hitting them at a 46% career-high clip while draining more (3 threes made per game) than he’s ever had as well. He’s also not been prone to cold streaks unlike some shooters, which has gifted him his highest points-per-game average this season, of his career.

With the recent loss to Milwaukee, look for Jalen to pump it up from behind the arc to keep this game somewhat respectable, so with his penchant for shooting the long ball and increasing his volume without hesitation, I think him hitting 3+ is not out of the question at all.

Checking out these three picks in one Same Game Parlay, gets you +550 odds at DraftKings, and if you combine it with their current 50% NBA SGP profit boost with a max of $10, can boost your odds to +825, possibly paying out $92.50 in total if it comes to fruition.

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