Best Sports Betting Picks Today: Frisco Bowl, NBA Cup Final Predictions for December 17

Santa Claus will bring presents to all the good boys and girls next week. Bettors, however, will not have to wait. 

No, the wide world of sports betting has gifts for bettors nightly this time of year.

Take tonight as an example. 

Not only is there a college bowl game (Frisco Bowl, Memphis vs. West Virginia), but the NBA Cup Final (Oklahoma City vs. Milwaukee) and plenty of other options if this menu doesn’t entice you. 

Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl

The Frisco Bowl features the Memphis Tigers (10-2) from the AAC and the West Virginia Mountaineers (6-6) from the Big 12. 

WVU opened as the favorite (-3.5), but the odds have shifted, and now Memphis is (-5). Why the change? Bettors getting almost entirely behind the Tigers probably had something to do with it. Over 80% of the point spread tickets and nearly 90% of the handle is on Memphis.

Memphis averaged 440+ yards and 35+ points per game this season. With the offense largely intact, they will probably not have much trouble moving the ball on a West Virginia defense that has lost talent to the portal and was one of the worst in the country against the pass this season.

WVU will try to run the ball and keep the Tigers’ offense off the field, but Memphis has a top-ten run defense this season. 

Our Pick

As nice as it would have been to get in on this when Memphis was the underdog, go ahead and take them at -5 (via DraftKings). Even if WVU were at full strength and had not lost their head coach and defensive coordinator, they’d have no shot against a well-rounded Memphis team.

Go ahead and take Seth Hannigan to go OVER 262.5 passing yards at -114 (FanDuel) and OVER 2.4 passing touchdowns at +154 (FanDuel).

NBA Cup Final

The Oklahoma City Thunder will take on the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Cup Championship game in Las Vegas tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET in T-Mobile Arena. Oklahoma City opened as a 4.5-point favorite, but the line has since shifted. They are now 5.5-point favorites.

Bettors have certainly gotten behind the Thunder. At DraftKings (spread Thunder at -5), 56% of the point spread tickets and 71% of the handle is on the Thunder. But bettors aren’t exactly afraid to put money down on the Bucks to win.

Only 28% of moneyline tickets are on the Bucks, but 44% of the handle is.

I get it. The Thunder are 20-5 on the season and have the second-best record in the NBA. They had a more challenging road to the final, having to get past Dallas and Houston. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a beast, scoring 30+ points a game seemingly at will, and the Thunder roster has incredible depth.

How can a team compete with that? The Bucks will counter everything the Thunder throw at them with one thing: Giannis Antetokounmpo.

To say Antetokounmpo is on fire heading into this game does not show how well he is playing justice. He leads the NBA in scoring (32.3 ppg), has scored 30+ in five straight games, and did it all in the Bucks’ semifinal win over Atlanta: 32 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists, four blocks, and a steal.

Our Picks

I get why the Thunder is getting backed so heavily. It’s because people want to get behind the new, up-and-coming star in the Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. That’s understandable. Everyone likes to say they were there when a phenom was on the rise.

But Antetokounmpo and the Bucks have been on a roll ever since they got to a dreadful 2-8 start, winning 12 of their last 15. This contest will be a great game, but look for Antetokounmpo to explode and lead the Bucks to a win.

Take the Milwaukee ML (+170 via DraftKings). Take the OVER on the point total for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32.5 points at -110, DraftKings) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (31.5 at -105, DraftKings).