NBA Betting Tips: Two picks for opening night

The NBA is back and basketball fans across the globe are excited to see their favourite stars step out onto the hardwood floor once again.

We've got two games to enjoy on Tuesday night (early hours Wednesday UK time), as the Boston Celtics begin their title defence against an Eastern Conference rival in the New York Knicks (00:30, live on TNT Sports 1), while the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Minnesota Timberwolves (03:00, live on TNT Sports 1). Those two matches are the focus for my NBA betting tips for Tuesday, October 22.

Today's NBA Odds

Boston Celtics vs New York Knicks - Boston Celtics -5.5 @ 10/11

Opening night takes us to TD Garden where the defending champions will host the New York Knicks.

The Knicks were one of the busiest teams in the offseason landing Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns, which suggests they mean business this year. Bridges fixes one of the underlying issues they had last season, when they simply didn’t have enough versatile defenders out on the wing.

In addition, having Towns at the centre position gives them someone who can rebound and defend the perimeter when needed. I like the look of this new-look Knicks squad, and although it will be hard for fans to see Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo depart, I think they've made huge strides in the offseason.

Will it be enough to trouble the reigning champs? Probably not. The Celtics are once again the favourites to win it all, and rightly so. They ran away with the title last year, finishing the regular season with a 64-18 record to clinch top seed in the East before going on a 16-3 tear in the play-offs to land a franchise-record 18th title.

They beat the Knicks in four of their five regular-season meetings last term, and whilst I like the moves the Knicks have made, I think it'll take some time for them to figure things out on the court.

Boston come into the 2024/25 season off the back of a solid pre-season campaign, where they finished with a 4-1 record while averaging 121.8 points per game — only the Indiana Pacers (124.0) averaged more, so I'm taking the defending champions to cover on opening night.

Los Angeles Lakers - Moneyline @ 1/1

This match could easily be a potential play-off series come next spring, as the Los Angeles Lakers welcome the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Crypto.com Arena to begin the 2024/25 campaign.

Both teams will be watched with plenty of intrigue following their offseason moves. The Lakers hired a new head coach with no professional coaching experience in JJ Redick, and they drafted LeBron James' son, Bronny James, to bring together the first father-son duo in NBA history.

Meanwhile Minnesota, after losing in five games in the Western Conference Finals to the Dallas Mavericks last postseason, traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks, as mentioned above.

While the Timberwolves should be the better team in the long run this season, taking the Lakers on the moneyline as home underdogs on opening night is simply too good to ignore.

The Lakers are essentially bringing back the same squad from last year, and although there will be some growing pains for Redick in the hot seat, he can begin his Lakers tenure with a win, as the Minnesota will still be figuring out their best rotation as they adapt to life post-Towns.

LeBron James, despite his age, and Anthony Davis remain one of the deadliest duos in the NBA, and the Lakers do have some sharpshooters in Austin Reaves and D'Angelo Russell if they get hot early.

Ultimately, I do expect this game to be close down the stretch, but I fancy the Lakers' chances as underdogs here.

Check out the rest of our NBA Betting Tips here.