Opening Odds and Spreads for All Five NBA Christmas Day Games

• The NBA has announced the schedule for the Christmas Day games and the betting odds have already opened up
• In total, we’ll see a five-game schedule starting at 12:00 PM EST with the last game getting started at 10:30 PM EST
• See the opening odds, lines, and spreads for the NBA Christmas Day games below

The 2020-21 NBA season is rapidly approaching with tip-off coming in just 20 days. On Tuesday, the league announced the schedule for the Christmas Day games, which always get a special spotlight. Shortly after, the betting odds for those contests opened up. Let’s take a look at the Christmas Day calendar and see if there’s any value with the early odds.

2020-21 NBA Christmas Day Game Odds

Odds from Dec 2 at FanDuel

Christmas Day Games Get Going At Noon

There will be five games on the board this Christmas with the action getting underway at noon in the Eastern Time Zone. The first contest will pit the New Orleans Pelicans against the Miami Heat, which will then be followed by the Golden State Warriors at the Milwaukee Bucks (2:30 PM) and the Brooklyn Nets at the Boston Celtics (5:00 PM).

Here's the tentative NBA Christmas Day schedule, sources tell @wojespn 🎄⤵️ pic.twitter.com/LzSqD6ernJ

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 2, 2020

The two Los Angeles teams will highlight the evening action with the Lakers, who are favored to win the championship, hosting the Dallas Mavericks (8:00 PM) and the Clippers visiting the Denver Nuggets in the nightcap (10:30 PM).

As you might recall, the Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead to the Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinal, so some old flames will be rekindled.

Celtics To Make Statement Versus Nets

The Nets-Celtics matchup will be one of the more intriguing contests on the day. The Nets are expected to start the season with a healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and remember that they’re also welcoming a new head coach in Steve Nash. Irving didn’t exactly leave the Celtics on great terms, so that’s also an underlying storyline here.

The Celtics are a one-point dog in this spot, and it feels like a bit of an overreaction considering we don’t know how good the Nets are right now. They could and should be a dangerous team, but we haven’t seen how all of the pieces will fit in together. This unit had great chemistry two years ago with Kenny Atkinson at the helm but, we saw a very different squad last season.

Mike D’Antoni and Ime Udoka are joining Steve Nash’s staff on the Brooklyn Nets, per @wojespn pic.twitter.com/oJ8ovNMEJz

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 30, 2020

Meanwhile, the Celtics are at home in this spot, and they were 26-10 at the TD Garden last season. Although they were just 12-12 as an underdog, as they are in this spot, that was the second-best winning percentage of any team in the league as a dog. They had a +4.3 average margin of victory in games where they were a dog, which was also the second-best.

The Nets might have the brand names on their roster, but the Celtics have the better chemistry and are at home. That should be the difference.

Bucks Looking To Prove A Point

It’s well-known that the Milwaukee Bucks struggle to meet expectations in the postseason but, they rarely have those challenges in regular-season action. They were 56-17 last season (prior to the pandemic) with a sparkling home record of 30-5. They faced huge numbers quite regularly on the spread last season and still finished with the eighth-best ATS mark.

Jrue is a Buck.#FearTheDeer | @Jrue_Holiday11 pic.twitter.com/LSdsrnzHlM

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) November 24, 2020

There’s no question that the Warriors should be better in 2020-21 than they were last season – they were the worst team in the league – but the question is how good will they be? Klay Thompson is out for the season, and depth is still a huge question mark for them. Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins aren’t enough to make this team competitive.

The Warriors have some decent parts to integrate like Kelly Oubre Jr. and rookie James Wiseman, but that will take time. This could be a really tough spot for them against a locked-and-loaded Bucks team that wants to prove a point to show that they are championship-worthy. Milwaukee should cover the spread.