{"id":451827,"date":"2025-12-16T22:21:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T22:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/451827\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T22:21:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T22:21:15","slug":"knicks-vs-spurs-prediction-odds-picks-best-bet-for-nba-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/451827\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks vs. Spurs prediction: Odds, picks, best bet for NBA Cup final"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our\u00a0editorial standards<\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the best things in life are unexpected. <\/p>\n

When the NBA Cup<\/a> semifinals started, most people wondered if any of the three teams not named the Oklahoma City Thunder could even be competitive, let alone get a win. Then the Thunder ran into Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n

The Orlando Magic hadn\u2019t lost a Cup game when they reached the final four of the in-season tournament. The Knicks made sure to remind them that this is basketball, not dodgeball.<\/p>\n

Now we have an NBA Cup championship game that few had predicted, but everyone should be fired up to watch.<\/p>\n

Knicks vs. Spurs odds, prediction<\/p>\n

The Knicks appear to be the best offensive team in the NBA right now. The issues they had early in the season are starting to feel like a distant memory, and their starting five unit with Josh Hart looks much better than it did last season. Jalen Brunson certainly made a statement with an efficient 40-point game that looked about as easy as any big scoring game he\u2019s had since coming to New York.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama already had a statement game in the season opener when he scored 40 points and grabbed 15 rebounds against the Dallas Mavericks. What he did on Saturday night was something else. <\/p>\n

Wembanyama sat out the entire first quarter against the Thunder, played just 20 minutes, and finished the night with a plus-21 plus\/minus in his first game in nearly a month. One player having that much of an impact in limited minutes is absurd.<\/p>\n

\"AnVictor Wembanyama looks like an MVP candidate when he\u2019s on the floor this season. Garrett Ellwood\/NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Betting on the NBA? <\/p>\n

Given that Wembanyama hadn\u2019t played since mid-November and mentioned he was a bit winded at times, it would be reasonable to expect Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson to follow a similar game plan.<\/p>\n

I think that sets up an interesting dynamic for the Knicks, who have been red-hot to start games recently. Over their past 10 games, the Knicks lead the NBA in first-quarter scoring with 33.8 points per game. The team directly behind them? The Spurs, who averaged 33.7 points over that stretch.<\/p>\n

When Wembanyama is on the floor, he completely changes the opposing team\u2019s offensive strategy\u00a0and slows the pace\u00a0<\/a>as teams try to figure out how to attack him. When he\u2019s off the floor, the Spurs look to run up and down with their speedy guards.<\/p>\n

If Wembanyama rests most of the first quarter, which I expect will happen Tuesday night, I think we\u2019ll see an offensive explosion from both teams to start.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll bet the Over in the first quarter at 55.5, which feels low considering the output we\u2019ve seen from these two offenses.<\/p>\n

The Play: Over 55.5 first quarter points (-125, FanDuel<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n

Malik Smith has been immersed in the sports betting industry since 2017. He\u2019s a data nerd with a particular focus on the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for edges on plus-money NBA player props.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":451828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,17530,1260,160919,405,403,3122,5226,5225,5228,5227,3138,62,8930,84024,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-451827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-betting","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-betting","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-new-york-knicks","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-sports-betting","22":"tag-sports-picks","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-of-america","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115731582557709058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}