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It’s been a great start to the NBA playoffs.
On Saturday, it was like watching the Harlem Globetrotters play as the Warriors manhandled the Spurs. The Raptors overcame a leaky roof and leaky defense to put up a big 4th quarter and beat the Wizards. The Philly momentum continued into the playoffs with a dominating victory over the Heat, and the Pelicans/Blazers series started off tight as expected.
On Sunday, the Celtics overcame a great Giannis performance to win in overtime. The Cavs got absolutely dominated by the Pacers in a big W for Indiana. Thunder overcame the Jazz as we thought they would, and major props to the Bimerwovles who made a game of it against the Rockets.
All great games and other than that Warriors game, a lot of tight ones.
It’s Monday, April 16th and we’ll be doing game by game betting from here on out. Note that our game by game tips do NOT reflect our series predictions at all – we want to give tips that are open to everyone.
Let’s get to it:
76ers vs Heat Betting Tips:
Graeme: What I saw from the 76ers in Game 1 was extremely impressive. They carried that momentum and the Heat couldn’t handle them. And this is a team without Embiid as well! The 76ers are an absolute beast at the moment and their home form is unbelievable.
You can’t count the Heat out – remember that the Heat were actually leading by the end of the first half – but the Heat just don’t look like they have the offense to stand with the Heat. I’m going with 76ers -6.5 as I think they will really want to carry that momentum to Miami.
Vin: The pick I made for the Heat to beat the Sixers in the first round looked pretty good yesterday… for one half. The Heat played tough in the first half, but the second half belonged to the Sixers. They really ratcheted up the defense and shot the lights out. They shot a whopping 64.3% for three and had huge games for JJ Reddick, Marco Belinelli and Dario Saric all hitting over 50% from three.
That was a great performance, but it’s really hard to see that repeating itself. Shooting 60% from three is really hard to do in this league, especially in the playoffs and that happening again here tonight seems really unlikely. I think things tighten up in this one and the Heat make some adjustments on defense. I don’t think they saw the small ball, three heavy lineup coming in game one and will adjust for this one.
Philly looks great and that crowd was rocking in game one. I’m not quite ready to bet against them in this one, but I do like the under 215.5 here. I think the defense toughens up a bit, the threes go down and we see a tighter struggle.
Warriors vs Spurs Betting Tips:
Graeme: What a crappy opening to the NBA playoffs in terms of unbiased action – the Warriors absolutely whooped the Spurs and men against boys is probably a compliment to the Spurs. Honestly I went back and rewatched most of it this morning and I see nothing good from that Spurs team. Sure things may have went the Warriors way but this was a team ready for the playoffs. From an unbiased view I’m hoping for a much better performance from the Spurs tonight, but from a betting perspective I’m taking Warriors -9.5.
Vin: I have nothing but respect for the San Antonio Spurs and what they do. They are a great team that has no business being where they are with the roster that they have. Without Kawhi Leonard this isn’t a playoff team, but here they are. That’s impressive and should be applauded. They shouldn’t, however, be expected to beat the Warriors at home in this one.
The Warriors looked amazing in game one and like they could’ve even done a bit better if they wanted to. They just had this game in control the whole time and could get whatever baskets they wanted. I expect more of the same here and I think they’ll once again score big points in this one.
I trust the Warriors to show up, but the Spurs worry me. That offense could put up 85 points and I wouldn’t blink so for this one I’m going with the Warriors over 107 points. I trust that offense and I think they once again put up some big points in this one.
