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As we predicted and hoped for, the Boston Celtics got a big victory 108-103 in Game 2 of their series with the 76ers. They now take a 2-0 lead to Philly where things will get really interesting. The Celtics couldn’t beat the Bucks on the road so it’ll be interesting if they can beat the 76ers.
As for the other game last night – Graeme got the Cavs pick right while Vins Raptors -4 1st half pick went astray. What a disappointing performance that was from the Raptors. We saw in Game 1 what happens when LeBron has an off night and when he turns it on – welp.
Thanks for turning up Raptors here’s your “almost participation” reward.
We turn our attention to tonight with the Warriors going to New Orleans with a 2-0 lead and the Rockets going to Utah tied 1-1.
Let’s get to it:
Warriors vs Pelicans Game 3 Betting Tips:
Vin: The Golden State Warriors have proven to the world why you should’ve never doubted them. While the Rockets ran through the regular season and grabbed the top seed in the West, the Warriors are still the team to beat in the NBA Playoffs. They just cause so many problems for their opponents and mismatches with virtually every team that they always find a way to score. It’s almost like having Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry on your team makes you great at basketball.
While the Pelicans were a great first round story and Anthony Davis reminded the world why he is probably the best young player in the NBA, this team has really struggled from the mismatch issues that the Warriors create. The guys who beat the Blazers are mostly guys who can’t compete with Golden State. That’s the NBA for you.
I am feeling more and more like the Warriors might sweep this thing and this is the last stand of the New Orleans Pelicans. As I’ve done a few times in this playoffs, very successfully, I am going to take the home team down 0-2 in the first half. The Pelicans +0.5 first half is the play here as I think they’ll come out strong for their home crowd before the Warriors start doing Warrior things in the second half.
Graeme: The Warriors come into this one as just 4.5 point favourites. In their series versus the Spurs they won 110-97 on the road then lost the next one. The Pelicans of course sweeped the Blazers and their best performances were at home where they put up 119 points and 131 points.
The Pelicans offense really came alive at the Smoothie King Center and the sportsbooks are expecting the same thing with an over/under of 232 points. Yikes.
The thing is I don’t think we’ll see that again. I think either the Pelicans have a big performance and the Warriors concede the night or the opposite – the Warriors get going and the Pelicans struggle to keep up.
Either way I think that point spread is too big and I’m going with Under 232 points.
Rockets vs Jazz Game 3 Betting Tips:
Vin: Game two was certainly interesting. I expected the Jazz to make a game of it, but not for Joe Ingles to post a career high and the Jazz to win on the road. This series is suddenly tied 1-1 and it might be the only competitive series we see in this round of the playoffs. Who knew?
I am looking for a similar result as above here. This is the Jazz first home game and that is a tough place to play. The Rockets have been driving me crazy this entire playoffs as they’ve waited to turn it on until a bit too late. This team can run people off the floor, they just don’t always do that.
I like the Jazz +1.5 to come out strong in the first half and get the crowd rocking, but I think the Rockets are going to make themselves known in this game overall. My favorite bet of the day is the Rockets over 105.5 points. They are averaging 109 in this series thus far and I don’t see the Jazz being able to keep them under that number.
Graeme: It was an excellent performance from the Jazz in Game 2 but I don’t think we’ll see a repeat of that here despite it being at home. The Rockets seem like a team that struggle to find motivation at times but when they find it, they…pardon the pun….rock it. And I like them to do that here.
Rockets had an off night on the offense but I don’t see that happening tonight. Rockets -4.
