Houston and Oklahoma City settle their first-round NBA playoff series Wednesday night, while Miami shoots for a 2-0 lead in its conference semifinals series with Milwaukee. How are we playing these games with our free NBA playoffs picks?
Bucks -5/221 vs. Heat, 6:30 pm ET, ESPN
Miami leads this series 1-0 after taking the opener Monday night 115-104. The Heat actually trailed Milwaukee 40-29 after one quarter, 63-60 at the half, and 96-95 with six minutes left but finished the game with a 20-8 run for the outright victory as five-point underdogs.
On the night, Miami shot 46 percent from the field, outscored the Bucks 42-24 in the paint, hit 25/27 free-throws, and won the battle on the boards 46-34.
With Monday’s win, the Heat are now 5-0 both SU and ATS during these playoffs.
With Monday’s loss, the Bucks are 4-2 both SU and ATS in these playoffs.
Miami is also now 3-1 both SU and ATS against Milwaukee this season.
On the injury front, Bucks G Eric Bledsoe missed Game 1 with a bad hammy, and he’s listed as questionable for Game 2.
NBA playoffs betting odds opened this game with Milwaukee favored by four points; early betting action then bumped the Bucks to -5.
Free NBA Pick: We’re 1-0 ATS picking this series after taking the Heat in Game 1, and we see no reason to switch horses right now. We’ll take Miami and the points for Game 2.
Rockets -5.5/219 vs. Thunder, 9 pm ET, ESPN
This series comes down to a Game 7 following Oklahoma City’s 104-100 Game 6 victory Monday. That game was close throughout, with neither team ever leading by more than nine points. In the end, the Thunder’s Chris Paul made a couple of free-throws to break a 100-100 tie with 13 seconds left, and Houston then turned the ball over for the 22nd time in the game, sealing its fate.
OKC won outright Monday as a 5.5-point underdog.
On the night, the Thunder only shot 43 percent from the floor but held the Rockets to 45 percent shooting, including 15/44 from 3-point land, and won the battle on the boards 51-41.
Oklahoma City is now 5-4 SU, 6-3 ATS vs. Houston this season.
Also, the underdog is now 4-2 both SU and ATS in this series.
NBA betting odds opened the Rockets at -4.5 for this game, then bumped that line to -5.5. The total on this game opened at around 221, then got bet down three points to 218.
Free NBA Pick: We’re 3-3 ATS picking this series, taking Oklahoma City all six games. However, there does come a time to switch horses, and this appears to be it. Houston’s three wins in this series have come by 15, 14, and 34 points, while OKC’s three victories have come by three, four, and by 12 in overtime. And we expect a tighter game from the Rockets, after turning the ball over 22 times Monday. We’ll give the points here with Houston.
