The NBA Sunday Showcase returns with a few 2021 playoff rematches within the Brooklyn Nets vs. Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns vs. Milwaukee Bucks. There are 8 video games on this Sunday slate, so let’s check out a number of the matchups providing worth.
Finest Bets for the NBA Video games Tonight
With a pleasant Sunday slate forward of us, let’s break down a number of the finest NBA bets in the present day.
You possibly can try all of the Basketball Insiders Employees Picks right here.
Brooklyn Nets (+5) @ Boston Celtics
The Brooklyn Nets are reeling, having gone 3-7 over their final ten video games, sitting only a half sport forward of the Charlotte Hornets and Atlanta Hawks for the ninth seed within the Jap Convention. However for simply the 4th time this season, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant will likely be on the court docket collectively in what appears like a sport the Nets have to win.
On the flip aspect, the Boston Celtics have morphed into among the finest groups within the Jap Convention, if not the NBA. Boston is 8-2 over their final ten video games, and personal the league’s finest defensive score (102) and sixth finest offensive score (117.3) over the past 15 video games.
With Jaylen Brown listed as questionable for this sport with an ankle sprain, it’s an excellent time to seize the Nets at +5 now. Even when Brown does get dominated in, I don’t see this quantity creeping up any larger. The Celtics are simply 13-17 ATS as a house favourite this yr. The Nets are 9-6 ATS as a highway underdog. We noticed what Kyrie Irving was capable of do within the Nets’ win on February twenty sixth in opposition to the Milwaukee Bucks with out Kevin Durant, and I believe this workforce will use in the present day as a chance to remind the league that they’re nonetheless very a lot a risk.
This isn’t a spot the place you’ll be able to rely closely on any metrics. We simply should not have sufficient information on the new-look Nets. This can be a pure worth play. There’s an opportunity we glance again at this quantity and are shocked on the Nets catching this many factors.
New York Knicks @ Los Angeles Clippers (-4.5)
This is likely to be the squarest wager of the day, however I don’t care. The Knicks are in shambles, going 2-8 over their final ten video games. They’ve additionally been one of many worst defensive groups within the NBA. In that very same ten sport span, the Knicks are twenty eighth in Defensive Ranking and sixteenth in Offensive Ranking. They’ve misplaced seven in a row.
They did put collectively an impressed effort in opposition to the Phoenix Suns on Friday, however misplaced on a Cam Johnson buzzer beater. The Knicks are within the midst of a protracted West Coast journey with no probability at making the playoffs. Whereas their effort in Phoenix was commendable, I believe the loss has potential to ship them right into a spiral because the yr closes out.
The Clippers, alternatively, are red-hot. They’ve gained 5 video games in a row, however have benefited from all 5 of these video games coming in opposition to the Houston Rockets (thrice) and the Los Angeles Lakers (twice). Even nonetheless, it’s arduous to beat any workforce within the NBA in back-to-back video games, not to mention in back-to-back-to-back video games.
If the Knicks need any probability at profitable this sport, it’ll have to return from past the arc. Nonetheless, the Clippers are fourth-best within the NBA in defending the three ball. That is additionally a mini revenge spot for the Clippers, because the Knicks gained the earlier assembly between these two in January. These groups have gone in reverse instructions since then, so I’ll make what seems because the ‘apparent’ wager and again the Clippers -4.5
