The fun time of the year is upon us. The tankers have been put to bed and shipped off to Cancun. The play-in has been played (as of tonight, that is). Only NBA teams interested in winning games remain. Here is your NBA Western Conference Playoffs Preview & Best Bets. Can anyone topple OKC?
NBA Western Conference Playoffs Preview & Best Bets
While the Eastern Conference half of the NBA Playoffs looks to be a fairly wide-open affair, with at least a handful of teams with legitimate shots at making the NBA Finals, out West, it looks like it’ll be the Oklahoma City Thunder or bust. The defending NBA champions didn’t really take their foot off the gas this season, despite injuries, leading the league with 64 wins. But is betting them at the numbers offered a wise move?
Denver Nuggets to win the Western Conference Playoffs (+700)
That answer is no. Betting the Thunder at negative odds to win the Western Conference Playoffs isn’t worth it, and unfortunately, alternatively betting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to win the Western Conference Finals MVP isn’t any better. Both odds are right in line with their probabilities of winning.
There is value, in my eyes, to betting the Denver Nuggets at +700 (12.5% chance) at winning the West, however. They’ve got the pedigree, they seem to be healthy, and in Nikola Jokic, they have the best player in the world.
Betting Jokic to win the Western Conference Finals MVP, however, isn’t a play for me, as teammate Jamal Murray could absolutely steal the honor from him if the Nuggets make it that far (more on him below).
Los Angeles Lakers vs Houston Rockets under 5.5 games (-105)
The Houston Rockets should be highly incentivized to end their first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers as quickly as possible, for the outside chance that Luka Doncic and/or Austin Reaves heal enough to hit the court.
Neither player is expected back, so the only way this bet doesn’t hit is if the 41-year-old LeBron James goes supernova, which I guess is possible, but not likely. Who is the Lakers’ second-best player outside of James? That is the question that makes me like the under 5.5 games for this series.
Jamal Murray to lead the Denver vs Minnesota series in points (+550)
Call this a homer pick, since Jamal Murray grew up around the corner from me, but I think this bet is also worth a sprinkle. While the Minnesota Timberwolves Anthony Edwards could lead the series in scoring, if he’s healthy, as could Murray’s Denver Nuggets teammate Nikola Jokic, Murray has a track record of heroic performances in the playoffs. I think he has more than a 15% chance of being the leading scorer in this first-round series, so +550 is a nice number to get.
Don’t Forget About our free picks pages, too!
COLLEGE BASKETBALL PICKS – THE PICKS POWERHOUSE
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NASCAR PICKS – FEEL THE THUNDER
UFC PICKS – TAKE DOWN CORPORATE GAMBLING
