Another 3-0 day on Thursday kept our streak alive as the NBA season draws to a close. We’ll be hunting for another winning day today as we preview the key games in the NBA’s 9 game slate this Saturday, the 8th of April.
Atlanta Hawks at Cleveland Cavaliers (9.30am AEST)
The Cavs secured an outstanding statement win in Boston on Thursday to claim the top seed in the East and assert their dominance over arguably their main conference threat. LeBron James exlploded for 36 points as the Cavs decimated the Celtics and while Boston went on to lose to Atlanta the next day, Cleveland will be looking for a win here to put yet another game in between them and the Celts.
Atlanta will also be desperate for a win to stay one game clear of the charging Milwaukee bucks in 6th place. Cleveland have been deadly over their last 4 games, winning them all by an average margin of 19 points. Even with Paul Millsap back in the line-up, it’s hard to see the Hawks travelling to Cleveland to win this one especially with LeBron in end of season mode.
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Detroit Pistons at Houston Rockets (10am AEST)
James Harden will be in full takeover mode as he makes his final few cases for MVP in the Rockets last 4 games of the year. It’s been the closest race in years and Russel Westbrook, Harden and even Kawhi Leonard are all arguably still a chance for the hardware. Westbrook and Harden in particular will be giving their all in the last few games so expect a big game from the left-handed Rocket here.
The Pistons have been arguably the worst team in the league post all-star break. They have lost 10 of their last 12 games and will be in full tank mode now that they are well and truly out of the playoff race at 35-43 on the season. The Pistons have failed to score 100 in 9 of their last 12 games and they won’t have nearly enough offence to match the high-powered Rockets here.
TIP: Houston Rockets -12.5 - $1.95 at Sportsbet
Miami Heat at Toronto Raptors (9.30am AEST)
The Miami Heat have been one of the surprise packets of the 2016-17 season, at 17 games above .500 all without their star power forward Chris Bosh, the fact that they will be playing playoffs this season is a minor miracle. Hassan Whiteside has been a beast in the paint all year and is rightfully in contention for defensive player of the year.
The Raptors went through a bit of a rough stretch with while point guard Kyle Lowry was out with injury but the star returned in an emphatic way on Thursday, scoring 27 points and dishing 10 assists in the Raptors win over Detroit. Tough game to pick here but the Raptors are at full strength and have the home court advantage, hard to look past that.
TIP: Toronto Raptors -5.5 - $1.95 at Sportsbet
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