It’s been a long season of ups and downs in terms of betting on the NBA, we went through a few stretches where we couldn’t lose and a few where we couldn’t win. Highlighted by a 5-0 Christmas Day slate, we’ll be happy walking away from this season with a winning record at 78-71-4 with just 3 games to go. A few teams still have a lot to play for heading into the last day’s play, so we’ll highlight those games as we preview the NBA’s 12 game slate this Thursday, the 13th of April.
Atlanta Hawks at Indiana Pacers (10am AEST)
The Hawks have already wrapped up the 5th spot in the East while the Pacers will be looking to improve to 6th when the two clash in Indiana on Thursday. In a absolute log jam in the East, there’s a million different scenarios that could go down, rather than run you through them all, here’s a snapshot of the standings so you know where every team is at going into their final games.
The Hawks have looked impressive through the last week with wins over Eastern Conference leaders Boston and Cleveland in their last 3 games. The bookies have opened the Pacers at $1.07 and they usually have pretty good mail on player resting late in the season, we’ll most likely see the likes of Millsap, Howard and Schroder resting here. The Pacers have won their last 4 games, albeit over some pretty average competition in the 76ers, Magic and Bucks, and should get the win over an undermanned Hawks team here.
TIP: Indiana Pacers -13 - $1.95 at Sportsbet (note: if Hawks stars play, definitely take the +13 while you can)
Toronto Raptors at Cleveland Cavaliers (10am AEST)
We thought the Cavs had the 1 seed locked up after a win over Boston about a week ago, however, since then they have suffered defeats to Atlanta and Miami and have allowed the Celtics to reclaim the top spot. They are currently one game behind and will need Boston to lose tomorrow to have a shot at claiming the top spot.
Unfortunately for the Cavs, their hopes of getting the win could be dashed as LeBron James and Kyrie Irving look set to miss the final game of the season through injury/rest. The bookies have opened the Raptors at $1.71 which I think is a reasonable price considering how the Cavs have played when they’ve been san stars this year.
TIP: Toronto to win - $1.71 at Sportsbet
San Antonio Spurs at Utah Jazz (11am AEST)
The only race of any consequence in the West is that of the 4th seed between the Clippers and Jazz. The two teams will play each other in the first round of playoffs regardless of Thursday’s result, however, the 4th seed will obviously get the home court advantage for the series. Here’s how the Western Conference table has played out.
Gregg Popovich is known for resting his players in important games and since this one is a dead rubber to the Spurs you can almost guarantee that the San Antonio stars will miss this one. The Spurs have a knack of keeping games close when this scenario rolls around but the Jazz won’t want to take any chances here.
TIP: Utah -4 - $1.95 at Sportsbet
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