NBA Playoff basketball continues on Tuesday with a two-game slate that will see the Heat take on the Bucks and the Trail Blazers face the Nuggets. Catch our best bets for these huge Game 2’s below and good luck to everyone following!
NBA Playoffs Betting Tips: Tuesday, 25th of May
Miami Heat at Milwaukee Bucks
Fiserv Forum, 9:30am AEST
The Heat and the Bucks get proceedings underway on Tuesday in the second game of their Round 1 series and if Game 1 has anything to go by, then we’re in for a real treat. The Bucks needed overtime and a clutch shot at the death to get the win in Milwaukee on Sunday morning to go up 1-0 in the series.
Miami would be pleased with how they played despite going down in Game 1. Jimmy Butler won’t be caught dead shooting a disgraceful 4-22 from the field again, so there’s already quite a few extra points that will come on the board naturally. For Milwaukee, they’ll just be pleased to be ahead in the series after being embarrassed 4-1 against the Heat when they met in the second-round last season. Likewise, their superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo shot poorly (10-27) and will be looking to tidy things up in Game 2.
The Bucks have won all three meetings on their home deck against the Heat this season, but Sunday’s overtime win was just the first time Jimmy Butler has featured. We believe Heat coach Erik Spoelstra will take plenty of positive out of their narrow Game 1 loss and will make the necessary adjustments to give his team the best chance of levelling the series. All in all, it should be another fantastic game that may well go right down to the wire again, which makes the Heat line the value bet here.
Prop: Butler 40+ PRA ($1.91)
Portland Trail Blazers at Denver Nuggets
Ball Arena, 12pm AEST
The second and final game on Tuesday sees the Trail Blazers take on the Nuggets at Ball Arena in Denver. The first meeting was a tight affair for the most part, but an inspired performance by Carmelo Anthony off the bench and a big double-double from Damian Lillard pushed the Trail Blazers over the line by 14 points.
Game 1 couldn’t have gone to plan any better for Blazers coach Terry Stotts, with his bench producing at a high level and his team as a whole shooting a lights out 19/40 (47.5%) from beyond-the-arc. On the other hand, Mike Malone of the Nuggets would’ve been a bit disappointed with the play of his team but will also be aware that there are some areas that should naturally swing in his favour in the coming games. For starters, Nikola Jokic recorded just one assist after averaging 8.3 on the season and secondly, Michael Porter Jr. shot 1/10 (10%) from three-point range, which is a far cry from his season average of 44.5%.
The Blazers played near perfect basketball in Game 1 to record the win, but replicating that against one of the best teams in the league will be no easy task. At home and in a must-win game, we really fancy the chances of the Nuggets bouncing back to level the series. Take the Nuggets at the head-to-head price, but also don’t be afraid to attack some bigger win margins (i.e. 11+).
Prop: Porter Jr. 25+ Points ($1.93)
