Round 2 action in the NBA Playoffs continues on Friday where we have a juicy double-header to look forward to. The first clash is at 9am (AEST) between the Cavaliers and the Celtics, while the 11:30 meeting is between the Mavericks and the Thunder. We bring you our best bets for both games below!
Also, make sure to head over to our NBA Tips regularly, as we’ll be providing free tips for all the major games in the NBA post-season!
NBA Playoffs Betting Tips: Friday, May 10th 2024
Cleveland Cavaliers at Boston Celtics
TD Garden, 9am (AEST)
Series Score: Boston Celtics lead 1-0
Game 1 of this series went the way of the heavy favourites and the home side in the Celtics (120-95). Jaylen Brown got the party started with a blistering first quarter (finished the game with 32 points), and the Celtics never looked back as they won from wire-to-wire and outscored the Cavaliers by at least four in each quarter. The Celtics went with a nine-man rotation for the most part and the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday both needed to contribute little, combining for 32 points. Meanwhile, Donovan Mitchell was clearly the best for the Cavs with 33 points but had very little help, with Darius Garland struggling all night to finish on 14 points (6-15 shooting). The good news for the Cavs is they can’t play much worse and would’ve learned a lot from that Game 1 defeat. They’ll be the team that makes the adjustments ahead of Game 2 and are capable of surprising the overwhelming favourites in the Celtics if their stars can fire. The line has been set at a huge 13.5 and that’s a little too high for my liking at this stage in the playoffs.
Cleveland Cavaliers +13.5
$1.90 (1 Unit)
Dallas Mavericks at OKC Thunder
Paycom Center, 11:30am (AEST)
Series Score: OKC Thunder lead 1-0
The Thunder did as they were expected to in Game 1 by securing the win at home to take a one nothing advantage in their second round clash with the Mavericks. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was excellent with a 29-9-9 line to lead the way for the winners. On the other hand, Luka Doncic struggled with only 19 points on 6-19 shooting for the Mavs, leaving a little too much to ask for his partner in crime in Kyrie Irving who led the team with 20 points. It was a rare bad showing for Doncic and we’ve seen time and time again that he’s capable of bouncing back with a massive performance. And if the Mavs are any chance of stealing homecourt advantage with a win on Friday, then he’ll need to go large here. Both coaches would’ve learned a lot from their relatively inexperienced groups, and with the line set at 5.5 for Game 2, I slightly lean towards taking the underdogs to cover in what I expect to be a much closer contest.
Dallas Mavericks +5.5
$1.85 (1 Unit)
