Yahoo Sports NBA betting: Picks against the spread for Thursday night's playoff games
The second round of the NBA playoffs continues on Wednesday night with two games and Yahoo Sports’ Jared Quay has the picks you need for all of the action.
All odds via BetMGM.
Brooklyn Nets at Milwaukee Bucks (-3.5), Total: 234.5
The Bucks are favored for the second consecutive game despite facing a 2-0 series deficit to the Nets. The line for Game 2 shifted toward Milwaukee after the news that James Harden would miss the game because of a hamstring strain. Brooklyn still blew out Milwaukee anyway as Kevin Durant had 32 points on 18 shots.
Brooklyn has been phenomenal against the spread recently. The Nets are 11-1 against the number in their last 12 games and it’s tempting to take them with points again even though the series is shifting to Milwaukee and Harden is out again. Especially when you consider that Milwaukee is 4-9 against the spread in its last 13 games.
Here’s a stat that is in the Bucks’ favor, however. Milwaukee has lost just three games at home in the playoffs since the start of the 2018 postseason.
If you’re torn between picking Milwaukee or Brooklyn and aren’t sure if the Nets will put the series away on Thursday night, go ahead and go with the total. That’s what Yahoo Sports’ Jared Quay is doing.
“And although the over/under is 234.5, I still like the over,” Quay said.
Los Angeles Clippers at Utah Jazz (-3), Total: 221.5
Game 1 was a push for a lot of bettors after the Clippers scored five late points to cut the Jazz’s winning margin to three points in the 112-109 Utah win. The Jazz only covered for bettors who got Utah right before the game at -2.5 points.
And 112 plus 109 is 221; oddsmakers clearly think the total score is going to be in that neighborhood again on Thursday night. Clippers games have gone under in four of the last five games while the Jazz total has gone over in five of their last six games. You can’t blame the book for trying to cut it down the middle, can you?
Quay said he would be taking the under in this game despite the Jazz’s proclivity for threes. Utah shot just 34% from three in Game 1 after a slow start in the first quarter. He’s clearly banking on the Jazz not bouncing back toward their average on Thursday night.
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