The NBA regular season has come and gone, and it’s now time for the Play-In Tournament. The four teams ranked 7-10 in each conference will battle it out to claim the final couple of spots in the playoffs, which will begin this weekend.
Check out our NBA betting tips for the Play-In Tournament below and good luck to everyone following!
NBA Betting Tips: Play-In Tournament
Atlanta Hawks (8) at Miami Heat (7)
Wednesday April 12th, 9:30am AEST, Kaseya Center
Scenario: The winner of this game will take on the #2 seed Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. The loser will play the winner of the Bulls at Raptors game for a spot in the playoffs.
The Heat have dominated this matchup in recent seasons, particularly this season where they won three of their four meetings. The Heat have also been in the far better form of the two over the past couple of weeks, and were able to defeat the Hawks twice in quick succession only a month ago. On top of that, the Heat have the more experienced roster, particular in important games like this. Simply put, they should be too good on Wednesday.
Miami Heat -4.5
$1.87 (2 Units)
Minnesota Timberwolves (8) vs Los Angeles Lakers (7)
Wednesday April 12th, 12pm AEST, Crypto.com Arena
Scenario: The winner of this game will take on the #2 seed Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs. The loser will play the winner of the Thunder at Pelicans game for a spot in the playoffs.
Although they were able to win their last three games, the end of the regular season was far from ideal for the Timberwolves. In the final game alone, star recruit Rudy Gobert was sent home for punching a teammate during a timeout, and he’s been handed a one-game suspension which will see him miss this game. Further, Jaden McDaniels broke his hand after punching a wall last game, so he too will be on the sidelines. In contrast, the Lakers look to be loving each other’s company and are in the best form they’ve been in all season. As a result of all of this, I expect the Lakers to be able to negotiate a comfortable win against the shorthanded Timberwolves.
Los Angeles Lakers -8
$1.90 (1.5 Units)
Chicago Bulls (10) at Toronto Raptors (9)
Thursday April 13th, 9am AEST, Scotiabank Arena
Scenario: The winner will play the loser of the Hawks at Heat game for a spot in the playoffs. The loser is eliminated.
The Bulls finished the regular season in solid form but qualified last and will have to do it the hard way if they’re to secure a playoffs berth. They travel to take on a Raptors outfit that had an exceptional 27-14 home record this season, which was the fourth best mark in the Eastern Conference. In contrast, the Bulls only won 18 of their 41 road games, which shows they’re truly up against the odds here. With that said, I’ll be taking the Raptors to defend home court on Thursday.
Toronto Raptors -5
$1.90 (1.5 Units)
OKC Thunder (10) at New Orleans Pelicans (9)
Thursday April 13th, 11:30am AEST, Smoothie King Center
Scenario: The winner will play the loser of the Timberwolves at Lakers game for a spot in the playoffs. The loser is eliminated.
The Thunder are perhaps the biggest surprise packet in the Play-In Tournament considering they’re the youngest team in the NBA, with an average age of 22.8. They clearly have a bright future ahead but will still be looking to do some damage in the post-season this campaign. However, standing in their way are a talented Pelicans team that thrived on their home deck this season (27-14), and that have a lot more experience in big moments. I think the Thunder have the ability to keep this one close, but the wiser Pelicans should prevail.
New Orleans Pelicans 1-10
$2.78 (1 Unit)
