After taking a back seat to the NCAA tournament for much of March, the NBA returns to their regular scheduling this Wednesday, the 5th of April with a massive 11 game slate. Another 2-1 day on Saturday kept our decent form alive and we’ll be looking for the same today as we preview three of the key games of the day.
Milwaukee Bucks at Oklahoma City Thunder (10.30am AEST)
The first of the ESPN Australia double header will see the Bucks travel to OKC to take on the Thunder. Both teams look to have locked up their place in the playoffs but should still be going all out here as the all important seeds come into play. OKC are in a fight with Memphis for the home court advantage in what will likely be their first round mathcup while Milwaukee are at the top of a five team log jam all fighting for the last 4 playoff spots in the East.
The Bucks were one of the hotter teams in the NBA over the month of March, going an impressive 14-4 and winning 4 of 6 games on their annual west coast road-trip. They’ll embark on another mini road-trip Wednesday as the OKC game marks the 1st of 3 away games. OKC will play this game at home before going on a 4 game road trip themselves, and with the tight battle between themselves and Memphis currently happening, they wont want to leave too much work to do for the road-trip.
OKC should have the upper-hand at home here but both teams will be coming in fresh after a day off for the NCAA Championship game, at 5 points the line is a little to high for me.
TIP: Milwaukee Bucks +5 - $1.84 at Unibet
Minnesota Timberwolves at Golden State Warriors (12.30pm AEST)
The Warriors and Timberwolves will square off in the 2nd game of the televised double-header from 12.30pm. With a win over the Spurs a few days ago, Golden State looks to have tied up the 1st seed in the West but will likely want to win at least one more game to put the final nail in the coffin. For all their supposed issues since Kevin Durant went out with injury, the Warriors have still managed to win their last 11 games including huge wins over the likes of San Antonio, Houston, Washington and OKC.
Another disappointing season will see the Timberwolves miss the playoffs once more and finish well below .500. Their hopes were high at the start of the year entering the season with quality youngsters like Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, but inconsistency has been the name of the game for them as it has been previously.
The Warriors should be much too strong for the Wolves here. There’s always the possibility that Steve Kerr will begin resting players soon but with 4 of their remaining 5 games at home, there’s plenty of opportunity for that later. Line a little too high but the total score line seems low for two teams who have been great at scoring all year.
TIP: Total points OVER 220.5 - $1.91 at Sportsbet
Orlando Magic at Cleveland Cavaliers (9am AEST)
Cleveland currently sit just one win behind Boston in the win column and will look to square the ledger here as they take on Orlando before travelling to Boston Thursday for a game that could decide the East. They’ll have to get past Orlando first though, which should be an easy task given the Magic are in tank mode going into the final stretches of the season. It took the Cavs two overtimes to beat the Pacers at home on Monday night but we think they should make light work of the Magic who have lost their last 4 games.
We think the line is a few points too low and the Cavs should win this one by double digits to set up an epic Eastern Conference clash on Thursday.
TIP: Cleveland Cavaliers -9 - $1.95 at William Hill
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