After some interesting results in the opening round of the 2016-17 NBA Playoffs, Round 2 kicks off this Monday, the 1st of May and we have you covered with a full preview and betting tips for every matchup here.
Note: at time of writing, the Clippers and Jazz series is still in progress, once it’s resulted, the preview for Golden State vs Clippers/Jazz will be added.
Boston Celtics vs Washington Wizards
Luckily for basketball fans, the Wizards were able to overcome Atlanta in six games to set up what should be an epic Round 2 clash with the Celtics. These two teams don’t dance around the fact that they hate each other, with some controversial meetings throughout the year that culminated in Wizards players showing up to their last meeting dressed in black to signify a ‘funeral’ for the Celtics.
Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas flew home to attend his sister’s funeral during the week but is expected to return for game one. The all-star averaged 27 points against the Wizards this year while the Celtics held his counterpart John Wall to a very respectable 17 points per game in their meetings.
The Wizards are a much better matchup for the Celtics than their 1st round opponents in the Bulls. The two key players for Washington in Wall and Bradley Beal will have a handful defensively against All-NBA defender Avery Bradley as well as Marcus Smart. After a few small hiccups against the Bulls, Boston seemed to find their feet and while this should be a tight contest, we expect the Celtics guards to do enough against Wall and Beal to advance to the Conference finals in 6 or 7 games.
TIP: Boston Celtics to win in 6 games - $6 at Sportsbet
TIP: Boston Celtics to win in 7 games - $4.55 at Sportsbet
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Toronto Raptors
The Cavs and Raptors will face off in a replay of last season’s Eastern Conference finals starting Tuesday as LeBron James and his men are beginning to find the form that saw them win last season’s championship. The Cavs swept the Pacers in Round 1 in what was a much closer series than the score line suggests, however, there were signs of Cleveland’s great defence in the last few games.
The Raptors have spent the last year tailoring their team to one end, beating the Cavaliers. They brought in a rim protector in Serge Ibaka which they desperately needed, upgraded their wing defence stocks by adding PJ Tucker and the much improved Normal Powell adds to their scoring options that were quite limited at times.
The Cavs overcame the Raptors in six games last year, and while we think the Raptors are much improved on paper, we still think the Cavs should come out victorious here. It’s hard to bet against LeBron in the East, the superstar has been to the finals the last six years in a row because of his Eastern Conference dominance and we don’t expect it to change here.
TIP: Cleveland Cavaliers to win in 6 games - $4.75 at Ladbrokes
San Antonio Spurs vs Houston Rockets
This series has by far the most interesting player matchup of any in the 2nd Round. Defensive juggernaut Kawhi Leonard will attempt to stem the output of James Harden when San Antonio face off against Houston starting Tuesday. Both MVP candidates, the series will be decided on the back of these two players, but San Antonio may have more adjusting to do than their counterparts come tip off.
The Rockets play a very small and very fast paced game style, which could render the likes of LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol completely unusable for the majority of the series. We could see the likes of Dewayne Dedmon, Jonathon Simmons and Davis Bertans play big minutes at the 4 and 5 positions in an attempt to combat the speed of Houston and their pick n roll heavy offence.
Houston also have a much more efficient scoring unit coming off the bench in the likes of Lou Williams, Eric Gordon and Nene, which is an aspect that San Antonio are struggling with at the moment as Manu Ginobili had one of the worst series of his career against Memphis in Round 1. Kawhi is capable of shutting down James Harden, but we think the Rockets just have too much scoring power around him and the Spurs might not be able to keep up, we think an upset is on the cards here.
TIP: Houston Rockets to advance - $3.09 at Sportsbet
Golden State Warriors vs Utah Jazz
After a gruelling seven game series against the Clippers, Utah will have the difficult task of backing it up against the best team in the league in the Golden State Warriors. With the series starting Wednesday in Golden State, the Jazz will need to be at their very best if they aim to even take a game off the Warriors, who blew by Portland in four games in their first round matchup.
One up side for the Jazz is that they are arguably as healthy as they have been all year. Rudy Gobert seems to have recovered from his first round injury while Derrick Favours and Gordon Hayward are back playing a full alotment of minutes. If they are to have any chance here they'll need to be efficient at defending the 3pt shot, which is something they haven't been great at throughout the regular season. While they boasted arguably the best team defence throughout the year, they did allow opponents to shoot over 35% from the 3pt line, which is good for just 15th in the league.
Kevin Durant has returned in full flight after an extended Round 1 break and adds more scoring and 3pt shooting to an already loaded Warriors team. Not only are they one of the most efficient offences in NBA history, they also boast the best defence in the league in nearly every statistical criteria. It's hard to see anyone beating them at the moment. Banking on one Utah defensive performance, we think the Warriors take this one in 5 games.
TIP: Golden State Warriors to win in 5 games - $2.51 at Sportsbet
Always Gamble Responsibly.
