Two NBA Game 4 Sunday results scrambled the second round. The Knicks tied the NBA playoff record with 25 three-pointers in a 144-114 demolition of the 76ers that completed a sweep. Out west, Victor Wembanyama got ejected on a Flagrant 2 early in the second quarter, and the Timberwolves rallied behind Anthony Edwards to even … Read more
The Knicks and Spurs both leave home as favorites Sunday, hoping to close out or extend their conference semifinal series. New York lines up at -1.5 in Philadelphia, one win from the East Finals after building a 3-0 lead. San Antonio sits at -4.5 in Minneapolis, looking to push the Wolves into a 3-1 hole. … Read more
The Game 2 bounce-back thesis from yesterday went 0-2. Detroit handled Cleveland 107-97 to take a 2-0 series lead. Oklahoma City beat the Lakers 125-107 to do the same in the West. Both road dogs lost outright, neither covered, and both East and West semifinals now sit at 2-0 with Game 3s in Philly and … Read more
Two NBA Conference Semifinals Game 2s tip off tonight, and both feature the same setup: a team that lost Game 1 on the road, hitting the road again as an underdog. Cleveland is +3.5 in Detroit at 7 ET. Los Angeles is +15.5 in Oklahoma City at 9:30 ET. The Game 2 bounce-back question now … Read more
Both NBA Conference Semifinals favorites covered their Game 1 spreads on Tuesday night. The Thunder rolled the Lakers 108-90 in Oklahoma City, beating the closing 15.5-point line by enough to make the cover routine. The Pistons handled the Cavaliers 111-101 in Detroit, covering the 3.5 with room to spare. Yesterday’s contrarian read on these games … Read more
The Lakers open Game 1 in Oklahoma City as 16-point underdogs. That’s not a typo. Sixteen points, in an NBA playoff game, between two teams seeded fourth and first in the same conference. Whatever the public thinks of the Lakers without Luka Doncic, the line says they think it’s worse. Tuesday night gives us two … Read more
Three NBA Game 5s tip tonight, and the most interesting one for contrarian purposes runs latest. Minnesota visits Denver up 3-1 in the series, missing both starting guards, listed as 10.5-point underdogs at Ball Arena. The Timberwolves should be a reluctant favorite to close the series. The market is treating them as anything but. The … Read more
Five days after the chalk got humbled, the chalk regrouped. Higher seeds won five of seven games played Friday and Saturday, and three series that looked like 1-1 toss-ups by Tuesday now sit at 2-1 or 2-2 in the favorite’s direction. Variance giveth, variance taketh. Friday’s post on this site noted that five top seeds … Read more
Six days of NBA first round basketball have produced five home losses by higher seeds. Not close losses. Not single-digit squeakers that could be chalked up to variance. Five actual upsets, four of them inside 72 hours, spread across four different arenas. Writer John Schuhmann noted at NBA.com that the opening weekend looked on pace … Read more
NBA Playoffs Start This Week. The Market Already Has Problems. The NBA Play-In Tournament tips tonight in Miami and Portland. By Friday, the 16-team playoff bracket will be set. By June, someone will hold the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The Oklahoma City Thunder are the +115 championship favorites, the shortest price in the NBA since the … Read more