Gambling: Nuggets, without Murray, should struggle vs. Suns
The second round of the NBA playoffs continues as we have a do-or-die game in Milwaukee followed by Game 2 out West between the Suns and the Nuggets on Wednesday.
Below are two bets that I am targeting for Wednesday.
Brooklyn Nets at Milwaukee Bucks
The pick: Under 235 (-105, PointsBet)
While both teams scored a ton of points and ran at blistering paces in the regular season, that hasn’t been the case in the playoffs, especially this series. Milwaukee has not only struggled to hit shots but has struggled to keep up with Brooklyn’s pace. It has averaged under 100 points per game through two games in the series while Brooklyn sits at 120, which isn’t too far off of its season average.
If the Bucks want to win this game, slowing down Brooklyn’s offense is step No. 1. If we expect them to limit Brooklyn and hold them to a lower point total, we should expect the game to finish around 225-230 total points barring a Milwaukee blowout. This is also true if we expect Brooklyn to continue to roll in the series, as Milwaukee has struggled to muster any sort of productive offensive output. The point being, this over/under is set a bit too high and one of the bets I feel most confident about Wednesday.
Denver Nuggets at Phoenix Suns
The pick: Suns -6 (-110, PointsBet)
After a 17-point win over the Nuggets in Game 1, you’d think that Denver simply had a horrible game from the field. Oddly enough, that wasn’t the case. Denver shot a respectable 46.7% from the field, 35% from 3, and 83.3% from the free-throw line.
So, what happened? Simply put, Phoenix is a much better team. Without injured Jamal Murray to help on offense for the Nuggets, the Suns were able to contain Michael Porter Jr. and Nikola Jokic enough to where they would need massive games from the supporting cast, something they just might not be able to rely on. On the other side of the ball, the supporting cast stepped up admirably for the Suns, as four starters scored at least 20 points. If this type of consistency keeps up, it’ll be a quick series for the Nuggets.