The first round of the NBA playoff continues on Tuesday with an exciting slate of three games to look forward to – highlighted by Game 2 of Minnesota Timberwolves vs Phoenix Suns.
Anthony Edwards showed and told Kevin Durant exactly what he was about in Game 1 of the series last Saturday in Minnesota, winning in blowout fashion and recording 33 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
An hour later, the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers go head-to-head in a crucial Game 2 without Giannis Antetokounmpo – handing Damian Lillard the chance to give Doc Rivers’ side a comfortable 2-0 lead.
The Dallas Mavericks were quite frankly embarrassed in Game 1 on the road where the LA Clippers stormed to an easy win without Kawhi Leonard – so expect to see a much better version of Jason Kidd’s unit led by Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving on Tuesday.
NBA Playoffs Tips: Tuesday 23 April
Minnesota Timberwolves vs Phoenix Suns (Timberwolves lead 1-0)
Best Bet: Anthony Edwards over 25.5 points (-110)
‘Antman’ showed out in Game 1 with a spectacular performance to push Minnesota over the line to begin the series – and his points prop looks somewhat disrespectful at 25.5.
Granted, he’s on a team with plenty of talent – but the 22-year-old star averaged 25.9 points per game in the regular season and he takes on an even bigger load in the playoffs, as seen at the weekend.
Edwards is hungrier than ever to prove that his time is now and that motivation could prove decisive in the youngster covering his prop on Tuesday.
Milwaukee Bucks vs Indiana Pacers (Bucks lead 1-0)
Best Bet: Tyrese Haliburton over 10.5 assists (+100)
Tyrese Haliburton failed to put his best foot forward in the series opener on Sunday but the 24-year-old is too talented not to give supporters a better showing this time around.
Haliburton tallied 20 potential assists in Game 1 and finished with just eight, so if his teammates can get a few extra buckets on the board the over looks worth attacking here.
As a team, Indiana shot just 39.6% from the field – way below their regular season average of 50.7% which ranks first in the NBA. Haliburton averaged the second-most assists in the league (10.6) and his minutes load means he’ll have plenty of opportunities to get 11.
Assuming the Pacers don’t lay an egg and put up a better fight on Tuesday in Milwaukee, plus money for Haliburton to reach 11 assists looks fantastic value.
LA Clippers vs Dallas Mavericks (Clippers lead 1-0)
Best Bet: Dallas Mavericks -2.0 (-110)
Despite the looming threat of Kawhi Leonard’s return for the Clippers, the Mavericks are favoured to tie the series up on the road for good reason and they’ve shown us too much towards the end of the season not to warrant that respect.
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving didn’t have bad games by any stretch of the imagination on Sunday, so with a bit of extra production from the team’s role players they could ease to a comfortable win.
Siding with Dallas looks the value play here as Doncic aims to send the Mavericks back to Texas with homecourt advantage in the series.
