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As we get down to the nitty-gritty in the NBA playoffs, we are faced with a picture that might be attractive to some people, as the manufactured “super-teams” may be left out of things when it comes to who meets in the final round.
On the way to all that, the Los Angeles Clippers better start acting fast, regardless of whether they have their best player or not. Are the Atlanta Hawks “playing with house money”? Maybe. But if they want to advance, they will have to do something to corral a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player.
For sports bettors, we have props that we really like in the Suns-Clippers Game 3 and Bucks-Hawks Game 1. And we’re going to cash with them.
Let’s go:
Suns vs. Clippers Game 3 Props Picks
Suns vs. Clippers Betting Report
CLIPPERS FIRST TEAM TO REACH 50 POINTS (-105)
It would be fair to say there is more likelihood that the Phoenix Suns will get Chris Paul back than there is that Kawhi Leonard will be there for the Clippers. There is less in the way of mystery with Paul’s situation. Meanwhile, there are conflicting reports about Leonard. Certainly he is rehabbing in Los Angeles; that much is not in dispute. But the team may fear he has an ACL injury. It is being referred to as a “knee sprain” at the moment. Whatever it is, it has kept him out of four straight games.
Things are pretty rough for the Clippers right now, when Cameron Payne, taking Paul’s place in the starting lineup, can go off for 29 points. The Suns made only six triples in Game 2. And by the way, they did not cover, which might offer at least some encouragement for L.A. fans.
Sure, it looks like the Clippers have their backs against the wall. But amidst all this uncertainty, we do know that the Clippers have been down 2-0 in both of their playoff series.
They came back to win Game 3, obviously. Against Dallas, it came on the road. But when they played Utah, it was when they returned to the Staples Center.
And this kind of leads us into a pointspread trend you might want to be aware of. In the last 40 instances where a team lost the first two games of a series and then comes back home, they’ve covered in the first half 31 times. That’s a 77.5% rate.
In this particular instance, Phoenix was installed as an early one-point favorite, which pretty much makes the first half a standoff.
The Clippers won the first half of Game 3 over the Mavs by two points at the American Airlines Center, but, more pertinent to our discussion, they outscored the Jazz by 14 points in the first half of Game 3 in that series, after they had a pair of losses in Salt Lake City.
So we might look forward to the Clippers coming out of the locker room with some inspiration. Whether that happens with Kawhi on the floor or not is another question. But here are the props we can play on the home club in Game 3:
First team to reach 10 points: CLIPPERS -110
First team to reach 30 points: CLIPPERS -110
First team to reach 50 points: CLIPPERS -105
In each of these instances, the Suns are the favorite in the NBA prop.
Hawks vs. Bucks Game 1 Props Picks
Hawks vs. Bucks Betting Report
GIANNIS UNDER 51.5 POINTS+REBOUNDS+ASSISTS (-130)
We hate to keep going back to the well on this one, but there is a difference between perception and reality. The fact is, Giannis Antetokounmpo is such a good player that he is overvalued in the compilation of this number.
We went with this in every game of the Milwaukee Bucks series against the Brooklyn Nets, and in only one of those games (Game 7) did Giannis exceed this number.
For what it’s worth, in the three games between the Bucks and Hawks this season, Giannis posted averages of 24.3 points, 11 rebounds and 4.7 assists. That’s a total of 40, and that is while he shot 64% from the field. Keep in mind that he is a potential liability at the free throw line, as he hit just 48% in the series against Brooklyn.
