After an 82-game regular season grind, we are here: the NBA Playoffs! Congrats on getting to Saturday, where the NBA Championship dreams kick off on four different fronts.
The Pacers are hosting the Bucks, the Clippers are visiting the Nuggets, the Pistons (they’re back in the playoffs!) start in Gotham, and the new-look Lakers host the Timberwolves.
For our betting purposes, we’re checking the best available player props and putting together a pair of 3-legged same-game parlays for your consideration.
Check our free NBA picks below, and let’s go!
Today’s best NBA Playoff parlays: April 19
Tyrese Haliburton Under 11.5 assists vs Bucks
Malik Beasley Over 3.5 3-point makes vs Knicks
James Harden Over 22.5 points vs Nuggets
We’ll start in the East, where the Indiana Pacers rode a 7-1 final kick to the regular season to lock up home court advantage in Round 1 against the Milwaukee Bucks – the same team they knocked off in the first round a year ago.
In that 6-game series, Tyrese Haliburton averaged 9.3 assists and went for 12 or more assists just twice. It was much the same in this year’s regular season against Milwaukee, going Under the total in three of four games.
Haliburton also just topped this total once in his final eight games of the season.
Over to New York, where we’re taking a flier on one of the NBA’s premier 3-point shooters: Malik Beasley. His 319 triples was just one short of the season lead, and he did that in under 30 minutes a night, on a crisp 41.6% shooting.
The 3.5 make line is a bit high, but Beasley has feasted at MSG in Detroit’s two games this year, hitting 13 3-pointers, and easily topping his line both times.
He ended the regular season with back-to-back games with seven moneyball makes. With Cade Cunningham just getting his playoff feet wet, Beasley’s shooting should settle him down.
At this point in his career, it’s a lot to ask James Harden to go top-option scorer mode.
Thankfully, though, with the return of Kawhi Leonard, the Beard goes back to a supercharged second option that was second on the Los Angeles Clippers in scoring at 22.8 points per game.
Harden was dynamite to close the year, besting his 22.5 line for Saturday vs Denver four times in his last five regular season games.
He was able to cross that total twice in four games against the Denver Nuggets this season, and scoring should come easy for him against them, who are 25th in scoring defense.
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LeBron James Over 7.5 rebounds vs Timberwolves
Jalen Brunson Over 27.5 points vs Pistons
Luka Doncic Under 32.5 points
We start a second parlay with basketball’s ageless wonder LeBron James, who has a reasonable rebounding line of 7.5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves Saturday.
Since returning from a groin injury LeBron hasn’t been much of a factor on the boards, grabbing eight or more rebounds just two times in his final 12 games of the regular season.
Compare that to the 12 games before the injury, where he crossed that total eight times. His high during that stretch was 17 – against Minnesota.
With the stakes high on what might be his last great chance at a title, LeBron should be filling the stat sheet, particularly for the undersized Los Angeles Lakers.
From James’ supporting role to Jalen Brunson center stage for the New York Knicks. He’s got a total of 27.5 vs. Detroit in Game 1, a number he’s yet to top in his final four games of the regular season since coming back from an ankle injury that cost him a month.
That included 15 points in a loss to the Detroit Pistons. But this shouldn’t be a concern, as Brunson was using that time to get his body into game shape and find the rhythm that’s made him one of the NBA’s best players.
Prior to that outing against Detroit, Brunson had scored 28 or more vs Detroit six straight times, topping 31 or more points in five of those.
There is no question Brunson turns himself into the scoring force he was prior to his injury, especially when New York needs him the most.
And we’ll wrap this with third-year Denver man Christian Braun, who is one of the many Nikola Jokic teammates trying to support the Serbian with some secondary scoring.
I just don’t think he’ll be the guy, even after averaging a career-best 15.4 points per game. Braun finished the year with back-to-back sub-13 point games, games that Denver needed to lock up home court in Round 1.
Which makes sense, because Braun needs to do some defending and grunt work (like offensive rebounding, etc) while Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr do what they get paid handsomely to do: get buckets.
Braun has scored 14 points or more just once against the Clippers in 11 career games, when he had 15 in his last game against them on January 8.
He will be important for Denver to win games, but his scoring won’t be called upon enough to warrant the Over.
Not intended for use in MA.
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