Best Bets for Sunday’s NBA Playoff Games
The NBA Playoffs should be extremely exciting on Sunday, May 7th, as we have a pair of pivotal Game 4s on the schedule. Make sure you keep reading for our NBA best bets for the day, and continue to stop back in for VSiN’s coverage of the NBA Playoffs. You can find everything you’ll possibly need in our NBA Playoffs Hub. We’ll hopefully have at least one pick for you on every game the rest of the way, and that includes two plays for you today.
MORE: Check out our Pro Picks page for everything our experts have on May 7
Here are our favorite NBA bets for Sunday, May 7th (odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook):
Boston Celtics (-2, 213.5) at Philadelphia 76ers- Game 4
The Sixers looked flat in a 114-102 Game 3 loss in Philadelphia, and it was a disappointing performance after Doc Rivers’ team had taken home-court advantage in the series after a surprising Game 1 win. Now, the Celtics are firmly back in the driver’s seat here, but that doesn’t mean that the Sixers will go down without a fight. In fact, I’m rolling with Philadelphia on the moneyline in Game 4.
Since Doc Rivers became the head coach of the Sixers, his team is 58-41 against the spread when trying to avenge a loss against an opponent. That trend obviously didn’t work in favor of Philadelphia in Game 3, but it’s hard to imagine it losing twice in a row. And with how small the spread is on this game, I’d rather just take the home team to win outright. Rivers has his flaws as a head coach, but he’s very good at making game-by-game adjustments. And he has a significant advantage over Joe Mazzulla in the X’s and O’s department.
It’s also just hard to picture James Harden failing to show up after back-to-back miserable performances for the Sixers. He might not score 45 points again this series, but he’s capable of playing a lot better than he did in Games 2 and 3. Harden just needs to be a bit more decisive with the basketball. He has looked unsure of himself since Joel Embiid returned to action, and it’s hard to blame him. Harden’s usage rate was through the roof in Game 1, and he had complete control of the offense. Now, Harden just needs to strike a balance between feeding the big fella and hunting his own opportunities. We’re expecting him to do just that and help the Sixers nod things up heading back to Boston.
Bet: Sixers ML (+115)
Denver Nuggets at Phoenix Suns (-2.5, 227.5) – Game 4
The Suns came out flying in their Game 3 win over the Nuggets, with Cameron Payne injecting a lot of pace in place of an injured Chris Paul. The game ended up comfortably going over the total, with the two teams combining to score 235 points. However, the Nuggets should be able to adjust to what they saw in that one. They didn’t have much of an idea of what to expect from Phoenix with Paul out, as the Suns offense is built on the Point God’s pick-and-roll ability. Now, Denver will have a better defensive game plan in place, and the Nuggets should also be able to slow the tempo a bit.
While two of the games in this series have gone over the total, it’s important to remember that Denver played at the seventh-slowest pace in the NBA during the regular season. The Nuggets do have some explosive offensive options, but they run things through Nikola Jokic and it generally takes time to do that. With that in mind, we should start to see some more unders out of this Denver team soon. The Nuggets will also do their part defensively by playing a bit better in regards to transition defense.
Bet: Under 227.5 (-110)
