NBA Playoffs Tonight: Pistons, Rockets Face Elimination

The highlight of my week (so far): Discovering that YouTubeTV added VSiN as a multiview option, so now I can watch three games and VSiN at the same time.

NBA Playoffs: Win or Cancún

The top-seeded Pistons and the Durant-less Rockets face elimination games tonight.

Wednesday’s NBA menu:

Magic (+10.5) at Pistons, 7 ET (Prime). Total: 211.5. ORL leads 3-1.
Raptors (+8.5) at Cavs, 7:30 ET (ESPN). Total: 215.5. Series tied 2-2.
Rockets (+4.5) at Lakers, 10 ET (ESPN). Total: 207.5. LA leads 3-1.

Best Bet of the Night: Magic-Pistons Under 211.5

AI analysis of Steve Makinen’s Analytics Report landed on the Under as the cleanest play on the board, with multiple systems pointing to a slower, lower-scoring Game 5 in Detroit.

All of Steve’s trends, systems and power ratings →

Zach Cohen’s NBA Report: Sixers force Game 6

After a 128-96 win in Philadelphia in Game 4, the Celtics looked to be on their way to closing out the 76ers at TD Garden. Boston was a double-digit favorite in Game 5, and we hadn’t seen much from Philadelphia since Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe stole Game 2 with some outrageous shotmaking. Then Joel Embiid happened. The Sixers superstar had the ultimate throwback performance, putting Neemias Queta and Nikola Vucevic in a torture chamber. Embiid finished with 33 points and eight assists and has Philadelphia looking like a threat to win this series. If Embiid doesn’t have any unexpected swelling — or any other injury flare-ups — the Sixers will go into Game 6 looking to get him the rock in space.

The other Tuesday night games weren’t quite as noteworthy. The Knicks blew out the Hawks, taking a 3-2 series lead and once again looking like the much better team. Honestly, if the Knicks didn’t take their foot off the gas toward the end of Game 2, this series would already be over. However, New York now needs to go on the road to close out Atlanta. That won’t be easy, as the Hawks will throw the kitchen sink at the Knicks — and Quin Snyder is a better coach than Mike Brown. However, we haven’t seen much that suggests Atlanta can play with New York over the last couple of days.

The Spurs also won in straightforward fashion, winning big to send the Blazers back to Portland. All in all, the Blazers put up a good fight, but the Spurs were on another level. They’re now waiting to see how the Nuggets-Wolves series plays out, and they do so having given their young core a nice little taste of the postseason.

Wednesday’s Games

The Wednesday postseason slate has the potential to be interesting. The Pistons will look to keep their season going when they host the Magic in Game 5, while we’ll see the Raptors and Cavaliers clash in Cleveland and the Rockets looking to stave off elimination against the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Orlando has bullied a top-seeded Detroit team, but let’s see what happens with Franz Wagner in Game 5. The tremendous wing strained his calf towards the end of Game 4, causing him to miss the end of that victory. If Wagner is out, that’s a massive blow to the Magic on both ends of the floor. That said, the Pistons might have been given a lifeline in this series.

With the Raptors and Cavaliers, I’m a little less sold on Toronto than most. The team was able to win two games up in Canada, but we didn’t see the same fight when the teams played Games 1 and 2 in Cleveland. Also, the Cavaliers really should have won Game 4, but they collapsed down the stretch. I think they’ll bounce back in front of their home crowd. The talent mismatch in this series is jarring.

Rockets-Lakers is also fascinating. Houston is looking to do the impossible by coming back from a 3-0 series deficit, but this has been one of the hardest teams in basketball to trust all season. On top of that, the Rockets are catching a Lakers team that should have Austin Reaves back. That gives LeBron James a much-needed Robin.

Zach’s Best Bets →

Steve Makinen’s NBA Analytics Report →

NBA player prop projections from Opta AI →

Check standings & picks in the VSiN / KillerSports Challenge →