NBA Premium Card 05/11

NBA - 725 Oklahoma City Thunder @ 726 Los Angeles Clippers 

Play #1 & #2 

The first 2 games of this series were basically one sided affairs but G3 was a tight contest w/ the score being 108-107 w/ just 2:32 to go! Both teams could have won the game and I really think that this will be the case for today and so, this 5-pts is just too much! I would be saying the same if the game was @ OKC and OKC was favored by 5 points!

OKC’s offense is now playing at their best w/ great offensive flow! Note that they had 26 assists in the last game – by far their best mark in the playoffs! We are not talking about the usual OKC stuff w/ Durant & Westbrook dominating the ball -> Durant and Westbrook combined for 59 shots but Ibaka, Butler and Jackson combined for 48. Ibaka had 20 points on 9-10 shooting, Butler popped in 14 points which included three 3s and Jackson found his tempo attacking the basket adding 14 points on 5-8 shooting.

This kind of balance for OKC makes them almost impossible to defend! Finally, OKC’s coach Scott Brooks was great as well by playing some small ball @ 4th quarter w/ Durant @ PF!

On the other end, Blake Griffin keeps torching LAC’s interior defense while CP3 is also dominating as well. Eventually, LAC will improve a bit their outside shooting for today as they connected just 7-26 from 3pts in the last game w/ Reddick, Crawford and Barnes combining 3-15 3pts!

I expect both teams to have some substantial edge w/ their offenses w/ this game being a close battle, therefore, I’m taking the OVER & OKC in here! 

Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 725 Oklahoma City Thunder (+5.5) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 725/726 Over 214.5 @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

NBA - 727 Indiana Pacers @ 728 Washington Wizards 

Play #3 & #4

The Pacers’ finally showed some signs of life in this playoffs, as their “defense” has been the biggest factor for them – Roy Hibbert playing +30minutes certainly has helped the cause.

Nevertheless, here are some factors that I think will favor the Pacers in here:

The Wizards are completely dominating the glass so far in the series w/ 60.9%, 56.7% and 55.3% reb/rate%! In a potential scenario where both teams are shooting +/- the same numbers, this will be a huge factor for WAS!

Despite playing w/ Hibbert some major minutes, the Pacers haven’t been able to dominate down low. Note that they have scored just 26 points in the paint in the last game as they attempted only 21 shots near the basket vs. 28 from the Wizards! This is not a recipe for success for them and easily they will be shut down by WAS’s defense!

The X factor for today’s game is obviously related w/ WAS’s offense! 63 points is just ridiculous! While the Pacers went 18-39 FG in uncontested shots, the Wizards shot just 12-40 (30% FG) w/ Nene & Beal combining to hit 3-19 FG (remember, we are talking about uncontested shots!)!

I expect the Wizards’ to bounce back today via their offense because defensively, they are doing a good job vs. IND.

Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 728 Washington Wizards (-4) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 727/728 Under 180 @ -110 / 1.91 on 5 Dimes