Tuesday NBA Playoff Odds: Game 7 Clippers-Nuggets, Game 1 Celtics-Heat
Tuesday night features the start of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, as well as Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers. BetRivers.com is proud to provide a wide variety of Tuesday NBA Playoff odds, props and a host of live betting options.
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Rob Dauster breaks down the Tuesday NBA Playoff odds for Celtics-Heats and Clippers-Nuggets including moneyline, spread, over/under, and player props.
Before we get to the projections and analysis, check out the Tuesday BetRivers.com NBA Specials:
- Nuggets Win & Jamal Murray records Double-Double (+1900)
- Clippers vs. Nuggets Over 50.5 points in each quarter (+800)
- Clippers & Heat both Win by Over 4.5 points (+325)
- Celtics Win & Jayson Tatum outscores Jimmy Butler (+180)
Tuesday NBA Playoff Odds: CLIPPERS vs. NUGGETS
- GAME 7: 9:10 P.M. ET, TNT
- MONEYLINE: Clippers -335, Nuggets +265
- SPREAD: Clippers -7.5 (-112), Nuggets +7.5 (-109)
- OVER/UNDER: 209 (-112/-109)
- IMPLIED SCORE: 207.5
This series has made absolutely no sense.
Denver has trailed by at least 16 points in four of the games. They’ve won two of those four, launching impressive second-half comebacks in each of the last two games. It feels like the Clippers have built big leads and then thrown it into cruise control, allowing Nikola Jokic — the most underrated big-game player in the NBA — to carry the Nuggets the way that Jamal Murray carried the franchise in the first round.
The issue that the Clippers have had is on the defensive end of the floor. Montrez Harrell is not right. He’s unplayable when Jokic is on the floor because the Nuggets have hunted him. He’s -27 the last two games. Ivica Zubac is +29, and even then he’s had his struggles defensively as well.
Lou Williams has not been all that much better than Harrell defensively, and combine that with the fact that Patrick Beverly is banged up, grieving the death of a friend and consistently in foul trouble, and suddenly all that depth we thought the Clippers had is gone. I think that they need to spend much more time on Tuesday night with JaMychal Green on the floor than Harrell, but that’s just me. Doc Rivers has refused to do that this far in the series.
For the Nuggets, the difference-maker has been the return of Gary Harris, but it is also hard to ignore the fact that Michael Porter Jr. has made some big shots in big moments during these comebacks.
At this point, I think that the Clippers are considerably better than the Nuggets. The fact that they’ve jumped out to big leads, to me, is proof of that, and I wonder how much of Rivers’ insistence of playing his guys when they are struggling has to do with trying to get them right in games they should win. That is not an option tonight.
That said, while Denver is gassed, they have no pressure on them. They’ve played a playoff game every other night for the last month. This will be the sixth of those 14 games that was an elimination game. They’ve won the first five, and are playing with house money at this point. That’s freeing, particularly when the Clippers are trying to erase their history as the franchise that blows series leads.
All that makes me hesitant to bet either side.
But I do really like the under here.
The under is 5-0-1 in this series. It is 3-0 in Game 7 in this playoffs. Tired legs and lemon booty makes for dogfights.
Tuesday NBA Playoff Odds: CELTICS vs. HEAT
- GAME 1: 6:40 p.m. ET, TNT
- MONEYLINE: Celtics -120, Heat +102
- SPREAD: Celtics -1.5 (-110), Heat +1.5 (-109)
- TOTAL: 209 (-112/-109)
- IMPLIED SCORE: Boston 106, Miami 104
The Eastern Conference Finals kick off of Tuesday night with a pair of surprise teams.
Gone are the No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks. Gone are the reigning champ Toronto Raptors. In their place is Eric Spoelstra’s Miami Heat, who are 8-1 in the playoffs and are coming off of a week of rest, and the Boston Celtics, who needed seven games to dispatch of the Raptors.
Part of the reason that the Heat were able to take out Milwaukee and their all-world star Giannis Antetokounmpo in the conference semifinals was that they had one of the few players — Bam Adebayo — that is actually physically capable of hanging with the Greek Freak, and they were able to scheme a defense that took away Giannis’ ability to play bully ball. Put another way, the Bucks play one way and they play it incredibly well. But a team that could take thing away had a chance if they hit shots, and Miami did just that.
Boston is not limited to playing one way. They can win running offense through Kemba Walker. Jayson Tatum has developed into a good enough playmaker that he can be considered one of the ten best players in the league. But more importantly, their defense should be able to take away what Miami does best. The Heat shot 38 percent from three this season. They’re shooting that same number from three in the playoffs. During the regular season, they shot 32 percent from three against the Celtics, losing two of the three matchups.
Boston’s ability to switch everything — particularly the DHO actions that free up Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro for threes — takes that away.
So I like Boston at the series line of (-136); I think they get it done in six games. I also think they’ll win Game 1, but given how good Miami is defensively, I still think there is value on the under despite the fact that it has come down 1.5 points since it opened.