[Munaf Manji]
Welcome everyone to the NBA podcast on RJ Bell's Dream Preview. I'm your host Munaf Manji back in the saddle for another night of NBA playoff boops. We'll get into the games here for the Wednesday schedule and the Thursday schedule.

Five games between those two days. We'll briefly recap what we've seen over the first games one and game two of the NBA playoffs thus far. Get into our best bets and of course our player prop best bets.

Get you guys a nice coupon code for the website as well, PREGAME.COM. But joining me here to help me break everything down on the hardwood, I got my guy here with me, it's Sleepy J. Sleepy, what's going on man? How you doing this Tuesday evening?

[SleepyJ]
I'm doing pretty good. Trying to root some late winners in here in the NBA. Obviously right now we're in the thick of the playoffs.

So I'm pretty much in the thick of it myself rooting and I'm hoping and praying that I can go ahead and cash this Milwaukee Bucks-Indiana Pacers over. So you may hear me screaming, crying throughout the podcast but you know how it goes.

[Munaf Manji]
Yeah, definitely it's that time of year where we're getting competitive hoops, hopefully to continue cashing tickets here on the NBA podcast. And speaking of cashing tickets, another winning episode for us Sleepy. To start the round one I should say of the NBA playoffs, let's quickly recap our picks from the last episode.

2-0-1 we did go on our best bets here. I did have the Bucks on the money line in game one. They took care of business behind an incredible performance by Mr. Damian Lillard. 35 points he scored in that game. An absolutely brilliant performance by him. Got some support as well.

Chris Middleton chipped in with 23 points in that game. And defensively they were really good worthy Milwaukee Bucks and they came out and made a statement. Held the Pacers to 94 points.

109-94 victory for the Milwaukee Bucks in the game against the Pacers. You had the Miami Heat plus the 5 in the first quarter Sleepy. And I must say that this was probably the more luckier pushes that we have gotten as far as best bets go on this podcast.

Because the Boston Celtics came out and put up 9 points within a blink of an eye. They had 17 points through the first 4 minutes of the first quarter. And Miami then buckled down defensively and they were able to come back and get a push at least in the first quarter.

26-21 was the score at the end of the first quarter. And I vividly remember this because I had the Celtics first quarter team told to go over. Looked great in the first couple minutes there but just absolutely got cold from three-point land.

But fortunately for you at least didn't chalk up as a loss and got the push there. And then quickly I'll mention our player prop best bet. Another sweat-free winner for us Sleepy.

We had James Harden over 17.5 points. And the closing number was I want to say 19.5 for James Harden. He finished the game with 28 points.

Had a great shooting night for the LA Clippers. See exactly how it was really from the three-point line honestly for James Harden. 8 of 17 from the floor but he was 6 of 11 from three-point line.

Also chipped in with eight assists and the Clippers got game one victory over the Dallas Mavericks. So pretty good start for us at least for round one and game one of the NBA playoffs my man.

[SleepyJ]
Was really happy to see Harden go ahead and cash once he got hot from the outside. I think he hit one or two with like guys in his face. And I'm like alright he's going to keep continuing to go ahead and shoot this three ball tonight.

Shouldn't have much trouble getting there. So I was really happy about that. As far as our best bets were concerned Miami I mean they gave me fits right from the gate.

Like you mentioned Boston went out. I mean they were like a buzz saw in the first quarter there for the first couple minutes. But luckily Miami came back.

They were able to go ahead and put their own little nice little run together too. I think they went on like a 10-0 or a 10-2 run or something like that to help. But I'd rather push all day than go ahead and get a loser.

So I was happy about that. And happy that you went ahead and you cashed your Boston team total over for the first quarter. So that was nice.

So it was a good podcast. A nice way for us to go ahead and get into these next games. Because we're going to do Wednesday and Thursday.

So we got a lot of games to get through. So feeling pretty good right now.

[Munaf Manji]
Yeah. Five games between the Wednesday and Thursday schedule. This is a time where we'll see the game twos wrap up.

And you'll have two days off in between for these teams before they play game three at the lower seeds. Home court I should say. Or I should say higher seats however you want to say it.

But a little bit of news here Sleepy. Kawhi Leonard finally does return for the LA Clippers on Tuesday night. They were without him for I want to say it was nine or 10 straight games dating back to the regular season.

They got a huge victory like I mentioned in game one behind James Harden like we've talked about. And also Paul George Yvonne Zubat 10997. I personally thought that they would have kept him out here in game two and give him a couple more extra days off before maybe bringing him back in game three.

But I guess he was ready to play here tonight for the LA Clippers. And he's officially back on the floor here for the Clippers. Does that give you confidence going forward?

I mean obviously it gives you confidence for the Clippers. But I think at least for the game here tonight in full transparency I did bet Dallas in game two prior to the Kawhi news. But I would have as a hot take as it might be I would rather want Kawhi Leonard playing and me having money on the Dallas Mavericks.

Because it messes up the flow when you get a star player like that back and try to maybe force him the ball and try to get him acclimated back up to game speed. And just shaking off the rust and that can be the advantage for the Dallas Mavericks. And also the Dallas Mavericks had a really bad shooting night especially in the first half.

But for the future I think this is great news for the LA Clippers in hopes of not only beating the Dallas Mavericks but advancing to the next round here getting Kawhi back here sleeping.

[SleepyJ]
I thought about this for a little bit and I thought about Dallas today. And I got to go back to exactly what you were just talking about where it takes some time to go ahead and kind of get some of these guys back in the mix. And when I think about Kawhi I think of him as more of a team basketball type of player.

He's not a guy that's going to go out there demand the ball to go out there and shoot you know 25 times a game. That just doesn't seem like that's the kind of guy that he is. And the fact that he sat out as many games as he did.

I'm willing to bet that he's feeling 100 percent because I think the Kawhi that you and I both know at least over the last couple of years. That dude's not going to take the floor if he's not healthy enough to go out there and play basketball at the highest level that he can. So that's kind of what kept me off of Dallas today is I don't think you will see that much of a hitch like we do with some of these other teams.

Because Kawhi is just that quiet dude that just goes out there and kind of does his job. I did think about that and that was one of the reasons why I didn't want to mess with you know Dallas tonight. And I think the Clippers when they have Kawhi on the floor they're just so much more of a complete team.

A better defensive team a better offensive team. It certainly helps their bench out as well because you have a guy out there to absorb all the minutes that you know he wasn't able to absorb before. So I like this Clippers team with Kawhi on it.

We talked about this team the other day and I was like yeah you know I don't know. What are you going to do? You're going to need Russ and you're going to need Powell to step up.

But this guy completes the championship type of team that I think the Clippers can be. So that's just how I feel right now about the Clippers in general.

[Munaf Manji]
Yeah and it'll be interesting to see especially in game to how number one Kawhi looks and how the offense looks as well. But I think this is one of those series that we could see it get to six games at minimum if not a game seven between these two teams. We'll see if Dallas a bit of bounce back here in game two as they are playing right now.

A little past midway through the first quarter with Dallas as a one point lead nine to eight off to a very sluggish start there between those two teams in game two. So let's get into the games here for the Wednesday and Thursday schedule. We have a pair of game twos on Wednesday night and then for Thursday we have a triple header with teams playing game three.

And we'll just go chronological order and we'll start here with the first game on Wednesday night. That is going to be game two between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics Celtics minus 14 and a half on the spread as it stands. Total is two oh two and a half in this game here in game one.

We talked about it how the Boston Celtics just looked miles ahead of this Miami Heat team right now. Obviously that a lot of that has to do with no no Jimmy Butler on the floor. They're also still missing Terry Rozier but they got the victory by 20 points in game one against the Miami Heat 114 94 a great defensive performance by the mine.

Sorry by the Boston Celtics those led by a very balanced team effort. I would say they had six different players to the Boston Celtics in double figures. Jason Tatum Porzingis Derek White Jalen Brown Sam Houser and Al Horford coming off of the bench for them.

But 14 and a half is a number here. Sleepy game two. What are you thinking.

[SleepyJ]
I want to go right back to that first bet that I made with Miami getting all those points in the first quarter. Do we really think the Celtics are going to jump out to a 14 nothing run here again. I honestly don't think so.

I think Spolstro have Miami in a much better groove you know heading into this first quarter. So I'll go ahead I'll take those plus five points. But after watching Boston and after watching Miami in the first game I honestly think that this series ends in four games.

You know we you and I discussed a little bit. You mind me can get a game from these guys. You know maybe maybe back at home.

They're not going to win here on the road. You know that 15 point underdogs. But this Boston team is just too deep.

I mean they have four or five six guys scoring double digits. They have four legit stars on the floor. And they don't ever have to like just rely on their bench to go out there and fill up fill up the minutes because they have four or five guys that are all star level type players that are always out there on the floor at any given time.

And it's like hey you know we can rest too and and leave Tatum out there and we can we can leave him out there with Derek White or whoever it might be. They're just they're just too deep in Miami right now without Jimmy Butler. They're just too thin.

So I think this series ends in four. I think if you're looking to go ahead and make a series bet right now if you think that Boston is going to sweep the fact that they're up one nothing. You want to make this bet now before game two even starts because like I just said they're like 15 point favorite.

So more than likely they're going to end up going up to 0 if Miami gets blown out here. Does that series sweep bet is it's going to be off the table. So if you're looking to make that wager you're going to have to make that now.

I honestly think this ends in four. I just don't think that Miami has the horses to hold up here you know against Boston as for as far as laying 15 points. You know I don't want to do that to be honest with you.

I think the best bet in this game for me is to go ahead and just play Miami plus the five in the first quarter and then probably just go ahead and play Boston right now to win this one in four. It's just it's just too many horses out there for Boston to go ahead and and probably lose the game. I just don't see it.

[Munaf Manji]
Yeah it's just a huge I think talent discrepancy right now between these two teams. And you know I know that coach Eric Schultz is one of the best at making in-game adjustments. But I mean we've I've mentioned this a lot that this Boston Celtics team they're just very very deep.

You know guys that they have next to Jason Tatum Jalen Brown. They didn't have to be you know what Terry Tyrese Maxey Joel Embiid LeBron James and Anthony Davis have had to been through the first two games of the season. Maybe a lot of that has to do with their with their who their opponent is.

But Miami again not having Jimmy Butler who we've seen just had an absolute. Amazing run not only last season but going back to the 2020 season in the bubble where he was absolutely fantastic. But it's just right now it's a huge talent discrepancy in my eyes.

So I think this Boston Celtics seem like you mentioned they should get this done in the minimum I think in four games. We'll be surprised if this gets done in four games. Absolutely not here.

But I also do like the under in this game two or two and a half. It's kind of telling that Miami right now I think offensively is very limited. And if Tyler Hero is going to have a bad shooting night then you're relying on a guy like Bam to get you points.

And you had a great game one. Don't get me wrong there. But then after that it's just it's tough to see these guys step up on the road at home.

It could be a different story for this Miami Heat team. But I think the Miami Heat also climbed down on defense and Boston does too. And I just don't see these two teams getting up and down the floor when it comes to pay.

So it's two or two and a half for a reason. I think this number does get under the total here of two or two and a half. Second game on the Wednesday schedule here sleepy.

I will go over to game two between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Oklahoma City Thunder. And this was one of the more exciting games on Sunday night to wrap up the weekend. Game ones.

OKC Thunder in game one. Get the victory. Ninety four.

Ninety two. They're right back at it here at home. Right now the Thunder are a seven and a half point home favorite with a total of two ten and a half.

Zion will continue to be out here for the Pelicans. But see what we think about this game. Minus seven and a half in favor of the Thunder.

[SleepyJ]
I really like the Thunder in this one. I liked them in game one. And I'm actually glad that the game played out in game one the way that it did.

How the Pelicans had a legit chance to go in and win that basketball game. And they led there late by a couple points. And then OKC came storming back.

And they got a two point victory when all was said and done. But I think that that's a gut punch to this Pelicans team. The fact that they came this close to going ahead and getting a win without their star player on the floor.

And I think it was a slap in the head to OKC to say wake up. These dudes are coming to play. We need to go and we need to put a better effort in for game two.

So I think that that line. I think it closed at nine and a half OKC in game one. And I think after the game one result.

Well now it's like oh you know this is going to be a much competitive series. I like that. I think that's an overreaction now that this line is down to seven and a half.

I'll go ahead and I'll take OKC and land the seven and a half points. That blowout that I thought we would see in game one. I think that happens here in game two.

I think we see a much better effort out of OKC. And I think that the Pelicans kind of just shot their load there in game one. I think they come up short.

I think that they're just probably checked out here maybe middle of the third beginning of the fourth quarter saying you know what. Let's just go ahead and get these guys back at our house and see what happens. So that's where I'm at here.

OKC minus seven and a half. I like it.

[Munaf Manji]
Yeah. And you'll see that in that during that game for the Thunder in game one. Like does that team look like a team that you had players that were playing in their first playoff game.

Right. And this is one of the youngest teams in the NBA if not the youngest. And you could kind of tell that it was their first playoff game especially in that first half.

But they really turned it up in the second half after they probably got the jitters out of it after that first half. It was a tight game at the half. Forty three to forty three.

They came out in the third quarter played some great basketball scoring the Pelicans by six points. They did have a little bit of a scoring drought in the final couple of minutes there in that fourth quarter. But SGA had a huge and one play that gave the Thunder the lead and propelled them to the victory against the Pelicans here.

But now I think that they've gotten those jitters out of the way. I think they'll have a better shooting night here as well. Will the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I think the one concern I do have and I mentioned this when we talked about the series was that if they're able to limit the second chance opportunities for the Pelicans I think that's where the OKC Thunder can really run away with this game. And when you when you have you know Jonas Valanciunas who's having a great playoff run right now about his rebounding the basketball without Zion there. He's been great.

But the Pelicans were plus eight in the rebounding edge. They had 10 more offensive rebounds in Game 1. Did the New Orleans Pelicans 18 to 8 as far as the offensive rebound discrepancy there points to the paint.

Shockingly the Thunder were plus six in that category. So I think for the Thunder the main thing will be rebounding. And again when you don't have a true big man on this Oklahoma City Thunder team which I would love to see them add going into next season.

That's what I'm going to be looking out for in this game that if they're able to really limit those offensive rebounding. Opportunities for the New Orleans Pelicans and OKC can you know make it a one and done possession for the Pelicans. And I think that at that point that's where they can create that separation for the OKC Thunder.

So yeah I like OKC early in this game. I will look at it maybe in the first half. I don't hate your look on the full game here as well.

I think some of these tired legs will probably catch up to New Orleans or New Orleans Pelicans. And again you're relying on guys outside of CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingham to step. I know Trey Murphy had a really big game shooting the basketball from beyond the arc as well.

But I just think this OKC Thunder team is ready you know after getting those jitters out in Game 1. And just getting behind this crowd was absolutely fantastic for this team in Game 1. So I look at OKC Thunder early and see if you're there with the full game with this Thunder team.

Let's get over to the Thursday schedule. Three games on the schedule for Thursday. We'll start with a 7-10 Eastern start on Thursday.

We've got the Cleveland Cavaliers. They are in Orlando with a 2-0 lead against the Magic. Magic are a one and a half point home favorite in this game with a total of 198 and a half.

Sorry the money line minus 120 for the Orlando Magic and even money here for the Cleveland Cavaliers. And if you take a look at this series. I mean if you've been watching this game obviously points have been at a premium.

And it's just been really bad shooting especially for the Orlando Magic side of things. Where they really don't have outside of Paulo Banqueiro a consistent score. I know Franz Wagner is supposed to be that guy for this Orlando Magic team.

And they really don't have that three point shooting as well. I think that's really been the fallback for this Orlando Magic team through the first two games of this series. But they're back at home here sleepy.

Where they've been one of the best teams against the spread and straight up at home. Do you think they can get a win here and get on the board in this series? Or do you think Cleveland continues their role here?

[SleepyJ]
Man it's tough to take Orlando when you watch them play in game one and game two. You just wonder do they have the offense to go ahead and get enough points on the board. Obviously at home they're going to be a little bit better here.

But I think you and I would agree like Cleveland is far better than this Orlando team. Give credit where credit's due Orlando's here. They're going to be at home but when I look at these two teams.

I mean I don't think that Cleveland is going to end up in the Eastern Conference Finals. But I think that there's a really good chance they could get there. And I don't think Orlando has really any chance to get there.

Maybe they can win one game in this series. I mean I would kind of give them that. The wager I kind of want to attack here though.

Is I want to look at the second quarter in this game. We mentioned that Orlando can't score. And it's not like Cleveland's going out there lighting up the scoreboard either.

And I think we have a total in the second quarter that's a little bit deflated. So when these teams come out in the first quarter. Yeah they want to go out there and get their offense rolling.

But the defense, the legs are there. They're locked in. They don't want anybody to get any type of run.

And I think the defense in the first quarter has been pretty strong. And I think it's loosened up maybe a little bit in the second quarter. But one of the issues that I kind of have with this particular wager is.

The guys that you're bringing off the bench are out there searching for shooters. And searching for offense. And that worries me a little bit.

And I think we've seen that in the first two games. And I think that the coaches are probably going to be like. Look we can't just go out there and just let our offense just die.

And I think that that's going to be the message that's sent. So I'm actually looking at the second quarter in this one. The total right now is 50 and a half.

I think we can get over that. I'm going to make that wager. If I were forced to go ahead and pick a side here.

I would take Cleveland. I think Cleveland comes in here with the mindset that they have to get one here. At least in Orlando.

And the way that they're kind of playing right now. They're playing good basketball. I would look at the Cleveland side.

As far as the total is concerned. It's down to what? Like 198 and a half right now.

I mean that's really low. These teams haven't even sniffed that. I mean they're not even getting close to it.

So I would say probably under again. But if I'm looking at anything over right now. It's either going to be a player prop.

Or it's going to be that second quarter at 50 and a half. So that's kind of my thoughts on that game as a whole. I think I'll probably end up with a couple wagers in this game.

Once I really sit down and kind of iron it out. Because I think that. You know the fact that there's just such low scoring.

I think that that's going to. At least guys like you and I are digging into player props. Some of these guys totals are going to be really, really low.

They're going to be. They're just going to be over adjusted. So I'll be looking at that for sure.

So that's kind of all my thoughts with that game right now.

[Munaf Manji]
Yeah game one. They combined to score 180 points. Game two.

They scored two more points. 182 in game two. And I think that that's the team that's going to continue here.

It's just going to be one of those series. I think the first one to 95 points is going to win the game. So again, I'm going with another total here in this game.

I like the under 198 and a half. And I think it's just going to continue to get lower as these games continue to go forward. And if it does wrap up in four or five games for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There's Orlando magic team. I mean, they have a lot of great young talent, but I think in the off season, they're going to have number one address or three point shooting and also, you know, add scoring to this roster because they have a solid foundation with young guys. But again, we know we'll talk more about that in the off season for the Orlando magic.

As far as the game, you know, anytime this has been a theme in the years past, and I think the books have finally caught up to a sleep. And you could probably attest to this as well. That team's down.

Oh, they have been really profitable in the first half back at home in those spots. And right now you take a look at the game line right now is minus one and a half in favor of the Orlando magic. And the first half line that as well is minus one and a half in favor of the magic.

So these books do expect like us, that when you're playing with desperation, you come out of the gate beyond your home crowd and you just play desperate basketball, you lock in defensively. So I would look at Orlando in the first quarter here. I'll pivot away from the first half that number right now in the first quarter is minus one for the Orlando magic.

I think that they'll play really good defensively. And then I think that second half, it's where really the Cleveland Cavaliers have been able to create that separation against this Orlando magic team. And they've been out scoring them except in game one.

But I just think that this Orlando team should come out. Like I mentioned, they've been one of the best teams at home this season and very, very profitable in the first half as well.

[SleepyJ]
I think one of the big things here in my office, the reason why you're going to look at the home team is because the home teams in this entire playoffs, even the play in they've absolutely dominated the road. The road teams are getting absolutely smashed.

[Munaf Manji]
Yeah.

[SleepyJ]
I think we've had what two, maybe two games that the road team won the entire playoffs. So I'd be with you, you know, go ahead and start looking at these home teams, first quarter, first half, you know, because there's just so much energy in the crowd and they're just so happy to be back home, especially, you know, teams that are down. Oh, two, you know, their, their, their life's on the line.

So it's not a, it's not a bad look at all.

[Munaf Manji]
Yeah. Home teams were 12 and oh, coming into Tuesday night, including Minnesota winning on Tuesday night, but it looks like the Indiana Pacers are going to break that streak right now of home teams winning. They're up right now.

One 21, one Oh two with about three minutes and 44 seconds left. Have a 19 point lead. So it looks like the Pacers will be that first team to get the road victory in the NBA playoffs here in Dallas.

Also right now at the end of the first quarter up by four points, 23 to 19, getting over to the second game of the triple header on Thursday night. We've got the New York Knicks. They are headed to the city of brotherly love to take on the Philadelphia 76ers.

Another team that has a two lead heading into the road here. Sixers like the magic down. Oh, two.

They are a four and a half point home favorite here with a total of two Oh four in this game here. Sleepy end for the Sixers. They really fumbled that game away in game two.

So it's to say the least. I mean, I know a lot of people are watching that game. It was a nationally televised game, but you know, I'm not going to go through everything, but they hit two big three pointers within the final thing.

What? 35 seconds did the New York Knicks by Jalen Brunson, who hasn't been very good this series. And I think that's the scary part right now for the Philadelphia 76ers.

He hasn't been shooting the ball very well. First two games combined. He's 18 of 55 is Jalen Brunson, but the really, the other guys have stepped up guys like Josh Hart, Dante, David Chin.

So I say a heart and sign off the bench. I'm sorry. Defensively has been absolutely outstanding for this team.

And Philly, you know, they're back at home, but it's really been Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. And both of those two guys are really compromised right now between Embiid dealing with a knee injury and Tyrese Maxey had that illness that he was questionable going into game two, but he said in his postgame conference that he wasn't going to miss the game and he had an incredible performance, but they need somebody outside of those two guys to step up. And I've always said this, that role players in the playoffs, especially tend to rise up at home.

And I think the spot for some of these guys to step up, which guy is it? I don't know, but I do expect somebody to step up outside of those two guys here, but let's actually get into the game here. The spread right now, mine's four and a half as Philly looks to get on the board in this series against the New York Knicks.

[SleepyJ]
Well, I guess I'll say it like this is that there's really no excuse for, for Maxie. And there's really no excuse for MB. Maxie went out there had 35 points and beat one out there and had 34 points.

I think the excuse is that the Philly bench is absolutely trash right now. Like your best player is Nick Batum. He's playing three minutes.

Yeah. Kelly who's in the starting lineup, get you four points, buddy healed who you made this big trade for, get you two points. They stuck Paul Reed out there for a couple of minutes just to give Joel a little bit of a breather.

Philly's a little shorthanded, believe it or not. And this is a tough series. This is like one of the next teams from like back in the day.

And when I was a kid back in the eighties, this is just one of those hard nose. We're going to punch in the mouth and just see how many punches you can take. And eventually, you know, they, they try to get you to go ahead and fold.

And that's, that's this next team. You know, they're not, they're not loaded with a bunch of stars right now. RJ Barrett's gone.

Julius Randall's down. You know, it's pretty much it's Brunson and just a bunch of, I don't want to say journeyman players, obviously a bunch of starters, but I mean, you're not, you're not getting anything out of this, out of this team outside of a boxing match. I mean, that's what they're doing.

They're literally trying to beat the shit out of you all game long. And they're doing a good job of that with, with Philly right now. I would look towards the under in this game.

That's just the way I would look. I think that this is going to be another hard fought battle type of game here. I don't know if I want to play Philly here.

I guess I'll pull the curtain back a little bit when off. So I had a really cold stretch there at the end of the regular season. I think I lost like five days in a row with picks that I sold.

And that's uncommon for me. Generally, you know, I could lose one, two, three, maybe four days, but five days, you know, that, that that's a little bit much for me. And I gave back a ton of units at the end of the year.

I almost ended up back to even, I was up like 18 units at one point going into, you know, heading into the playoff. So hit a little bit of a cold stretch and I went out on a limb because I really liked Philly in game too. And I sold them as my playoff game of the year, because I really thought Philly was going to win that game.

And I didn't watch the end of the game. I turned it off because I didn't want to get too involved with it. I, I just, I just laid there and I had hope Philly did something good because at one point when I turned the, when I turned my phone off scoreboard watching, they were down by like eight or nine points or something like that.

I'm like, here we go. I'm like, I'm going to get slaughtered for this one. And other pick sellers will tell you, you know, the guys that care about their clients that, you know, we're right there with you and it sucks when we lose.

And it's, you know, it's really, it's great when we win. So I guess what I'm trying to get to here is that Philly battled back and they had a legit shot to win that game in a game that was just, it was tough. And I think that this is Philly's turn to kind of throw their haymaker now and get their fan and their crowd behind them.

And I think that the news actually helps here. The fact that Philly had a legit, you know, legit complaints about, you know, some fouls that weren't called there at the end of the game that costs them the game. Don't be surprised if Philly gets some early calls and late calls on this one to go ahead and try to get this series.

Even the NBA, they make more money when the Nixon 76ers go six or seven games. So I would play Philly here. That's just me.

I thought that they were going to beat up on the Knicks because when I look at the rosters, I mean, they don't have a Joel and they don't have a Tyrese. Maxie out there on the floor for, you know, for the Knicks. And I don't think guys like Josh Hart and defense.

And so we're going to be hitting threes from the parking lot again in this, in this particular game. So I would take Philly. That would be the way that I go, but I think the under is probably a good look to, as far as player props.

I don't know how you go away from and beat or Maxie, because those are the guys that are going to, they're going to take all the shots. So that's kind of where I'm at for that game right now. That's pretty much my thoughts.

And if you guys did jump on my, my game of the year winner with, with Philly, I just want to say, thanks. I know it was a sweat, not fun, but I'm glad we got it done.

[Munaf Manji]
And, and I knew you and I were talking about the six round. I mentioned that I felt like that next number was a little bit of a stretch and you have 100% agreed with me on that. I, you know, I think that the six years to respond in this game, I think you make a great point about what transpired at that end of the game, where there was a foul that was supposed to be called against the New York Knicks.

On Tyrese maxi. And maybe they get to get kind of get those makeup calls here in this game. But I think this is a good spot here for Philadelphia, whether you want to take them in the first quarter, first half or full game.

I couldn't talk you off of either one of those. Philly has come out and played well in the first quarter and the first half in both of those games. And now you're back at home playing with desperation.

I think that Philly comes out here and plays their best basketball here and they have to, right? Because again, you don't want to go down three Oh, but at that point it's going to be really impossible for you to come back at this series. But I think the advantage of this, this spot here, and I'm going to go out and give out my best bet here.

Sleepy. That's going to be the first quarter for this Philadelphia 76, 16 minus the one and a half as my best bet, you know, a team that's going to be coming out here with desperation. And I think the key thing also is that you have two days off, like I mentioned earlier on the episode between games two and three, because you're number one, you're traveling back.

You're traveling from one city to the next city to play games three and four. That's only, I think to the advantage of the Philadelphia 76 is right. We talked about joy.

Lumbine, you may be still dealing with that knee injury gives him an extra day off. Tire smack. See, you know, came out and said that he was dealing with an illness and in his post game interview, he mentioned that he wasn't feeling good.

He took an IB, took some meds, you know, try to stay hydrated, but still had an incredible performance. So he gets an extra day off. And I've said this a lot, role players tend to step up at home.

And I think that somebody, whether it's, whether it's Kyle Lowry, Kelly, Oubre, something from Tobias Harris positive. I think that's only going to help the Joel Embiid and. Sorry, smack see in this game here.

So, and like you mentioned, love what you mentioned that they may get those extra whistles kind of go in their ways. And then at the end of the night, if you do see the Philadelphia 76ers shot a little bit more free throws in the New York city, I don't think New York Knicks did. We wouldn't be surprised because of what transpired at the end of game two.

So I say all that to be on the Philadelphia 76ers in the first quarter in this game, that number is currently minus one and a half over on draft Kings. And then look, I mentioned the first two games in New York, in Madison square garden, they were up at the end of the first quarter. And to an organ is a spread in that first quarter, a very small sample, right?

But again, maxi or Joel Embiid is going to play the entire 12 minutes in that first quarter. So I do like Philly for the first game, sorry, for the full game, minus four and a half, but I'm going to take my money, get in and get out with the Sixers in the first quarter. I would expect them to be up by at least two to three baskets here at the end of the first quarter here.

So you'd be, so I'm going to take the Sixers. That's my best bet minus one and a half in the first quarter.

[SleepyJ]
I love that one. Like we were talking about going back home, home team showing up, you know, you got the crowd support. I do think that this is like kind of like a perfect scenario for you to go ahead and cash this one.

You got to consider those fouls that were called, you know, Philly is going to go ahead and get some free throws in the first quarter. And I think the guys that were ice cold, you know, whether it be Uber, you know, maybe Lowry, maybe Tobias Harris, they're going to get their best looks in the first quarter, the shots that they know that they can go out there and make just to get those guys feeling good. So I think that they're going to run some, some scripted plays, you know, that are going to get everybody involved and you're going to get the, the best effort and probably the best shot performance out of these guys to go ahead and start out this game, just to get the crowd riled up and make themselves, you know, feel pretty good in this one.

So I love this best, but I'm kind of a little upset. I didn't find it, but I approve good stuff.

[Munaf Manji]
All right, let's get to the last game on Thursday night. That's going to be the Western conference two seven match of the Denver nuggets. They are headed to the West coast to LA to take all the Lakers Denver up two games to nothing in this series.

And another team here, sleepy that gave it away in game two, especially where they had a 20 plus point lead. Did the LA Lakers in game two and Denver nuggets doing Denver nuggets thing, staying composed, not panicking, chipping their way at the lead. And at the end of the day, Jamal Murray hits an incredible shot at the buzzer to give them the game to victory to ticket commanding to lead here going into LA here.

So currently right now, the Denver nuggets are a one point favorite in this game here. Sleepy with a total of two 15 and a half. Not sure if it does make a huge difference for the LA Lakers, but they do expect to get Christian wood and Jared Vanderbilt back.

I don't think that really moves the needle a whole heck of a lot, but I do think adding Vanderbilt on the defensive side is going to help this Lakers team. But again, we've talked about like we did with Maxine and B dad, LeBron and a D have been absolutely fantastic in the game one in game two. Delo did bounce back in game two, but they need somebody else to step up for this Lakers team, whether that's going to be Austin Reeves, whether that's Ruri Yashimura, somebody has to step up and help these two superstars of the Lakers in 80 and LeBron James, but minus one right now for game three in favor of the nuggets here.

What are you thinking?

[SleepyJ]
I like the Lakers. I think that they figured something out when they went on that monster run. And I think they kind of just let their guard down and you can't let your guard down against a guy like yo kitchen and that crew, because they're obviously good enough to beat any team in the league.

So I think it was one of those situations where the Lakers kind of just fell asleep behind the wheel, kick themselves in the ass and now they're going to come back home. But we know what the Lakers do to win games. They get to the free throw line.

So don't be shocked if LeBron 80 or sitting on the free throw line a ton in this game. And I think one of the things that really helped the Lakers out was the fact that DLO, you know, went out there and perform much better than he did, you know, in the games prior because he was getting roasted on social media. So his confidence should be up here.

I think the Lakers play much better. I don't think they let their guard down at all. And I think that they're going to try to go ahead and get, get back to one of those decent sized leads.

And they're not going to give that up. I don't know who the referees are for this one, but yeah, I think the Lakers are going to get all the free throw calls that, that, that they're going to need in this one to go ahead and pull this one out. Nobody wants to see the Lakers get swept.

The NBA doesn't want to see the Lakers get swept. I think you're going to get a monster game out of LeBron and probably a pretty big game out of 80. I would really look at LeBron's points over because you know, when all hell breaks loose and the chips are down, even though LeBron at times we'll go ahead and pass the ball when, when it's the biggest shot just in order for the Lakers to go ahead and continue to be in a game.

LeBron's a guy that they're going to lean on. They're going to point to. So I would strongly look at LeBron's point total over.

I don't know what that is right now. I'm guessing it's probably somewhere in like that 23 area is 25 and a half. That seems about right.

I would, I would maybe still consider going to have playing that over. Maybe if you can find like a 23 and a half, 24 and a half, I think LeBron gets a 25 in this game. So that would be my look.

I like the Lakers. I'm probably going to end up betting the Lakers and taking them here. Did you say it was plus one and a half Lakers or the Lakers lane and laying a point and a half Lakers catching one point.

All right. Well then, yeah, I would go ahead. I would just play them on the money line.

See if you can get yourself a, like a plus one 15. I would even consider maybe taking an alternate bet, maybe like Lakers minus three and a half, somewhere in that area. Maybe you can get like plus one 60.

I think they win this game with a little bit of margin. So that's where I'm at. I'm on the Lakers and maybe I'll take a bite with LeBron points over.

Yeah.

[Munaf Manji]
I think there's another game where I'm looking at the Lakers early. I can't trust them in the second half of games. And we see that in the first two games for this Lakers team, they've come out and play well.

And I think that's something that's going to get to happen here in this game for the Lakers. We'll leave a look at them first quarter and first half. Would I be surprised if we see a friendly whistle for the LA Lakers in this game?

No, because we don't want to really see those sweeps happening in the first, in the first round, right? Especially with a market like LA where you have LeBron, you have Anthony Davis, you have Nicola Yogi, Jamal Murray. I mean, these are the stars of the NBA, the superstars of the NBA.

You'll talk a lot about conspiracy. I'm one of those conspiracy guys. I think that you want to get as many games as you can out of these two teams, especially the LA Lakers who are, you know, that big market team.

But I mean, you'd look at it, right? The Lakers have had double digit leads in the first two games and they just haven't been able to close it out. And that's something that they need to figure out sooner rather than later.

It's going to be very difficult, man. I think it's really impossible now for them to win for the next five games against the Denver Nuggets. But I think it has to start here in game three for the Lakers.

So I'd leaned full game here with you. But again, I'm just going to go in the first quarter first half, get in and get out with my money where the Lakers have been absolutely fantastic thus far this season. Not only during the regular season, but also in the first two games against the Denver Nuggets are sleepy.

So Lakers for me, first quarter, first half, however you want to dice it up there and Lakers there for sleepy in the full game on the money line. Hopefully they can get on the board and break that losing streak of 10 straight against the Denver Nuggets, including the playoffs and the regular season of their last 10 head to head matchups. So before we get into your best bet for the Wednesday or Thursday card, there are a lot of great things happening right now on pregame.com.

Obviously we're in the NHL playoffs, the NBA playoffs, MLBs in full swing. The NFL draft is happening on Thursday night. The wind totals have been popping up for the NFL as well.

Spring football as well. And before we know it, college football is going to be here as well. We're in a blink of an eye, but let our listeners know what can they take advantage of right now on pregame.com.

[SleepyJ]
Simple coupon code here for you guys. Go over to pregame.com. Enter shoot 10.

That's S H O O T 10. Shoot 10. You guys can save $10 off anything there at pregame.com, whether it be a best bet, maybe a game of the year pick any type of like weekend package or anything like that. Again, enter that code, shoot 10 S H O O T 10, shoot 10, $10 off anything there. At pregame.com.

[Munaf Manji]
There we go. Make sure you guys go to pregame.com. Use that promo code, shoot 10, $10 off anything on pregame.com.

So let's get into your best bet for the Wednesday or Thursday night card. Where are you going for your best bet?

[SleepyJ]
I'm going to go to the Lakers game and I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to play Michael Porter jr. Under 26 and a half points, rebounds and assists. Unfortunately for Porter jr.

It's been a rough week. His, his brother got banned from the NBA and his other brother was sentenced to, I think, six years in prison because of a drunk driving accident that killed the lady. So you have to wonder where his mind's at and coming into this game on the road, there really wasn't much of an adjustment from game two to game three.

I don't know if they, if they look to Porter jr. In this particular game. I mean, they don't get any assists out of him.

I don't know if you're going to get a lot of rebounds, you know, with 80 and LeBron, you know, going ahead and trying to attack the glass as much as possible. I think you're going to have to try to get the point. But what worries me is that Jamal just went out there and had a really big game.

He ends up hitting that really big shot. I think that that gives him motivation to go out there and take the extra shots. So they don't end up in a situation where they're down 20 points or something like that.

I think Yoka is just going to go out there and kind of do his thing when you're going on the road. You, you rely on your best players and that's going to be Yoka. That's going to be Murray.

I think Michael Porter jr. Unfortunately, you know, all the crap that's gone on in his life over the last week. I'm not saying that he's distracted or it's going to catch up with them, but I think that that's something that you do have to consider, you know, when you're, when you're looking at, you know, how a player might perform.

Maybe he has too much on, on, on this. Maybe he just has too much on his plate, you know, with that, with that particular thing. But I do think the game sets up for him to take a little bit of a backseat here.

So I'm looking at his points, rebounds, and it says under 26 and a half. I'll go ahead. I'll make that my best bet.

[Munaf Manji]
There we go. Michael Porter jr. Under points and rebounds for sleepy as his best bet.

Again, reminder for my best bet, that's going to be the Sixers first quarter minus the one and a half for game three on their home floor against the New York Knicks. So maybe one more order of business left here for the podcast. And that is going to be, of course, our player prop, best bet for the next two nights in the NBA here.

And I am going to hand this one off to you because you are the one that dug up this gem for us, for our player prop, best bet. So I'll give you the floor here where we go with our player prop, best bet.

[SleepyJ]
All right. So we're going to go to the Miami Boston game and we're going to go ahead. We're going to play Nicola Jovic over four and a half rebounds.

I think that this is, this number is just too low. I think there's a couple of things that are working in our favor here. Number one, his, his average rebounds on the year is like four and a half.

And this number is set at four and a half, but when playoff basketball comes to guys who were on the floor, your starters, they generally are going to get more minutes. Well, throughout the entire season, he's averaged maybe like 23 minutes per game in the last game versus Boston had 26 minutes. But what I watched with my own eyes, this is their number three player on the floor outside of here on outside of bam.

This is the next guy. This is the guy that could shoot the three ball. He can go out there and he could rebound.

And when you look at the other forwards that are out there, you have Kevin Love, you have high Smith and you have Caleb Martin, you got next to no production out of those guys at all. So I think they're going to look towards Jovic here to go ahead and play more minutes. I'm going to say he's probably going to get 29, 30, 31 minutes.

And if I could get that many minutes out of this guy, then it makes no sense that this number set at four and a half. When you and I were talking, we were discussing all these other player props that we looked at. I asked you for a particular number because that's the number I was hoping to get, because I'm like, that's the number I want to bet.

And when I said Jovich over four and a half, when I said is as rebounds at four and a half, you said, yup. I'm like, that feels wrong to me. So I wanted it at four and a half.

I'll take that here at four and a half. I think it just makes a lot of sense that they just don't have any depth really on the bench. And this guy can shoot the three ball.

So if they are down a little bit, it's like, Hey, you know what? Go out there, go out there and shoot a couple of threes. See if we get us back into this game, you know, being that they're, you know, big dogs here.

So I think four and a half is just too low. I think, I think the market's wrong on this. I think it should be set at five and a half.

I will not be surprised if this number goes to five and a half before this game tips off.

[Munaf Manji]
Yeah. And Nicola Jovic has been actually in the starting lineup for this Miami team. And obviously that's due to the injury with Jimmy Butler as well.

But like you mentioned, I think that this is a guy that's also blowout proof, right? Obviously with a spread of minus 14 and a half in this game for the Boston Celtics. I think that if they are down by 20 plus points with about five minutes to go, I think he's going to be the, he's going to be one of those players that skills is going to be on the floor.

Hopefully at that point, we still, we don't, we won't need him to get another rebound or two for us at that point, because we've been really cashing our player props either by a half or midway through the third quarter. But the minutes are going to be there, like you mentioned, because again, they are down Terry Rose here. They are down Jimmy Butler and Kevin Love.

I think it's a bad matchup for him in this series. And he only played 13 minutes in that first game for the Miami heat. So Nicola Jovic here, going back to the regular season has gone over four and a half rebounds in.

Let's see here. One, two, three, four, five, six. Out of the last seven games, he's gone over in three straight games in both in all three games thus far that they played postseason.

If you want to consider the play in tournament as postseason play as well, five rebounds, six rebounds, and then six rebounds against the Miami heat. Sorry, it's about Celtics in game one. So with all that being said, we do expect him to see the same amount of minutes, maybe more in this game.

And another thing I want to point out before we wrap it up here, I don't trust BAM to get those rebounds. I think they're going to rely him on, on him more offensively. And if Tyler heroes having another bad shooting night, I think BAM is going to have to really be focused on the offensive side.

And he's not been a great rebounder over the past several games. I mean, there's only been one game over the dating back to the regular season over the last five games where he's had more than six rebounds and that was 12 against the Philadelphia 76 and that play in tournament game. So, you know, I think there's a spot here.

It's a low, it's a by low spot here. And I think we found a gem here. I know we're usually used to looking at some either role player or star player for our player prop best, but I think this is what I'm really confident, especially in a game where we do think that points will be at a premium and that rebounding opportunities are going to be there.

So again, Nicola Jovic, best bet over four and a half rebounds for our player prop best bet. And hopefully we can continue rolling here with our player prop, best bets, you know, one off.

[SleepyJ]
One of the things that I kind of left out here was that one of the reasons why I like this is because I think he's actually had some really good rebounding games away from because he's played against teams that are out there shooting the three ball. So if we got to get a bunch of guys going to the rim, well, yeah, your center is going to get a lot of, a lot of rebounds, but if you have a team that's out there gunman threes, well, it opens up rebounds for all the other players. Boston in the last game shot 49 threes.

Miami went out there and shot 37. I mean, they put up 80 shots from the three point land. I think if this guy plays all these extra minutes, like you and I think if they shoot as many threes as they did in the last game, I just don't see how we don't have this number makes any sense.

So I love this pick. Glad you agree. We're going to catch this one again.

[Munaf Manji]
Yeah. 17 and two of our last 19 player props. Hopefully this gets to 18 and two over our last 20 player props.

And that would sleepy put it at 90%. So hopefully that gets us to the window here, but I love this player prop best bet. So I think that will get us to the window.

Hopefully, hopefully by halftime, if not midway through the third quarter. All right. That's going to wrap it up for this edition of the NBA podcast on RJ Bell's dream preview.

Sleepy. Anything else you want to mention to our listeners before we go our separate ways?

[SleepyJ]
Yeah. One more time with that coupon code, shoot 10, get over to pregame.com. Use that coupon code.

Shoot 10. Make sure you guys save 10 bucks on anything. They're at pregame.com.

Make sure you guys follow them on off. And I on X at secretary underscore pregame at sports nerd, eight to four. And one final update for you guys, since we went ahead and we covered Wednesday and Thursday game went off and I will go ahead.

We'll be back here Thursday night to do our weekend preview for the NBA.

[Munaf Manji]
There we go. Make sure you guys are subscribed to the podcast feed there. And again, you'll get that notification when the pot does drop.

And again, it's extremely important that you get to our player prop best bets as early as you can, because we've seen it that that number always moves. Once we release it, you know, for our player prop best bet. So again, make sure you guys get to it sooner rather than later.

And that's why it's a great reminder to be subscribed to the podcast feed. I like sleepy mentioned. We'll be back later this week to preview the weekend games, games three and possibly game force as well.

Till then, good luck with your bets. Let's win some money. And we'll talk to you guys down the road.