NBA Playoffs Who’s Hot and Who’s Not – May 22

By Dave Schwab

With Cleveland’s stunning 111-108 loss to Boston as a heavy 16-point home favorite in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Golden State remains the only straight-up unbeaten team left in the NBA Playoffs heading into its Game 4 matchup against the San Antonio Spurs this Monday night.

The Warriors are listed as 12-point road favorites to keep their current 11-game winning streak alive that includes four-game series sweeps against Portland and Utah before opening up a commanding 3-0 series lead in the Western Conference Finals. Golden State has covered against the spread in four of its last five postseason games to raise its record to 7-4 ATS in this year’s playoffs.

The total went OVER BetAnySports’ closing 214.5-point line in Saturday’s 120-108 victory against the Spurs as a 9.5-point favorite on the road. The total has gone OVER in the Warriors’ last four outings and in eight of their 11 playoffs games overall. The total line for Monday’s Game 4 has been set at 216. Should San Antonio find a way to avoid a sweep with a SU victory on Monday night, Game 5 is set for Wednesday night back in Golden State. The Spurs are 8-7 ATS in 15 previous playoff matchups this year and the total has gone OVER in 12 of those games.

Despite Sunday’s loss, it is still a solid bet that Cleveland will go on to win this best-of-seven series against the Celtics considering that it won the first two games on the road (both SU and ATS) by a combined 57 points. The loss actually snapped a 13-game SU winning streak in the playoffs after the Cavaliers won the last three games of its 2016 NBA Finals showdown against Golden State to secure a world title. Going back over the Cavaliers’ first 11 playoff games this year, they are 10-1 SU with a 6-3-2 record ATS. The total went OVER BetAnySports’ closing 214-point line in Sunday’s loss to Boston and it has gone OVER in eight of those first 11 postseason contests.

The Cavaliers have been opened as 15-point home favorites for Tuesday’s Game 4 with the total set at 216 points. The series will shift back to Boston for Thursday’s Game 5. The Celtics needed six games to get past Chicago in the opening round before going the distance against Washington in the best-of-seven conference semifinals. The Celtics are 10-6 ATS in the playoffs and the total has gone OVER in five of their last seven games.