Now that we’re in the thick of the NBA playoffs, the basketball betting market is hotter than ever. CBS Sports will be providing daily picks for the duration of the postseason. Sam Quinn will make at least one pick for every game between now and the NBA Finals. All lines courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook.
Featured Game | Denver Nuggets vs. Phoenix Suns
The Nuggets were the second-best home team in the NBA during the regular season at 34-7. The only reason they didn’t finish No. 1 was their late-season swoon. Until March 1, the Nuggets were 28-4 at home with an 11.7 net rating. In the first round against Minnesota, they won all three of their home games by a combined 41 points, the best figure in the postseason thus far. The Suns, meanwhile, struggled through an extremely difficult five-game series against an inferior opponent in the injury-riddled Clippers.
If they needed Torrey Craig to shoot 8-of-12 from 3-point range in Games 2 and 3 just to fend off the Clippers, how are they going to look against Denver? As this series progresses, the gap might shrink. Once teams have scouted one another to death, playoff series frequently boil down to individual excellence. That’s a matchup Devin Booker and Kevin Durant can win. For now, though, the better team playing on its home floor deserves to be favored. The Pick: Nuggets -3
A total of 226 points seems fairly low considering the firepower we’re dealing with here. The first-round series between the Suns and Clippers topped 226 points three times and got to 225 in a fourth game. Denver’s first-round series wasn’t quite as high-scoring, but the Nuggets had the NBA’s fifth-best regular season offense. Phoenix scored at least 116 points in all four games when these teams met up in 2021. Obviously, the rosters look different this time around, but the core tenant of Devin Booker attacking Nikola Jokic in pick-and-roll should be similar.…
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