A couple of massive Game 6s are coming our way on Friday as both the East and West semi-final series draw to a close. First it’ll be the Cavaliers and Pistons squaring off in Cleveland as the home team attempts to move on after a heroic win in Game 5 on the road. After that we have Wemby and co. looking to book their ticket to the West Finals as they try to eliminate Ant Man on his home turf. Catch the action from 7 pm ET on Prime Video.
As always, I’ve prepared my NBA Best Bets for the two games, focusing on the Point Spread market this time around. Odds are courtesy of FanDuel, don’t forget to visit our NBA Picks page for in-depth analysis of all upcoming Conference Finals games. Let’s get into my bets now!
Pistons vs Cavaliers Best Bet: Cavaliers -3.5 (-114)
It was far from pretty to watch, but the Cleveland Cavaliers pulled off a massive win in Game 5 in Detroit and now they are on the brink of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals. Being the more experienced team helped the Cavs stay cool in crunch time moments, ultimately it was Donovan Mitchell who stepped up in the OT period to seal the deal with some key baskets down the stretch. Once again we saw the Pistons struggling to find other options aside from Cade Cunningham and I think ultimately that is what’s going to cost them this series. The MVP candidate did his best with 39 points and 9 assists, but when Tobias Harris goes 6-for-19 from the field and Jalen Duren ends the game with just 9 points and 0 mins logged in the 4th quarter, it’s hard to expect anything good happening to the Pistons. Playing at home where they are yet to lose a game this postseason is key for the Cavs here. They have a chance to do something really special on Friday, I think they have these Pistons figured out. Despite all the postseason disappointments in his career so far, I think this time James Harden seals the deal. I’ll take Cleveland to cover and advance.
Spurs vs Timberwolves Best Bet: Timberwolves +4.5 (-104)
A response from Minnesota is expected on Friday after their 29-point blowout loss in Game 5 at San Antonio. The T’Wolves only lead in that game was 5-3 early on, they could just never get into their groove and as time went on the lead just kept on growing. The Spurs just abused Minny down low edging them out 68-36 in paint points, very disappointing from the T’Wolves perspective considering they have a DPOY in their ranks in Rudy Gobert who prides himself on protecting the paint. That’ll be the key to Game 6 at home, if Minnesota can somehow replicate their performances on the defensive end from Games 1 and 4 where they kept the Spurs to 102 and 109 points respectively, they can extend this series to a deciding Game 7. I am also expecting big things from Ant Man here. Despite being visibly limited by a couple of nagging injuries, he has always come up big in elimination games for his team. In 8 of them so far in his career he’s averaging 26.5 points, 7 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. Let’s also not forget that the Timberwolves have been in similar situations as a group in the past, that experience should come in handy here as they force Game 7 on Sunday.
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