NBA Picks

The Philadelphia 76ers travel to face the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their first round playoff series, but the tone of this matchup is heavily influenced by the absence of Joel Embiid. Philadelphia will be without one of its centerpieces as he continues to recover, leaving a massive void in both scoring and interior defense. That responsibility now shifts to Tyrese Maxey, who averaged over 28 points per game this season and has shown the ability to take over offensively. However, without Embiid’s presence, Boston can key in defensively on Maxey, limit driving lanes and force the Sixers into more difficult perimeter shots. The lack of a dominant interior option also impacts Philadelphia’s rebounding and second-chance opportunities, further shrinking their offensive margin for error.

Boston enters as the more complete team after securing the #2 seed, boasting one of the league’s best net ratings and a top tier combination of offensive efficiency and defensive versatility. Led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics can score at all 3 levels while maintaining strong defensive pressure across multiple positions. While the regular season series was competitive, Philadelphia’s current roster limitations shift the balance significantly. From a stylistic perspective, this game projects to be slower and more methodical, with the Sixers likely attempting to control pace and limit possessions to stay competitive. Game 1 playoff environments also tend to emphasize physicality, half-court execution and defensive intensity. With Boston capable of dictating tempo and Philadelphia potentially struggling to generate consistent offense, this sets up as a lower scoring contest rather than a fast-paced shootout.

76ers vs Celtics Prediction: Under 213.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable to 212.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns will contest Game 1 of their series in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs on Sunday in Oklahoma City. These 2 familiar foes faced each other 5 times during the regular season — more than the normal 4 because they also squared off in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup. On 3 of those occasions, the winning team scored at least 135 points. The first matchup of the 2025-26 campaign resulted in a 123-119 victory for the Thunder. Only 1 of the 5 matchups produced fewer than 227 points (a 108-105 Suns win on January 4). Another relatively high-scoring affair should be in the cards this weekend, so my Suns vs Thunder pick is Over 215.5.

OKC may be the best defensive team in the West, but its games are still averaging 226.9 points; Phoenix is not too far behind at 223.7 ppg. Although the Suns like to play slow, that is not really a strategy that works well against Oklahoma City. It’s not like the visitors are going to have an advantage in half-court sets against the Thunder’s defense. Devin Booker and company will have to utilize a transition game on at least a somewhat regular basis. Booker did not do much in the play-in tournament, but he scored at least 30 points in 5 of his last 6 regular-season contests. The over is 4-2 in the Suns’ last 6 road games. It is also 8-2 in the Thunder’s last 10 overall, 4-0 in their last 4 at home and 6-1 in their last 7 against Phoenix.

Suns vs Thunder prediction: Over 215.5 (-105) available at time of publishing. Playable to 217.

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Friday’s play-in tournament game vs Charlotte perfectly encapsulates this entire Orlando Magic season. Just two days after getting smacked by the 76ers and their star player Paolo Banchero going 7-for-22 and committing 6 turnovers, the Magic completely flip the script and win by 31 points to make it into the postseason. Now the real deal begins, as they head to the Motor City for Game 1. The Magic actually tied the Pistons 2-2 in the regular season, but it’s worth pointing out they had a 19-20 SU record in away games. Only 3 wins in 11 games vs East opponents makes the Magic one of the more inconsistent teams right now.

The Pistons have been anything but inconsistent. Expectations are high going into the Playoffs after a 60-win regular season. Cade Cunningham successfully returned following a punctured lung, playing in the final 3 regular season games and regaining some of the momentum lost due to his absence. A good sign for the Pistons is certainly the fact that they didn’t fall off when he wasn’t there, in fact they were the 3rd best defense in the league over the final 15 games played. And that’ll be the key to this series, if the Pistons can maintain their high level of play on that end they’ll be in a good spot.

Detroit had an entire week off to rest before this game, while the Magic played two grueling play-in games. These Pistons are hungry for success, especially Cade who has had his way with the Magic defense averaging 32.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 10.7 assists in 3 meetings. I don’t think they’ll be able to contain him in the opener, so let’s back Detroit to cover here.

Orlando Magic vs Detroit Pistons Game 1 Predictions: Pistons -8.5 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

On day one of the first round, the home teams dominated, going 4-0 overall. The San Antonio Spurs will try to keep the trend going when they open their postseason against Deni Avdija and the Portland Trail Blazers. Spurs’ fans should be loud and excited for this matchup as it is the first time San Antonio has made the playoffs since 2019. Victor Wembanyama has been the biggest reason for the Spurs’ success, averaging 25 points and 11.5 rebounds in his third season. A big question revolving around San Antonio is can Wembanyama continue his success in his first playoff run? The Spurs will get to start their run against a team they beat in two out of three matchups this season. These teams played a couple of weeks ago on April 8th, a game the Spurs won in San Antonio 112-101. The Trail Blazers are the ninth fastest team in the NBA in terms of pace, but the Spurs were able to enforce their style on the game and slow down Portland. Portland may try to speed this game up, but I don’t see them having much success controlling tempo against a Spurs defense that ranks third in defensive efficiency. A big worry I have for Portland in this series is their turnover problem. The Trail Blazers commit the highest average of turnovers per game at 16.5 per game. Against a team that is as long and tough defensively as San Antonio, this game could turn sideways if Portland does not control the basketball. The Spurs have been one of the best teams all season, and I’ll side with their success continuing in the postseason. I’m expecting the Spurs to run away with this one as the Spurs fans celebrate their return to the postseason. 

Spurs -11 is available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.