Only two games remain of the NBA Play-In Tournament. In the first game, we get to see the Bulls battle it out in Miami against the Heat as five-and-a-half road underdogs. The winner of that game will be rewarded by getting to face the best team in the East, the Milwaukee Bucks. On the Western side, the Thunder takes on the Timberwolves, also as five-and-a-half road underdogs. Whoever advances gets to take on the number one seed in the West, the Denver Nuggets.
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for NBA action on Friday, April 14.
Friday’s Best NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 28-26
Only two games remain of the NBA Play-In Tournament. In the first game, we get to see the Bulls battle it out in Miami against the Heat as five-and-a-half road underdogs. The winner of that game will be rewarded by getting to face the best team in the East, the Milwaukee Bucks. On the Western side, the Thunder takes on the Timberwolves, also as five-and-a-half road underdogs. Whoever advances gets to take on the number one seed in the West, the Denver Nuggets.
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for NBA action on Friday, April 14.
Friday’s Best NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 28-26
The Heat was embarrassed last game against the Hawks, and Butler specifically discussed their struggles off the glass following the game. This is from Mike McDaniel of Sports Illustrated, “Rebounding was just horrendous," Butler said after the Heat were outrebounded 63-39 by the Hawks. "We didn't put body on body and they got all the rebounds, all the second-chance points. And that was the game."
Jimmy only had four rebounds against the Hawks but averaged 5.9 boards per game in the regular season. With this being a win-or-go-home game, Butler will definitely be playing close to 40 minutes tonight, and in his two games against Chicago this season, he had seven and eight rebounds. Look for Jimmy to listen to his own criticism and get aggressive chasing down boards.
With Gobert listed as questionable at the moment, this isn’t listed at PrizePicks, but it is as other books. He is -140 at DraftKings and -132 at FanDuel for this line, and it feels inevitable that he shows up to play in this situation. Following all of the drama around Gobert, he has rejoined the team and will undoubtedly want to prove that he is in it to win it for the team. At least, that’s what any normal athlete would do in theory.
The matchup on hand is as good as it gets for Gobert. We just saw Jonas Valanciunas rack up 18 rebounds against OKC, and they have allowed the fourth most boards per game to Centers on the season. Rudy had 16 and 15 rebounds in his two full games against the Thunder. In the other game, he was ejected (lol) and played just nine minutes. As long as he is on the floor and not punching teammates, or opponents, Gobert should get over this mark.
The Bulls are one of the toughest matchups for shooters, largely in part to the three-headed defensive monster of Patrick Williams, Patrick Beverly, and Alex Caruso. They will be all over Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, and the rest of the shooters on the Heat, which should leave Bam Adebayo with the best matchup to exploit down low. He put up 23 and 27 points in his last two games against the Bulls this season.
Adebayo had a poor night on offense against the Hawks, scoring just 12 points, but he did play 41 minutes in that contest. In this game situation, Bam should definitely see close to 40 minutes once again, and he averaged 20.4 PPG this season. Nikola Vucevic isn’t the best defender by any means, and with the rest of the Heat squad blanketed, he should find success. This same line is listed at -135 over at DraftKings.
Check out our other best bets for Friday:
View 5-star bets and historical prop performance by players with our Prop Bet Analyzer >>
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RadioPublic | Breaker | Castbox | Pocket Casts
Tyler Gentile is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Tyler, follow him @808Paperboi.
