Top 3 NBA Betting Picks for Wednesday, June 2nd (2021)
The NBA Playoffs continue to excite and delight. Wednesday gives us an exciting four-game slate with three elimination games. Some of the first round matchups have been more competitive than expected, which is good news for fans and bettors. All eyes will be on two of tonight’s matchups in particular as the Washington Wizards will have a chance to tie up the series with Joel Embiid expected to be sidelined, and our marquee matchup of the night features two of the very best the NBA has to offer in Kawhi Leonard and Luka Doncic.
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1. Hawks +1.5 | -113 at DraftKings Sportsbook
The Atlanta Hawks have proven to be the better team in this series and should be able to pull off the victory tonight in New York. The spread is small enough that we do not have to worry much about late-game foul situations and can instead focus on who will win, and if the Knicks are our answer if they will win by two or more points.
Julius Randle and RJ Barrett have been nothing short of horrendous in their playoff debuts. Derrick Rose’s tremendous play notwithstanding, the Knicks were always only going to go as far as Randle allowed them to. They are still a young team and are lacking in playoff-caliber talent. They may get there in a couple of years but were an easy second round sweep candidate. This series has turned out to be one of the most entertaining, especially when the verbal jabs are taken into account.
With that said, Atlanta has been steadily improving in this series while the Knicks remain stuck in the mud. Again, this is a talent gap issue that is becoming more crystalized in the playoffs. The Knicks have the ability to ride the home game momentum to a victory, but the smart money is on the Hawks asserting themselves as the superior team one final time. New York has more than a puncher’s chance tonight, but the Hawks should, by all accounts, be the favorite tonight, save except for the market they play in (and the betting attention the Knicks attract). Keep the action to one unit.
2. Julius Randle Under 23.5 Points | -114 at DraftKings Sportsbook
One has to believe that Julius Randle has to (or should) eventually get it going, but time is quickly running out. He has shown very little to dissuade the notion that he is overwhelmed as a primary option when it really counts, failing to shoot above .368 in any game this series. He is far too good to continue to shoot this bad. Still, the fact is that he does not match up well against an Atlanta Hawks team that has the perimeter defenders to give him issues and an interior presence like Clint Capela to prevent Randle from playing bully ball. Randle over is a nice dart throw, but if you are looking to accrue units instead of taking a flier, the under is the prudent play based on what we have seen (and not seen) from Randle this postseason. Tap him for one unit.
3. Russell Westbrook Under 12.5 Rebounds | -139 at DraftKings Sportsbook
The line here has been set tremendously high following the mercurial combo guard’s 21 rebound outburst. This had led to sharp action slamming the under. However, there is a case to be made that Westbrook’s outburst coincided with Joel Embiid’s absence, something that s expected to continue tonight.
Westbrook averaged a robust 11.5 rebounds per game this season but fell under the 12.5 number in every game of the playoffs prior to Game 5. Embiid not being on the floor should allow him to approach his season average, but exceeding it and grabbing at least 13 boards will take some luck and/or a concerted effort from his teammates to allow him to grab the extra rebounds he often chases.
This is not a great value per se, but what we have seen in this series so far suggests that the under is the only play here, and as the juice indicates, the sharp money agrees. Tap this prop for one unit, even if you only get a partial unit return.
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Raju Byfield is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Raju, check out his archive and follow him @FantasyContext.