Tag: play-in tournament

Warriors vs. Lakers betting picks: Prediction, point spread, odds, over/under for Wednesday’s play-in game

Predictions, picks and best bets for Wednesday’s tilt for the Western Conference play-in game between the Warriors and Lakers.

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On Wednesday, the Golden State Warriors will meet the Los Angeles Lakers in the play-in game to decide the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference postseason with a game at Hollywood’s Staples Center. If you’re looking to do some last-minute betting research, you’re in luck. Warriors Wire will give you the latest point spread, moneyline odds and over-under number, as well as the information you’ll need to make the smartest bet on BetMGM.

The game tips off at 7 p.m. PT and can be seen on ESPN.

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The lines, courtesy of BetMGM

  • Point spread: Lakers -5.5
  • Money line: Lakers -250 / Warriors +190
  • Over-under: 217.5

Advice and prediction

While it’s hard to bet against a streaking Steph Curry, the Los Angeles Lakers could cause trouble for the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night. Despite winning six games in a row to close the season, the Warriros still struggle when it comes to keeping teams off the glass. With the Lakers featuring a frontline that has Anthony Davis and Andre Drummond, the Warriors will have to fight to limit the defending champ’s getting multiple attempts at the tum.

Along with a size advantage, the Lakers boast the league’s top defensive rating. The Lakers will likely unload a bevy of defensive combinations to slow down Curry, forcing the rest of Golden State’s cast to make plays. If Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins or Jordan Poole can’t answer the bell, the Lakers could run away with the play-in game.

Best Bet: Under 217.5

Prediction: Lakers 108, Warriors 98

Get more betting analysis and predictions at Sportsbook Wire.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Warriors at Lakers: 3 key player matchups to watch for Wednesday

Three key matchups that will define Wednesday’s Lakers-Warriors play-in game.

With tipoff for the highly anticipated showdown between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors looming, the focus is largely on the superstar battle between LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry.

While both superstars will need to produce in bunches to give their respective teams the best shot at winning, the result will be heavily influenced by matchups outside of James and Curry.

One vital player for the Lakers that could have a significant impact is Anthony Davis, who didn’t feature in the last two games against the Warriors – where Los Angeles won in two blowouts.

Golden State’s roster is not at 100 percent health as Kelly Oubre Jr. and Damion Lee won’t be playing, but Andrew Wiggins has been producing efficiently.

Here are three key matchups that could dictate the outcome of the game:

Warriors at Lakers: 4 key questions about Wednesday’s play-in game

To get an insider’s perspective for the Golden State Warriors, Tommy Call, editor of Warriors Wire, gives his outlook for the play-in game.

As tipoff nears for the Los Angeles Lakers-Golden State Warriors play-in game, let’s get an insider’s perspective on how the Warriors look entering the contest.

At 39-33, Golden State finished an injury-riddled campaign as the eighth seed in the Western Conference, but it might not have been possible if Stephen Curry had not transformed into a human flamethrower nearly every game.

Curry took home the NBA’s scoring title this season, averaging a blistering 32.0 points per game over the 63 games he appeared in, which is also a career high for the 33-year-old guard.

The Warriors will not have Kelly Oubre Jr., Damion Lee, James Wiseman and Klay Thompson because of injuries and health and safety protocols.

To get an in-depth glimpse of the Warriors, our friend Tommy Call III, editor of Warriors Wire, answered a set of questions:

ESPN panel heavily favors Washington Wizards over Boston Celtics in Tuesday’s play-in contest

The Wiz are surging at the right time, it seems.

It seems a panel of expert analysts at ESPN do not have much faith in the Boston Celtics in their game against the eighth-seeded and surging Washington Wizards Tuesday evening.

The Celtics are playing the Wizards for the honor of a likely first-round exit against the Brooklyn Nets, with both teams having struggled to put a consistent product on the floor this season due to injuries and other factors. But Washington — winner of six of their last ten games — is getting its act together at exactly the right time while Boston had taken a significant step backward as the regular season wound down, the Celtics having won just four games over a similar stretch.

The 16 ESPN panelists are taking the Wiz 12 to 4.

Should their prediction come true, it’ll be a second play-in game against whoever wins the Nos. 9 – 10 matchup, facing either the Charlotte Hornets or Indiana Pacers.

Should they lose that, they’ll likely be facing the beach — or however else they choose to kick off their offseason.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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TD Garden to open with full capacity May 29; will Celtics survive long enough for it to matter?

Boston’s home arena will have no limits on capacity starting May 29, but the Celts need to survive the play-in tournament for it to matter.

The State of Massachusetts will lift the capacity limits of all sporting venues in the state as of May 29 — including the Boston Celtics home court of TD Garden — per multiple sources, but it will all be for naught unless the team makes it out of the NBA’s new play-in tournament it is slated to begin play in this evening.

The Celtics must either beat the eighth-seeded Washington Wizards for the right to play in the first round from the seven seed to face the Brooklyn Nets, or they must beat the winner of the Nos. 9 and 10 seed play-in game between the Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers later this week should they lose to the Wizards this evening to secure the honor of facing the Philadelphia 76ers, the East’s top team this season.

If they lose, they won’t play in front of a capacity crowd until next season.

If they win, they will not play at home until Game 3 of whichever opponent they end up with, given they would not have home court advantage as a seven seed in either case.

The state had previously increased capacity last week from 12 to 25% without incident.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Celtics play-in tournament foe, range of first-round opponents now set

Boston’s offseason path starts through the Washington Wizards.

The Boston Celtics’ playoff fate is now settled, with their play-in tournament opponent and — if they win the first of two potential play-in games — their first-round opponent set.

Locked into the Eastern Conference’s seventh seed to finish the 2020-21 NBA regular season with a 36 – 36 record, the Celtics will face the East’s final No. 8 seed of the season, the Washington Wizards to decide which of the two franchises will play from the seventh seed in the first round of the 2021 NAB Playoffs. Should Boston win, they will face the current No. 2 seed in the East, the Brooklyn Nets.

Should they lose, they will play a second and final play-in game against the winner of the No. 9 and 10 seed battle, slated to be between the Indiana Pacers and Charlotte Hornets, respectively.

If the Celtics were to win that matchup, they would then face the East’s top seed in the first round, the Philadelphia 76ers.

If they lost, their 2021 NBA offseason would begin in earnest as they would be eliminated from playoff contention.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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No. 8 seed Warriors set to meet No. 7 seed Lakers in play-in tournament on Wednesday

After clinching the No. 8 seed, the Warriors will meet LeBron James and the defending champion Lakers on Wednesday in the play-in tournament.

After clinching the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference with a win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday, the Golden State Warriors had to wait before finding out their opponent for the play-in tournament.

Golden State was slated to meet either the Portland Trail Blazers or the Los Angeles Lakers in a battle with the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference play-in. With the Trail Blazers holding a slight advantage, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum’s squad needed to win against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night to lock the No. 6 seed in the West.

If the Blazers lost, a Lakers win over the New Orleans Pelicans would move the defending champs into the No. 6 seed.

Lillard and McCollum combined for 48 points to register a victory over the Nuggets to clinch the No. 6 seed. With Portland’s win on Sunday, the Lakers and Warriors are now officially set to meet in a star-studded battle on Wednesday in the play-in tournament.

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The Lakers hold a 2-1 record over the Warriors in the 2020-21 campaign, including a pair of blowout victories. However, the Warriors are ending the season playing some of their best basketball with six consecutive wins.

While the Lakers have dealt with injuries to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Steph Curry has pushed himself into the Most Valuable Player race with a furious run to cap off the season.

The newly crowned 2020-21 scoring champion has scored 30 or more points in 21 of his last 24 games, averaging 32 points per contest on 48.2% shooting from the field and 42.1% shooting from beyond the arc.

Wednesday’s contest will likely open another chapter in the Curry vs. James saga.

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3 observations: Lakers knock off Pelicans, will compete in play-in tournament

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans, but they’ll still have to compete in the play-in tournament.

The Los Angeles Lakers finished the regular season on a positive note, defeating the New Orleans Pelicans, 110-98, simultaneously capping off a five-game winning streak.

The Pelicans entered the contest extremely short-handed but stayed in the game early on off the hands of Eric Bledsoe and Naji Marshall.

The Lakers received a strong first-quarter outing from Dennis Schroder, who scored 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting, a stark contrast to his last performance.

Though Los Angeles maintained a healthy lead towards the latter part of the second quarter, the Pelicans made a late run to close the gap at halftime. A Marshall buzzer-beater from near the logo made it 63-59, Lakers.

The third quarter saw the Lakers find their groove, mostly towards the ending minutes. Los Angeles’ reserves, primarily Alex Caruso, began converting tough shots while generating turnovers on defense to increase the gap.

New Orleans didn’t have enough juice in the fourth to make a comeback, leading to a Los Angeles win.

Here are three observations from the Lakers’ win:

Lakers finish season as No. 7 seed, will play Warriors in play-in tournament

The Los Angeles Lakers have finished the regular season as the No. 7 seed and are headed for a showdown against the Golden State Warriors.

The Los Angeles Lakers officially concluded the 72-game regular season with a win over the New Orleans Pelicans, but their seeding fate in the Western Conference was determined well before their game ended.

The Portland Trail Blazers routed the Denver Nuggets, 132-116, closing the door for any chance of Los Angeles’ hopes at attaining the sixth seed.

The Lakers ending the season as the seventh seed certifies their place in the NBA’s new play-in tournament, revamped with more teams and rules from the tournament they had in the Orlando bubble.

Because the Golden State Warriors knocked off the Memphis Grizzlies in a competition for the eighth seed, the Lakers are now headed for a matchup against their Californian counterparts in the first set of play-in games.

The winner of the Lakers-Warriors game will officially settle as the seventh seed, and the loser will have to play the winner between the Grizzlies and the San Antonio Spurs for the eighth seed.

Tipoff for the Lakers-Warriors match is slated for 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 19.

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WATCH: Are the Boston Celtics in danger of falling into the play-in tournament?

Celtics fans may want to adjust their postseason expectations based on recent performances.

While one can hardly blame the Boston Celtics for the COVID- and injury-riddled season they’ve had, the reality that the team may very well have to fight their way into the 2021 NBA Playoffs as a result of it via the league’s new play-in tournament is quickly coming into focus after Friday’s 121 – 99 road loss to the Chicago Bulls.

Even before that debacle arrived on the scene, CLNS Media hosts John Goodman and Bob Ryan of their eponymous podcast dug into this potentially painful reality. And with Robert Williams III looking like he’ll be out for at least a few more games, odds are not in the Celtics favor.

Check out the video embedded below as Goodman and Ryan try and make sense of where not only Boston is with regards to the play-in tournament, but also their long-time rivals the Los Angeles Lakers, who find themselves in a largely analogous situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZUyGy4G8Do

Goodman also makes his odd push to trade Jaylen Brown and the pair cover a number of other topics, so be sure to check it out.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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