Free NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs Picks, Best Bets, and Parlays for 5/4/22

The Boston Celtics had their backs to the wall in Game 2 and responded with a convincing 109-86 win over the Bucks to even that series at 1-1. And, in Memphis, Ja Marant put on a Michael Jordan like show, scoring the final 15 points in the Grizzlies thrilling 106-101 win over Golden State. Those two teams head to California tied at a game a piece. We have two more games tonight so let’s get started..

We cashed our Best Bet last night as we correctly thought that Boston would shoot better and bounce back with a big win over the Bucks. That raised our Best Bet of the Day record to 89-46 in 2022.

We correctly predicted both games and went 2-0 betting the MoneyLine and our overall record stands at 467-229 since Jan.1st.

Let’s look at the Philadelphia-Miami game and see what we think for the the battle tonight.

*PAPA DUDES BEST BET* Philadelphia at Miami (-8): Miami leads the series 1-0: In Game 1, Miami took care of business handling the 76ers without Joel Embiid, like a good team should do. They wore down Philly outscoring them 56-41 in the 2nd half. Tyler Herro came off the sick list and scored 25 points and Ben Adebayo added 24 along with 12 rebounds. As usual, the Heat played smothering defense and held the 76ers to just 6 made three-pointers out of 34 attempts. Philadelphia got a combined 62 points out of Tyrese Maxey, James Harden, and Tyrone Harris, but very little from anyone else. They will be without Embiid again for Game 2 and it leaves a huge void on both ends of the floor. It is safe to assume they will shoot better from the 3-point line, but will it be enough. The Heat need to take advantage of Philly’s loss of Embiid and not slip up at home. They have a chance to really put the Sixers in a bind. The question for me will be if the Heat can cover the 8-point spread against a 76er team that is going to bring everything they have. I must admit I struggle with these large spreads in NBA games, however, the Heat won fairly easy in Game 1 and didn’t shoot very well. If they shoot better tonight, they should bang out a cover. PAPA DUDES BEST BET: Miami -8