NBA Betting: Futures Market Goes Wild after Game 2
If you like to use the zigzag theory when you bet on the NBA, the second round of the playoffs has delivered in spades. Each team that lost in Game 1 managed to win Game 2, going 3-1 ATS in the process and, in doing so, they sent the NBA futures market spinning like a yo-yo. The Golden State Warriors are still the 11/10 favorites as we go to press, but that’s down from 4/5, while the Cleveland Cavaliers have improved from 5/1 to 7/2.
The madness extends all the way to the bottom of the odds list. John Wall missed Game 2 of the Washington Wizards series against the Atlanta Hawks with multiple fractures in his wrist, and is highly unlikely to suit up for Saturday’s Game 3 (5:00 PM ET, ESPN). Now the word is out that he may be out for the rest of the series and the Wiz have slipped from 20/1 to 33/1. Meanwhile, after Mike Conley made a somewhat surprising return from multiple facial injuries, the Memphis Grizzlies have improved from 40/1 all the way to 16/1.
Better Call Paul
Injuries are a part of basketball, and of the eight remaining teams in the playoffs, only the Warriors can consider themselves fully healthy at this point. The other seven teams are in a state of flux, which makes betting for, or against, them a little more challenging. Take the Los Angeles Clippers, for example. They didn’t have Chris Paul (26.0 PER) available for either of their first two games against the Houston Rockets, but they managed to cover both times with Austin Rivers (10.6 PER) in the starting backcourt.
Rivers isn’t consistently good enough to make the Clippers a comfortable bet, so everyone’s waiting on pins and needles to see if Paul can make his return Friday night (10:30 PM ET, ESPN) in Game 3. He’s officially listed as questionable with a strained hamstring but this is the kind of injury that can linger for weeks, or even months. Or Paul could end up playing on Friday – he was scheduled to go through a workout on Thursday while the rest of the team had the day off. The Clippers fell from 6/1 to 8/1 after losing Game 2 to Houston, 115-109 as 7.5-point road dogs.
Saving Face
While Paul tries to tame his balky hamstring, Conley (18.6 PER) was able to return from his gruesome facial injuries in Game 2, even though it should be another month or so before he’s completely healed. Conley scored 22 points against the Warriors on Tuesday while wearing a protective mask; as long as he doesn’t get hit in the face again, Conley is capable of making a big difference in this series.
Rounding out our trio of wounded point guards, Wall (19.9 PER) wasn’t able to practice on Thursday, and his prognosis doesn’t look very good after five non-displaced fractures in his injured left wrist and hand were discovered. The Hawks had little trouble disposing of the Wall-less Wizards in Game 2, improving their title odds from 18/1 to 10/1. They might end up winning this war of attrition after all.
