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Jimmy Butler’s ankle is the storyline entering Tuesday’s NBA slate, with Miami leading the series 1-0 against a desperate Knicks team. Regardless of Butler’s status, I’ll have plays on that game, but I won’t know exactly which way I’m going until we get the official news. Out west we have the Lakers and Warriors kicking off what should be another classic matchup between LeBron James and Stephen Curry. Let’s breakdown some betting angles on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Any added plays will be posted to Twitter as I play them.
All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
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Miami Heat at New York Knicks
Knicks -4.5 (-110) — 2-units
Jimmy Butler Prop Unders (if he plays)
I rushed to get this play out on Twitter when Game 1 came to a conclusion — the reason being the status of Butler. He went down later in Miami’s Game 1 victory with what appeared to be a serious ankle injury, but surprisingly stayed in the game. However, if you watched the game, you noticed Butler could barely move up and down the floor. I played this number anticipating that Butler would be ruled out for Game 2. We’ve seen it reach as high as -7, but as I publish this on Tuesday, the number sits -6. Not only is the 1-0 series lead a potential motivation for Miami to rest Butler, but the schedule also really favors some rest here — there are three days off before these teams meet in Miami for Game 3 on Saturday afternoon. That would be five full days of rest for Butler between games.
Hopefully you got the best of the number, but there still may be some other ways to take advantage of this game. If Butler is ruled out, I’ll ride this number, but you could look to the Knicks to win the first quarter and the game at +100 — they went 27-16-1 1Q ATS at home this season.
If Butler is in, the number on this game should drop again, meaning you’ll get a playable number on the spread if you want it. I’d play it, because I’d imagine Butler would be playing through injury. The under on his props ties right in with this play. Butler has been playing out of his mind recently, but I don’t have faith he can reach that level while playing hobbled.
Los Angeles Lakers at Golden State Warriors
Series Winner: Warriors (-145) — 1-unit
Win Game 1/Series: Warriors (+125) — 1-unit
The Warriors dug themselves into a 0-2 hole on the road to start their postseason, but did indeed “flip the switch” many anticipated they would, winning four of the next five. After a close half in Game 7 in Sacramento, Golden State’s experience obviously came into play.
The experience edge goes out the window in a second round series against LeBron, but both of these teams had plenty of flaws in the regular season. The Warriors were notably flawed playing on the road, although they figured it out in their last two trips to Sacramento. But one of their biggest strengths remained playing at home — going 35-9 at the Chase Center. Now falling to the No. 6 seed no longer matters, as the Warriors will have home court over the No. 7 seed Lakers. The Dubs can win this series by simply protecting home court, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they also carried some of that road momentum into Los Angeles for one of these games.
The Lakers were able to survive against Memphis despite being a poor shooting team, but keeping up with the three-point shooting of the Warriors will be a different story. I like the Warriors in the series, and think they get things going with a home win, which gets us some nice plus-money on the series.
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All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
The contents contained in this article do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment.