The Miami Heat and the Portland Trail Blazers indeed delighted their sports betting fans as they took the lead in securing the last playoff spots in their respective conferences.
Of course, the battle is far from over, but their wins in their live betting showdowns against the other playoff hopefuls have serious implications on increasing their betting odds of making it to the NBA postseason show.
Minnesota Timberwolves 115-114 Indiana Pacers
Jeff Teague’s controversial late foul proved costly for the Pacers as the Wolves escaped with a win at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. With 3.4 seconds left, Ricky Rubio was awarded three free throws – and made them all – after the referee called for a foul on Teague, though it appeared that the Wolves’ point guard ran into his teammate Gorgui Dieng.
The Pacers are partly to blame though as they failed to pull away and maintain their lead despite going up by nine with just seven minutes to play.
Milwaukee Bucks 118-108 Charlotte Hornets
This game wasn’t competitive at all as the Bucks left the Hornets trailing through and through. The Milwaukee starters had a solid performance with Tony Snell capping his career night with 26 points – 12 in the first quarter – on 71.4 percent shooting.
Charlotte, on the other hand, had only Kemba Walker doing the heavy lifting as they all struggled shooting from deep.
Philadelphia 76ers 106-101 Brooklyn Nets
Philadelphia fought a different Brooklyn team this time, but the results were no different. Banking on their balanced offence spearheaded by Dario Saric who ended with 23 points, the Sixers slowly built their lead to grab the victory at Barclays Center.
It wasn’t a bad performance for the Nets, though their three-happy offence failed to click once again.
Miami Heat 97-96 Detroit Pistons
Hassan Whiteside knew that this one is a must-win for the Heat, and he delivered.
Contributing 17 points and nine rebounds, the Miami big man provided the biggest play of the night with a buzzer-beating tip-in that propelled them over the spirited Pistons. Goran Dragic, however, was also pivotal with his 28 points that kept the Heat in control before a late Detroit fightback.
Phoenix Suns 91-95 Atlanta Hawks
Despite playing without Devin Booker and using mostly their young guns, Phoenix still gave Atlanta a scare.
The Suns had a terrific showing on the defensive end, forcing the Hawks to commit 19 turnovers. Unfortunately for them, they lacked the firepower to keep up against the more experienced and deeper Atlanta squad.
Golden State Warriors 113-106 Houston Rockets
Concerns that the Warriors won’t thrive without Kevin Durant seem old news now that the Bay Area team have won their eighth game in a row.
It was a one-sided affair right from the opening tip with Golden State cruising to a 16-8 lead in the first four minutes. Steve Kerr’s men never looked back from there as they even led by as much as 22 points behind the Splash brothers who combined for 57 points.
James Harden had another triple-double for Houston, but it didn’t help that they were 5-for-31 from beyond the arc.
Denver Nuggets 113-122 Portland Trail Blazers
Jusuf Nurkic chose the perfect time to explode as he did not just get his revenge on his former team, but he also helped his new team get the advantage over them.
Sure enough, much of the credit for pacing the Blazers goes to C.J. McCollum who scored 39 points, but it was the Bosnian centre that kept them rolling with his 33 points, 16 boards and three blocks. Nurkic also kept Denver at bay, especially Nikola Jokic who struggled with his ex running-mate dominating the painted area.
Washington Wizards 119-108 Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers had a 16-point lead in the third quarter, but they managed to score only 13 points in the last 12 minutes of play that allowed the Wizards to pull off a comeback and secure the Southeast Division title.
John Wall was outstanding in the match, sparking the Washington turnaround with his 34 points as Bradley Beal was limited to just 17. Their oft-maligned bench unit was also helpful, with Kelly Oubre Jr. and Ian Mahinmi providing some energy.
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