The NBA playoffs are always wild, wacky and filled with knife-thick drama. With players putting everything on the line in an attempt to bask in championship glory, the pressure-packed games are tremendously fun to wager on. As a result, the sportsbooks offer many creative ways to enhance the action. What is Brad’s SGP in Game 2 of Timberwolves vs. Nuggets? Check out his lean below.
The pick — SGP: Nuggets ML vs. Timberwolves, Rudy Gobert 2+ blocks (+145, BetMGM)
Strictly following the unrelated-related SGP construction strategy above really ramps the juice.
Get seduced by it.
Denver, down 0-1 in a series for the first time since 2022, is in an unusual backs-against-the-wall position. Anthony Edwards’ nearly uncontainable scoring (43 points) and Minnesota’s trademark unrelenting defense proved to be difference makers in the Timberwolves’ 106-99 Game 1 victory.
As this often-incorrect prognosticator predicted prior to the series, the Western Conference semifinal has all the makings of going the seven-game maximum.
In Game 2 on Monday, bank on the Nuggets landing an equalizer.
It seems highly unlikely Jamal Murray will again go completely checked in the first half. It’s also farfetched Denver’s defense will crumble guarding Edwards, Naz Reid, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mike Conley, a quartet that accounted for 87.7% of the Wolves’ offense in the opening clash. The Nuggets will exact revenge.
As for the Gobert leg, he swatted three shots in Game 1. Equally encouraging, he had two rejections in two of his three regular-season contests against Denver. Also, the Nuggets have allowed 4.3 blocks per game this postseason, the third-most of the remaining playoff teams.
It won’t be easy, but the mountain to climb for the reigning NBA champions isn’t a towering fourteener. If Denver limits Edwards to a normal first half, lights a fire under Murray and hangs on the glass, it will even things up.
If that happens and Gobert stuffs a couple shots, this ice-cold gambler will drink the satisfying juice.
NBA postseason record: 7-14, -6.55 units