The NBA action in the postseason was scintillating on Sunday night with Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs flexing championship-caliber potential against Portland.
While Wemby rests, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets duel in one of the more entertaining first-round matchups in the Western Conference playoffs.
Minnesota has listed Anthony Edwards was questionable, which seems to swing the pendulum in Denver’s favor.
Here’s a closer look at our lean in Monday’s matchups:
Nuggets-Timberwolves over 231.5 (-110, FanDuel)
Anthony Edwards had a miserable shooting night on Saturday but averaged over 28 points in four games against the Nuggets this season. If he’s able to play in Game 2, Minnesota will have to score big to stay in the same stratorsphere as the Nuggets, one of the NBA’s best home playoff teams.
Denver is not known for defense, yielding nearly 120 points per game this season, and Minnesota moves the ball effectively to take advantage of openings.
Edwards is the player who makes it all click. But he missed 11 of the Timberwolves’ last 14 games of the regular season with right knee inflammation before logging 38 minutes and admitting to rust and fatigue in Game 1 on Saturday.
If Edwards can play, we like the over on the total with the over on his point production (26.5).
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Knicks +6 (-120 at FanDuel)
There has been a little movement in the Knicks’ favor — not a surprise, but by point of fact — from the opening line of 5.5 and the total is up a point to 217.5. At FanDuel the public is on the under.
Why? We need to know if the Hawks can score on the road when 3s aren’t falling. The answer was no on Saturday night in Game 1.
New York chases a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series after a 113-102 victory in the series opener.
In Game 1, Jalen Brunson scored 19 of his game-high 28 points in the first quarter for the Knicks.
That’s not to say the Hawks can’t score. They finished the regular season sixth in scoring (118.5 points per game) and fifth in 3-point shooting at 37.1 percent.
The Hawks might have hit the comeback button, but it malfunctioned when Atlanta missed 15 of 21 attempts from 3-point range in the second half.
The Hawks didn’t heat up until the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. That 11-0 run that cut a 19-point deficit to 106-98.
Best Bet: Knicks-Hawks over 217.5
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