NBA Playoffs: Betting Preview and Top Plays for Tuesday, May 13

We are taking both the underdogs to get their Game 5s down to the wire this Tuesday night. In Cleveland, the banged-up Cavs have the deal with this high-octane Pacers offense that no one has seemed to figure out since the All-Star break. 

In Oklahoma City, the Thunder should not be favored by more than 10 points, especially after barely squeaking away with Game 4 after Denver shot 24% from beyond the arc. Jokic comes back and wreaks havoc in OKC today.

Pacers +7.5 over Cavs

The Pacers dismantled the Cavs in Game 4. It was almost unwatchable. The final score showed Indiana winning by 20 points, but in reality, it was much worse, with the Pacers commanding a 41-point halftime lead over the best regular-season team in the Eastern Conference. 

I’d be shocked if Mitchell and Cleveland come back blazing from beyond the arc and run away with Game 5 at home. While there is a chance this could end in a Cleveland win, the wind was knocked out of them last game, and after blowing out Miami in each of those first-round games, Indiana’s offense seems to be too much for them. In my mind, the spread should be closer to Cleveland by 3 or 4 points instead of by multiple possessions.

Nuggets +10.5 over Thunder

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hasn’t impressed me as a series-altering player yet. Shai is the driving force of this Thunder offense yet has shot it just 21% from beyond the arc including some terrible misses on bad shot selection down the stretch of these games. 

Oklahoma City is great when at the head of a blowout, but once these games get close in the playoffs, they seem to tense up on the offensive end. After barely getting by with a victory in Game 4, I’m all in on Denver to get this game down to the last possession or two, where they could very much swing the series back in their favor. Denver made just 11 of 45 threes last game. This trend won’t continue for much longer.

Andrew Nembhard (IND) 15+ Points (+200)

Andrew Nembhard has a little Steve Nash to his game, and it’s starting to get scary for opponents. First arriving on the scene with a 20-point Game 7 against New York last season, Nembhard has continued to dominate in the playoffs, averaging just over 14 PPG during his career compared to a 9.6 PPG regular season average. 

Against Cleveland, Nembhard has continued to find his spots on the offensive end, shooting it 49% from the field and 50% from three, many of those shots coming uncontested. Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, who both are nursing injuries, will focus on stopping Tyrese Haliburton as a scoring playmaker. However, that will leave Andrew Nembhard with plenty of clean looks in his nearly 40 minutes of playtime.