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With the first round of the play-offs well underway, and teams already packing their bags for Cancun after a spate of early eliminations, we’re back with another batch of NBA accumulator tips ahead of all the action in the early hours of Thursday.
The no. 1 seeded Celtics host the Heat for a potential close-out Game 5 in the East, while the Mavericks travel to face the Clippers in a crucial Game 5 out West, their series being delicately poised at 2-2.
Our NBA tips will cover both general basketball betting markets and NBA player prop tips, all of which can be combined into any NBA accumulator you fancy.
NBA Basketball Accumulator Tips & Best Bets
🏀 Boston Celtics v Miami Heat (+14.5 handicap)
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Start time: 00:40
The Heat are deprived of answers offensively without Jimmy Butler. They’re taking almost 41% of their shots from outside in an attempt to leverage one of the strengths of this offense, that shot almost 38% from deep this season. Without his prowess from the mid-range, Miami simply have no other choice.
In the second half of the season, the Heat did shoot 0.8 points better from deep on the road, and while the 3-pointer wasn’t falling over the last two games at home they did hit 53.5% of them the last time they played in Boston.
The Celtics’ 3-point defense this season was great, but it did dip a bit from March until the end of the regular season at 36.4%. On the flip side, Miami sat atop the league in this regard over the second half of the season and with that we think the trends would point to the battle on the 3-point line closing in a bit and creating a much more even matchup.
Miami’s defense has done a great job twice in this series – in Game 2 and Game 4 – and with at least Duncan Robinson available here we think it can close the gap on the arc and cover the spread.
🏀 Los Angeles Clippers (+2.5 handicap) v Dallas Mavericks
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Start time: 03:10
We think the Clippers are the better team in this series, despite three lacklustre performances on offense leading into huge Game 4 win on the road.
L.A. ran the most efficient offense in the league for the better part of two months leading into the All-Star break, at which point it cratered and seemed to get a bit fatigued. The close of the season was incredibly promising however, and we’ve seen in three of the four games here that the Clippers can exploit what’s a very flat Dallas 3-point defense that has allowed 43.9% shooting from outside during the play-offs.
Yes, Kawhi Leonard is missing – and that will sting defensively. The thing is that this Mavericks offense has been incredibly weak through four games with or without Leonard, averaging less than a 110 offensive rating, while on the flip side L.A.’s incredible collection of shooters have only been given more chances to contribute without Leonard commanding the ball.
The Mavericks have improved inside defensively, but this development almost works in the Clippers’ favour as they’ll be forced to take more shots from outside. They have arguably the best coach still in the play-offs in Ty Lue, and a team that can get delirious from three. Trust them to win on their home floor, or at least to cover the small +2.5 spread.
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
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