NBA Play-In Round Betting Analysis for the Upcoming Tournament

The NBA regular season is in the books, which means that we can now look forward to the playoffs. The first round will begin on Saturday night, but we have the play-in tournament to attend to before all the opening round matchups are set. The tournament is simple enough in that the 7 and 8 seeds meet, with the winner of that one nabbing a spot in the opening round. The loser of that games then goes on to face the winner of the game between the #9 and #10 seeds. Those games will start on Tuesday night, so we do have some action to look forward to before the opening round proper begins on the weekend. Let’s take a look at the matchups and the dates of the play-in games so you can get all set to make your bets against their NBA Odds.

NBA Play-In Tournament Betting Schedule

Play-In Tournament – Tuesday Schedule

A lot of people looked at the Brooklyn Nets as a potential champion this season, but if they are going to make that happen, they are going to need to do it the hard way. They will open up at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers and will be looking to win and move on to face the Memphis Grizzlies in Round 1. The Nets took 3 of 4 from the Cavaliers in the regular season, so perhaps no real surprise that they are in as an 8-point favorite, with the point total for this game set at 230.

The second game of the evening sees the LA Clippers go on the road to face the Minnesota Timberwolves. While this is a tough way to start a playoff journey, you do have to say that the Clippers look ready to go, as they closed out the season on a 5-game win streak. They actually come into this game as a 2 ½ point underdog despite the fact that they took 3 of 4 from the Timberwolves this season. We might well be looking at a minor upset here. The point total is set at 230 ½.

Play-In Tournament – Wednesday Schedule

Wednesday night opens with an interesting looking game that sees the Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets hook up. Both teams ended the season on a solid run of form, so this might be a little tougher to handicap. Further muddying the waters is the fact that these teams split their regular season series, winning 2 games each. The bookies see this one as being tight and have the Hornets in as a 4 ½ point favorite. The point total for this one is set at 236 ½.

The final game of the first stage of the play-in tournament sees the San Antonio Spurs going on the road to face the New Orleans Pelicans. Even though they do have to travel for this game, you get the sense that the Spurs might hit the road with some confidence given that they took 3 of 4 from the Pelicans in their regular season series. 2 of those wins came in New Orleans, which makes the Spurs look like a good pick here. That said, they are in as a 5-point underdog, with the point total set at 229.

The final games of the play-in tournament will go on Friday night, at which point we will finally know all the Round 1 matchups in the NBA playoffs.