Basketball

NBA picks today: Expert selections, odds for Wizards-76ers, Knicks-Hawks, Jazz-Grizzlies and Mavericks-Clippers


Every day during the NBA Playoffs, The Athletic’s NBA writers will make their picks straight up. We put our picks and all series coverage, plus the latest odds, all in one place for fans to easily digest and follow. Our in-depth coverage from every team is linked below the picks. If you’d like a free year of The Athletic (or an extension!), BetMGM is running a special offer, which also includes $100 in bonus bets.

Game 5 – Washington Wizards at Philadelphia 76ers (-6)
Total: 230.5

GAME 4: WIZARDS 122, 76ERS 114

Series: Sixers lead series 3-1

Two main things came out of Game 4 between the Philadelphia 76ers and Washington Wizards. First, the Wizards extended their season by avoiding the sweep. Second, it probably happened because of a knee injury to Joel Embiid, following a hard fall to the ground in the first quarter of Game 4. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure a person of Embiid’s size can have a soft fall. They’re probably all hard falls to the ground. But he crashed to the floor on a drive to the hoop in which he got pretty high off the ground. He ended up only playing 11 minutes in the game before calling it a night. Hopefully it won’t be too serious for him and we’ll get the Sixers at full strength moving forward. No offense to the Wizards and their valiant effort to extend their season. Bradley Beal had 27 points. Russell Westbrook had another one of those locker combination triple-doubles with 19 points, 14 assists, and 21 rebounds, despite shooting 3-of-19 from the floor. Daniel Gafford was brilliant protecting the rim in his start, blocking five shots. Rui Hachimora gave a brilliant two-way performance (read more below). It was a great overall team effort. And Scott Brooks even threw the kitchen sink at the Embiid-less Sixers, going to hack-a-Ben Simmons in the fourth quarter, as the Sixers ultra-forward went 5-of-11 from the free throw line to improve to 5-of-20 for the series. But the big news from this game is the injury to Embiid. If it’s serious, it’s another postseason of potential unfulfilled by this Sixers core. If it’s not serious, then they can hopefully be at full strength to see if this potential can be realized as they battle whatever comes next in the East. Also, some fan ran onto the court in this game to try to tap the backboard and then run back to his seat. He was tackled by security and banned. It’s been a rough week for avoiding incidents with fans at games.


Game 5 – Atlanta Hawks at New York Knicks (-1.5)
Total: 207.5

Pick

Ethan Strauss

Seth Partnow

Richard Deitsch

Sam Vecenie

GAME 4: HAWKS 113, KNICKS 96

Series: Hawks lead 3-1

Things got chippy in Game 4 of the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks series, but they didn’t get competitive. There’s been a lot of trash talk in this series so far, and emotions are running high. Julius Randle wanted to send a message, though. He forearmed Danilo Gallinari late in this game, after Gallinari had elbowed Reggie Bullock in the back just moments before. It was a message that you’re not going to do that type of stuff to his teammates. One problem with it though: the Knicks were down 24, the Hawks couldn’t have been less fazed by the retaliation and Atlanta cruised to another victory. Gallo cooked off the bench for 21 points on nine shot attempts. Trae Young continues to pick this team apart with his scoring and passing on his way to 27 points and nine assists. Atlanta got big contributions from John Collins and Kevin Huerter on offense too. The good news for the Knicks is that Randle was better on Sunday (23 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists), but he still wasn’t terribly efficient (7-of-19 from the field, five turnovers). The Knicks flat-out can’t score enough against Nate McMillan’s defensive gameplans in this series. They’re now on the brink of elimination and Young gets a chance to have his moment at Madison Square Garden to end the Knicks’ season. He’d love to make it quiet in there until October.


Game 5 – Memphis Grizzlies at Utah Jazz (-9.5)
Total: 224.5

Pick

Ethan Strauss

Seth Partnow

Richard Deitsch

Sam Vecenie

GAME 4: JAZZ 120, GRIZZLIES 113

Series: Jazz lead series 3-1

It’s a shame it doesn’t look like this series might not make it past Game 5 between the Utah Jazz and the Memphis Grizzlies because it’s been the most entertaining and competitive basketball so far. The Jazz are just a better team than the Grizzlies, but the Grizzlies’ relentless nature as a squad keeps them in this. They don’t let up at all and it’s causing the Jazz to execute far more than you’d expect with most 1 vs 8 matchups in the postseason. It’s probably a good thing for the Jazz to sharpen them up. They received two big efforts from Donovan Mitchell, who was spectacular in the second half of this game, and Jordan Clarkson, who gave them scoring and shooting off the bench they needed. Royce O’Neale continued to be a huge difference-maker and role player, knocking down shots and making plays on defense. Throw all that together with Rudy Gobert having some incredibly impressive stretches on the interior in this game and it was a total team effort for a Jazz team that’s just more well-rounded. The Grizzlies can’t really shoot with them from the outside, but at a certain point they’re forced to try. It resulted in a 10-of-35 performance from downtown. Memphis took care of the ball. They scored effectively from 2-point range. They made their free throws. But they couldn’t make up a -21 difference from 3-point range between them and the Jazz. This has been a great story so far for both squads. And I can’t remember any reason why the Jazz wouldn’t have total confidence with a 3-1 lead here.


Game 5 – Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Clippers (-7)
Total: 216.5

GAME 4: CLIPPERS 106, MAVERICKS 81

Series: Tied 2-2

Uh oh! Looks like the Dallas Mavericks got some food poisoning from the home cooking they were hoping to enjoy when they went back home with a 2-0 series lead. The LA Clippers manhandled them for the second straight game in Dallas, and this time they actually shut down Luka Doncic and his teammates. Scoring just 81 points in a modern basketball game almost seems impossible. In fact, it happened just 13 times this season in the regular season and playoffs. Two of those games involved the Mavs, and they won both of those games. They held the Oklahoma City Thunder to 78 points in a nine-point win in early March. It also happened when the Clippers scored 73 points and lost by 51 to the Mavs in December. This time? The Clippers continued to get revenge as they evened up the series. I mocked Tyronn Lue for saying he’d like to see the Mavs shoot as well at home as they did in Los Angeles. After giving up over 50 percent from 3-point range in a Game 3 win, the Clippers won this game allowing just 5-of-30 from downtown. It was the defensive effort you’d want to see, and the Mavs couldn’t Luka comfortable with his neck/shoulder injury. I don’t think that injury is why the Mavs lost though. They just got destroyed by a good Clippers team. Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting. He’s been ridiculously efficient in this series. He’s now made 62.7 percent of his shots, 47.6 percent from deep, and 87.5 percent from the line. Now we’ll see if the Clippers — or any team in this series — can win a home game.


NBA Playoffs

Where East NBA playoff field stands: Odds, rankings, what to like and what to worry about
Where West NBA playoff field standsOdds, rankings, what to like and what to worry about
NBA predictions unplugged: Anonymous scout, coach and exec pick 2021’s first-round winners
John Hollinger picks: Early exit for LeBron and Lakers, Blazers over Nuggets and more

Scores & schedule | NBA podcasts | Complete NBA coverage

(Top photo: Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images; The Athletic may receive an affiliate commission if you open an account with BetMGM through links contained in the above article.)

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