I’m Brian Scalabrine, 11-year NBA vet and member of the world champion 2008 Boston Celtics. Moving forward I’ll be writing regular columns here at Pickswise, giving my thoughts on the NBA betting market. It’s been a busy week in the association, and there’s a lot to digest.
Today we’ll be talking about why I think the Warriors are still contenders despite their recent struggles, and the injury to Celtics big man Robert Williams. Then we’ll take a look at a couple of my favorite bets for today’s NBA slate.
Check out Pickswise’s best bets for all of tonight’s NBA games
Don’t count out the Warriors
Are the Golden State Warriors giving us the 2022 version of a rope-a-dope? I might be nuts for thinking this with all the controversy surrounding Golden State, but I still feel like they are the best team in the West if they are healthy. If I didn’t see Steph Curry go for 41 points in 15 minutes with Draymond Green on the floor with him, I probably would’ve jumped all over the Phoenix Suns bandwagon. But I still believe in this team. To win a championship in the NBA, you have to do something that is sort of an outlier. The outlier when the Golden State Warriors won back-to-back championships was their amazing basketball IQ, their defense and, of course, Kevin Durant.
But don’t forget that Curry and Klay Thompson are one of the best duos ever, and when you add in Green‘s ball movement and IQ you’ve got something special. Andre Iguodala is also one of the best on-ball and weak-side defenders we have seen in the playoffs. The Warriors are at their very best when the ball is flying around and they are running off of misses and turnovers, and there’s still time for them to get back to that.
Offensively, they have the personnel to crack the Suns’ stifling defense. I’m not buying that the Warriors are really struggling heading into the playoffs. The media narrative has been overblown. So all the other teams in the Western Conference should be careful. They could be pulling a rope-a-dope. I still like the Warriors to go to the NBA finals, and now is a great time to jump on that when some are counting them out.
Robert Williams injury is big for Celtics
The Boston Celtics just lost one of the more important players on their team. Robert Williams has a torn meniscus, and will reportedly miss at least a few weeks. I know that he doesn’t get talked about like the greats, but his impact on both ends of the floor for the Celtics is immeasurable.
Boston’s assist percentage has climbed all year and a lot of that has to do with Williams at the rim. Their defense has gone to a whole new level and that has to do with Williams lurking near the basket but still being disciplined enough to guard the perimeter.
Can the Celtics beat the Bucks and go to the NBA finals without Williams? I’m not sure they could have with him, but I still like them against the other opponents in the East regardless. Al Horford, Grant Williams, and Daniel Theis will be up for the challenge to hush all the critics.
The injury is big, but it’s not a nail in the coffin. Don’t count the Celtics out just yet, these guys are up for the fight. I still think they end up in the Eastern Conference finals with or without Williams.
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