Phil Agius
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Welcome to a super Saturday of sports, Pickswise Nation. We have a packed schedule today with the start of the NBA Playoffs plus MLB, XFL, MLS and EPL soccer and UFC action, so let’s get straight to making your next bet better!
About Last Night
Heat and Timberwolves grab final spots
The Heat and Timberwolves were the final teams to make the 16-team NBA Playoffs field, but they did it in contrasting styles. The Heat, 5.5-point favorites against the Bulls, were trailing late in the game but scored 15 of the last 16 points to not only win 102-91, but cover the spread comfortably too. In the later game, the Timberwolves won all 4 quarters to beat the Pelicans 120-95. The Heat will now face the Bucks while the T-Wolves take on the Nuggets in the first round.
Rays’ run is over
Tampa Bay has been the story of the early MLB season, but the Rays suffered their first loss on Friday night, 6-3 to the Blue Jays, after a 13-0 start. The Mets beat the Athletics 17-6, while the Twins beat the Yankees 4-3.
Perfect finish to NHL regular season
The Pickswise NHL handicappers signed off the NHL regular season in style, going 2-0 on picks, cashing our parlay at +535 odds and also hitting with our NHL player prop. The Avalanche beat the Predators 4-3 to pip the Stars to the Central Division title.
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Today’s Slate
NBA Playoffs start with 4 games
There’s basketball all day today with the playoff action starting at 1:00 pm ET with Nets vs 76ers Game 1 on ESPN and running through to Warriors vs Kings on ABC at 8:30 pm ET. Check out today’s NBA predictions.
15-game MLB slate
It’s also a busy day of baseball, with today’s 15 games including Brewers vs Padres on FS1 at 4:05 pm ET. We have MLB picks for all the action.
There’s soccer, XFL and UFC too
We have picks for all the Saturday soccer games across the EPL and MLS slates, so be sure to check out our soccer predictions. There’s also XFL Week 9 action and we have XFL picks, and you can also read our UFC predictions for UFC on ESPN 44.
Best Bet of the Day
NBA: Under 230.5 points in Atlanta Hawks vs Boston Celtics
3:30 pm ET, ESPN
During the playoffs, we should see the pace of games slow down as teams step up defensively. This total seems high even though 2 of the 3 meetings between the Celtics and Hawks this season would have gone over it. The Celtics seem to pick up their defense during the playoffs and if we look back at last year’s playoffs, the totals went under this number in 24 straight games. The Hawks went under this total in all 5 of their playoff games against the Heat last season. Expect the defenses to pick up in this matchup. Read our full Hawks vs Celtics predictions.
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Must-read
Our NBA mega parlay is ready to read, along with Same Game Parlays for the Nets vs 76ers, Hawks vs Celtics and Warriors vs Kings matchups and our NBA Playoffs outright preview and first-round series predictions. Our MLB mega parlay, YRFI/NRFI best bets and MLB player props are also available.
For the later action, you can check out our UFC on ESPN 44 Best Bets and a 4-fight parlay are also available, along with our Saturday EPL soccer parlay, which starts at 10:00 am ET. Football fans can check out our XFL Week 9 mega parlay while Sunday’s NASCAR preview for the Noco 400 is on offer too.
Read all of our great sports analysis as it arrives throughout the day on the Analysis tab.
Stat of the Day
The Warriors are 11-30 SU and 12-29 ATS on the road this season.
Quote of the Day
“It sucks. It shouldn’t have ended like that.”
Bulls star DeMar DeRozan laments his team’s late-game slump after they were looking good to advance.
Pickswise is the home of free sports picks, news and best bets. Check out our expert NFL Picks, NBA Picks, MLB Picks and NHL Picks pages for our latest game picks.
