00:00Let's take a look at some of the games tonight.
00:02Some big spreads on the line tonight, too, I may add,
00:05with Boston at the Philadelphia 76ers.
00:09They're seven-and-a-half-point favorites.
00:11They lead the series two games to one.
00:14Was their last game they had the clunker here, or two games ago?
00:19Was it the clunker?
00:19Do you think Boston now rolls at this point?
00:22Carlin, I know they're going to win the series.
00:24I just don't know how many games it's going to be in.
00:26Yeah, Boston is the most frustrating team to watch in the NBA.
00:30They have all the talent in the world.
00:32They should walk through the Philadelphia 76ers,
00:35but then they give you that one game that they gave you in game two
00:37where you're just like, where is the Boston team that played in game one?
00:41Why does nothing carry over for this team?
00:43They have two of the best players in the world playing on the same team,
00:46and they still can't figure it out.
00:47So I really don't know what you get on the Boston team.
00:50I know they're going to win the series.
00:51I just don't know if it's going to be in five or seven.
00:54It's just a toss-up.
00:55I do think, though, that going into tonight in Philadelphia,
00:59if Boston can figure out how to start knocking down triples,
01:03they'll be able to kind of walk away with this victory.
01:06All right, let's take a timeout.
01:07Carlin's going to continue with us as we break down the Lakers and Rockets.
01:11That preview is on deck and also Spurs trailblazers this weekend.
01:15You're watching Newswire on SportsGrid.
01:17All right, welcome back to Newswire here on SportsGrid.
01:19Where the intrigue continues in the NBA playoffs tonight,
01:22where the Houston Rockets absolutely facing a must-win tonight.
01:27My gosh, they are almost 10-point favorites against the Los Angeles Lakers.
01:31But my trust in the Rockets, Carlin, is very, very shaky at this point.
01:36I guess the line does tell the story as a sports bet, right?
01:41Like, you've got to be careful here because the world, it feels like,
01:43is going to take the Lakers.
01:46But is that the right side here?
01:48Or does Houston just get this corrected tonight?
01:50I think, you know, this is a classic.
01:52You get back home.
01:53You feel a little bit better at yourself.
01:55You start shooting a little bit better.
01:57And you get back in the series if you're the Houston Rockets.
02:00You know, they shot 40% in game two from the floor.
02:03They shot 24% from three-point range.
02:06Like, I don't care who you are or who's on your team.
02:08That's just not going to get it done, you know, in the playoffs.
02:11And, you know, they did have good games out of Durant,
02:14considering he came back from, you know, dealing with an injury.
02:17You know, Smith played well, you know, 18 points in that game.
02:21Shangun had some moments as well where, you know, he was a double-double.
02:24You know, and they got some good minutes out of Tari Eason
02:27coming off the bench as well in that smaller kind of reduced lineup
02:31that we know that Eme Uduka likes to go to in the postseason.
02:34So, I do think offensively they'll figure it out
02:37and they'll be able to shoot better.
02:38And that alone should give them the opportunity to win this basketball game.
02:43To your point, they have to win the basketball game.
02:45The other thing is, you know, LeBron James is kind of one of those classic chess,
02:49not, you know, checkers players where he knows, like,
02:52all right, we're up 2-0.
02:53I don't have to empty the gas tank here if it's not happening for us tonight.
02:57So, you know, if you are looking at a prop bet,
02:59I would look at whatever LeBron James' points prop
03:01and look at that seriously and say, hey, you know,
03:04if you expect the Rockets to come out and shoot the lights on in the first half,
03:07I expect LeBron to kind of put it down in second gear
03:10and kind of give them the game.
03:11I know no one wants to say that,
03:13but that's kind of how he treats some of these playoff series.
03:16He knows when he has to turn it up
03:17and he knows when he has kind of some house money to play with.
03:20Winning those first two games in this series,
03:21he has house money to play with, especially without Luka.
03:24So, I expect him to say, like, hey, if we don't have it tonight,
03:27I'm not going to go to the gas tank.
03:29There will be another day and we'll live to see it.
03:31So, you know, if there's a prop bet out there,
03:33I would take the LeBron under it in this one specifically.
03:37Very good stuff.
03:38All right.
03:38Now, it would appear that Victor Wemba-Yama is not playing
03:41for the San Antonio Spurs
03:42because the point spread is indicating that.
03:45They're very light favorites against Portland.
03:47And it doesn't even really feel like there's a hedge if he does play
03:50because then the line would be Spurs minus three or four.
03:53It's minus two and a half, Carlin.
03:55So, that kind of tells the story here.
03:56And then, I guess I need to lean on you for here.
03:59Without Wemby, do the Spurs have the opportunity to, let's just say,
04:05win one game in Portland?
04:08Because I would imagine that crowd is going to be jacked up, man.
04:11They haven't been in this spot in a long time.
04:13Yeah.
04:14They're going to be fired up regardless of whether or not they're wearing
04:17those playoff T-shirts that their owner decided not to buy for them.
04:20But, yeah, they're going to be fired up.
04:22And they're also going to be the other team that shoots better
04:24because they didn't really shoot that well in San Antonio.
04:26They were just very gritty and feisty.
04:29And I honestly wasn't expecting that out of Portland after losing game one.
04:32They came back out and surprised me with the way that they play basketball
04:35and made it a playoff-style basketball game.
04:38And that's surprising for a team that doesn't have that much playoff experience
04:41on their side.
04:42On the flip side, you know, I think the Spurs is going to have to go into Portland
04:46and really play, you know, grind it out.
04:49If I want to use a football analogy since we're in draft season,
04:52they're going to have to run the ball and slow the game down a little bit.
04:54They're just going to have to muck it up.
04:55They're going to have to kind of use all four downs here and, you know,
04:58use a tush-push on fourth and one just to get across the line.
05:01This, if you're looking at a total, this is not going to go –
05:04no one's going to score 110 points in this basketball game.
05:06It's going to be low possessions.
05:07It's going to be grinding out basketball.
05:09I think the San Antonio Spurs are going to have enough to get over the line
05:12because they are used to playing without Victor Wimanyama.
05:15They've had to do that in the regular season.
05:17It's not foreign to them, and they know how to play without him.
05:20So having Victor not being in the game is going to give the ability for them
05:25to kind of just play loose and free and go out there and play their style of basketball.
05:28I think they're just going to slow it down and really grind this one out on the road.
05:32All right, so let's move to tomorrow if we have time to at least preview one game,
05:35Detroit-Orlando.
05:38Detroit slight favorites against the Magic, who to me – yeah,
05:41like I'll flip my coin on this game because I literally have no idea
05:44which Magic team is going to show up.
05:46I assume Detroit will win, and I assume that they'll just put Orlando
05:49out of business for the season over the next two games.
05:52But what do I know?
05:53I mean, Orlando just surprises people.
05:56They have been surprising a lot of people this postseason.
05:59I'm looking at a prop bet here with Jalen Dern.
06:01I think he gets a double-double here.
06:03This is a game where he kind of shows up and reminds people.
06:06By the way, Cade Cunningham is nice, but I was also an all-seater.
06:10We won as many games as we did, and we were in number one overall seed.
06:13This is a Jalen Dern game to me.
06:15He's going to show up, have to dominate inside,
06:17and kind of get Detroit over the line here
06:20and get them back in control of the series.
06:24As always, Carlin, appreciate the contribution.
06:26Enjoy the games this weekend.
06:27Hopefully we'll catch up next week.
06:28Thanks again.
06:30Likewise.
06:31Have a good one.
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