Regardless of who takes the floor, the Brooklyn Nets continue to look like the cream of the Eastern Conference crop. Whether it’s been James Harden and Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and Kyrie, or just Kyrie or Harden by themselves, the Nets have found a way to get the job done more times than not. Because of it, the team currently sits perched atop the conference standings with a 42-20 SU record heading into Thursday’s joust with the Indiana Pacers. The Milwaukee Bucks have however been rounding into form in winning six of their last nine matchups, and they’re one of the few teams in the East that could still conceivably catch Brooklyn in the standings to steal home court advantage in the second season. With that, much will be on the line when the teams collide at online sportsbooks in the first of two crucial matchups set to tip-off Sunday afternoon. The Nets logged a thrilling 125-123 outright win and cover as 4-point home dogs when they hosted Milwaukee at the end of January in a game Kyrie didn’t suit up for. The triumph moved the Nets to 3-1 SU and ATS in the last four meetings with the over cashing in three times.
This Eastern Conference heavyweight bout is set to go down live on Sunday, May 2, 2021. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET from the Fiserv Forum with the game broadcast live on ABC. We'll have NBA odds available at BookMaker.eu for this and every game on the NBA slate.
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Odds Analysis
Brooklyn and Philadelphia are the only two Eastern Conference teams that’ve already locked up playoff bids. Milwaukee’s turn to do so is coming up regardless of how these two tilts with the Nets play out. Things would get real interesting here if the Bucks somehow found a way to sweep this two-game home series with it just 3.5-games back heading into Thursday’s road clash with the Rockets. Milwaukee just came up with a huge two-game home sweep of the 76ers to allow for its hopes of snagging the No. 1 seed in the East to remain intact. Even so, Brooklyn once again looks to be playing with purpose after dropping games in Miami and Toronto most recently. Steve Nash’s troops will invade Milwaukee having gone 17-13 SU and 16-14 ATS when playing away from the Barclays Center. While the Bucks have done a solid job defending their hardwood coming out on top 20 of 30 times, they only managed to split those games against the closing NBA odds (15-15 ATS). With Milwaukee the healthiest it’s been all season and the Nets still without “The Beard,” look for linemakers to once again favor Giannis Antetokounmpo and company in the second go round.
Brooklyn Nets
After dropping the two prior meetings with the Dinos, the Nets looked to be solid choices heading into the third and final meeting on Tuesday night; especially considering the team recently lost a 114-103 decision as 4.5-point underdogs at Amalie Arena in a game both Harden and Durant missed. The tilt proved to be nip and tuck through the first three quarters with Toronto taking a slim 3 point lead into the final 12 minutes. That’s when Brooklyn seized control of the game ultimately outscoring the Raptors 36-20 to log the impressive 13-point win and cover as 4.5-point favorites. Jeff Green’s 22 points would lead the way for an offensive attack that also had six other double-digit scorers. Surprisingly, Kyrie wasn’t one of them! The win moved the team to 4-1 SU and ATS in their last five games.
Milwaukee Bucks
Finally the healthiest it’s seemingly been all season, Milwaukee is starting to look a lot like a team that has the overall game to compete for the Eastern Conference crown along with the Nets and 76ers. That was made to look all the more true after Mike Budenholzer’s troops dominated in a pair of wins and covers against Philadelphia back on April 22 and 24. While it suffered a major letdown immediately following in Atlanta, it bounced back nicely in Charlotte on Tuesday night when it scored the 114-104 win and cover as 9.5-point favorites. Giannis went HAM coming just two assists shy of logging yet another triple-double after scoring a game-high 29 points to go along with 12 rebounds. Bigs Brook Lopez (22) and Khris Middleton (17) also played large roles in the victory as well as Jrue Holiday who notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Brooklyn vs. Milwaukee Prediction
This could prove to be a tough spot for the Nets with the team just coming off a likely war with Damian Lillard and a Portland Trail Blazers team doing all it can to avoid being forced to partake in play-in games to qualify for the playoffs. On the other hand, Milwaukee is likely to just run through the motions against the Rockets and Bulls in the two games leading up to this pivotal series. With that, I like Milwaukee’s chances of setting the tone of the two-game series by taking the opener. With fatigue likely to be an issue for the visitors, I wouldn’t be the least bit shocked if Brooklyn sandbagged this one knowing full well it can still come out with a split and hold the exact same advantage in the standings when it’s said and done. So long as Milwaukee’s bigs doesn’t allow the Nets to own the glass like they did in the first meeting (49-41), they’ll have an excellent shot of protecting their hardwood which should result in a pointspread cover.
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