Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
There had been four NBA playoff games per day from the Orlando bubble but that will change Tuesday because two Eastern Conference first-round series that would have been played that day, Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors vs. Brooklyn Nets, both ended in four-game sweeps by the better-seeded team (Celtics and Raptors) on Sunday.
Thus, both matchups Tuesday are from the Western Conference.
At 6:30 p.m. ET, the third-seeded Denver Nuggets look to avoid elimination in Game 5 against the sixth-seeded Utah Jazz. Utah is a 3-point favorite to finish things off and advance to the conference semifinals. The Jazz have covered just four of their past 22 games as favorites.
Denver won the first game 135-125 in overtime but obviously hasn’t won since. The Jazz dominated Games 2 and 3 and then won 129-127 Sunday behind 51 points from Donovan Mitchell. That wasn’t even his highest tally of the series as Mitchell had 57 points in the Game 1 loss, the third-highest point total in an NBA playoff game ever. Mitchell joined Allen Iverson, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to score at least 50 points in multiple games of the same series.
It took Mitchell just 20 career postseason games to have two 50-point games; only Jordan and Chamberlain (three each) had more 50-point playoff games in their first 20. The Nuggets’ Jamal Murray matched Mitchell nearly shot for shot and finished with exactly 50 points himself.
It was just the ninth time in postseason history a player’s team lost when he scored 50. Mitchell’s Game 1 defeat was No. 8. The Nuggets have yet to have starting guard Gary Harris in this series due to a right hip strain, and he’s unlikely for Tuesday.
At 9 p.m. ET, the No. 7 Dallas Mavericks face the No. 2 Los Angeles Clippers with the series tied 2-2. The Clips are -6.5 even though they largely have been outplayed in this series. Mavs 21-year-old sensation Luka Doncic put on one of the great playoff performances in NBA history in his team’s 135-133 overtime victory Sunday. Doncic hit a step-back, 28-foot three-pointer at the buzzer for the win to cap off an unfathomable 43-point, 17-rebound, 13-assist game.
That the Mavericks won that game was even more unlikely considering Doncic was in question with a sprained ankle and the team’s second-best player, big man Kristaps Porzingis, was out with a sore knee. He had an MRI on Monday that came back negative but is still being called questionable for Tuesday. Dallas is 1-5 ATS in its past six after a win.
