NBA playoffs betting tips, daily fantasy picks for Wednesday’s NBA games

ESPN’s fantasy basketball daily cheat sheet is your pregame destination before you set your lineups for that night’s games. Here you’ll read our best advice for the night, including a selection of players you can stream as well as game-by-game injury reports.

What you need to know for Wednesday’s games

There are only two games on this hump day, both featuring the top seed in a conference against the eighth seed. But the feeling going into tonight’s games is very different in the West vs the East.

In the Western Conference, the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder enter tonight’s game as 17.5 point favorites against the Phoenix Suns after drubbing them by 35 points in Game 1. Interestingly, these two teams also played each other in the last game of the regular season, but in that game both teams rested their starters and the second unit of the Suns defeated the second unit of the Thunder by 32 points. Based on this recent history, the question is whether this game will have a margin of less than 30 points.

Meanwhile, in the East, the top-seeded Detroit Pistons will try to salvage a home-split after losing Game 1 by 11 points to the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic. The Magic controlled the action from start to finish, outscoring the Pistons in three of the four quarters including both the third and the fourth. Can the Pistons bounce back and send the series back to Orlando tied, or can the Magic go home with a dominant 2-0 lead?

These storylines will play out with a bevy of moving parts and performances that will be of interest to the betting and DFS community. Let’s dig a bit deeper and identify some angles and players of interest for tonight’s action.

Dre’s Bets for Wednesday

Paolo Banchero over 20.5 points (-124)

Banchero has faced the Pistons four times this season, including playoffs (he missed one of their regular season matchups). In those four games, Banchero has averaged 25.5 PPG with at least 23 points in all four. Overall, Banchero has scored at least 23 points in three of his last four games, including in both postseason contests so far.

Thunder -17.5 vs. Suns (-110)

The Thunder and Suns have played each other six times overall this season including the playoffs. Excluding the matchup on the last day of the regular season where neither team played starters, the Thunder have won four of the other five with an average scoring margin of 22.4 points. The Thunder have been dominant in general since Shai Gilgeous-Alexander returned from injury, and they finished the season on a particularly strong note.

Again, excluding the games at the end of the season where they didn’t play their starters, the Thunder have otherwise won their five most recent games by an average of 33.4 PPG with no win by less than 18 points with four of those wins against teams that made the postseason.

Top Daily Fantasy Values of the Day

$8,100+ Salaries

Paolo Banchero, PF, Orlando Magic ($8,500)

Banchero has produced well against the Pistons all season, and overall has produced more than 40 fantasy points in six of his past eight games.

Cade Cunningham, PG, Detroit Pistons ($9,800)

Cunningham dropped 51.2 fantasy points in game against the Magic, similar to the 57 fantasy points he dropped against them in their previous meeting last month.

$6,100-$8,000 Salaries

Jalen Suggs, PG, Orlando Magic ($6,800)

Suggs has played well against the Pistons this season. He scored 36 fantasy points in Game 1, and was even more impressive with 47.5 fantasy points in their previous matchup earlier this month.

$3,500-$6,000 Salaries

Dillon Brooks, SG/SF Phoenix Suns ($5,900)

Brooks scored 30.2 fantasy points despite the Suns getting blown out in Game 1. He dropped more than 40 fantasy points in two of the four games before that.

Wendell Carter Jr., C, Orlando Magic ($5,700)

Carter was stellar with 39.8 fantasy points in Game 1, and he has the chance to capitalize on the same matchup in Game 2.

Projections and Injury Reports

Basketball Power Index by ESPN Analytics. Injury aggregation by Rotowire.com. Odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook

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Orlando Magic at Detroit Pistons
7 p.m. ET on ESPN

Line: Magic +8.5 (-105) | Pistons -8.5 (-115)
Money line: Magic +310 | Pistons -395
Total: 218.5 (-110 O, -110 U)
BPI Projection: Pistons by 9.1, straight up 76%, 216.7 total points.

Injury Report:

Magic: Jonathan Isaac, (OUT – Knee)

Pistons: None reported

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Phoenix Suns at Oklahoma City Thunder
9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN

Line: Suns +17.5 (-110) | Thunder -17.5 (-110)
Money line: Suns +1100 | Thunder -2100
Total: 216.5 (-108 O, -112 U)
BPI Projection: Thunder by 13.3, straight up 84%, 210.9 total points.

Injury Report:

Suns: None reported

Thunder: Thomas Sorber, (OFS – Knee)