Tipico One-Play Payday (May 24)

Welcome to a playoff edition of One-Play Payday. If you aren’t familiar with “One-Play Payday”, we provide you with one play, whether it be a spread, total or moneyline, that stands out as a rock-solid play on Tipico Sportsbook.

We have two juicy Game 2s on tap for the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

Here are today’s lines via Tipico Sportsbook:

Miami Heat (+160) @ Milwaukee Bucks (-4.5, -200), 222.5
Portland Trail Blazers (+100) @ Denver Nuggets (-1.5, -125), 226.5

Today’s One-Play Payday

Today’s OnePlay Payday is the Portland Trail Blazers +100 against the Denver Nuggets, 1u risked to win 1u.

It does not happen often where I think a sixth seed should be favored against a third seed in Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs, but here we are. With Jamal Murray and Will Barton’s extended absences, the Blazers are just, quite frankly, the better team. Portland handled Denver in Game 1 fairly easily, winning by 14 points while having a sound defensive game plan to limit Nikola Jokic’s playmaking ability. The Nuggets do not have enough players who can create their own “good” shots outside of Michael Porter Jr. After MPJ, Markus Howard is the next best shot-creator who will see minutes for the Nuggets. Yes, Markus Howard, someone you probably didn’t realize was on the Nuggets. With Jokic sharing the floor with two or three of Aaron Gordon, Facundo Campazzo, Austin Rivers, Monte Morris, Paul Millsap and JaMychal Green, Portland really focused on limiting Jokic’s ability to create clean looks for his teammates.

Nikola Jokic is an elite talent in the NBA and is capable of winning multiple games on his own, that said, the Blazers are just the more talented team also featuring a player who is able to take over in Damian Lillard. The Blazers also have a much stronger supporting cast around their superstar with CJ McCollum, Norman Powell, Jusuf Nurkic, Robert Covington and Carmelo Anthony. Not only did Terry Stotts prioritize limiting Jokic’s play-making, but he also forced their No. 2 scoring option in Michael Porter Jr. to take really poor quality threes. MPJ is one of the best spot-up shooters in the NBA, but the Blazers did not let him take open spot-up 3s, which led to him going 1-10 from three.

Sure, Mike Malone will likely gameplan to help get his guys some easier looks, but the Blazers do have the individual defensive talent to execute a similar gameplan as they did in Game 1, which makes us getting even money on them to win as a good value. At the end of the day, talent typically wins out in the playoffs, and the Blazers are the more talented team at this very moment.

To recap, today’s OnePlay Payday is the Portland Trail Blazers +100, 1u to win 1u.

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