Golden State Warriors vs. Houston Rockets Game 6 NBA Playoffs Best Bets & Odds - May 2
All odds provided by Betway.
Warriors vs. Rockets Moneyline/Point Spread Pick
We would love to see the Rockets win this series, but we’re just not sure they’ve given themselves enough rope. Heading back to Chase Center with the series on the line kind of turns Game 6 into game 7 for the Warriors, which means they will be playing that much harder to avoid going back on the road.
The fact that all of their aging stars basically only played half a game two days ago will mean they will be coming out with fresh legs on Friday night too. The place is going to be rocking. And as you’ll read in our player prop breakdown, a certain Chef is due for a big bounce back game. Not to mention Jimmy Butler was just 2-for-10 in Game 5 too. It’s very rare that he and Curry both play so poorly.
Houston and their depth and athleticism of course deserve some credit for stifling those stars. They have shown a lot of positive flashes in this series; it always just felt a bit early for them to handle the pressure of a playoff series against multi-time champs like the Warriors. Especially as they were just recently energized by the addition of Butler.
We hate to have to go with the spread on this one, but with the moneyline at -220, we are forced to. We won’t go for the full 5.0-point spread because we think this will go right down to the wire. But the fact is that Butler and Curry are not just stars, they’re also closers, and Butler in particular has proven that in this postseason, sitting second in fourth-quarter points per game with 10.0. They will prove the difference down the stretch.
Pick: Golden State Warriors Alternate -2.5 Point Spread (-175)
Warriors vs. Rockets Player Prop Best Bet
Steph Curry has been having a quiet series against the Rockets by his standards. He has scored 20 or fewer in three of the five games in this duel. A lot of that has to be attributed to the injury to his dominant right hand that makes his thumb look like that of an alien. But he does have two games of 31 and 36 points in this series. Even when he’s not 100 percent, Curry is good enough to get in rhythm and explode.
The thumb is playing a part, but we also think he’s also just been a bit cold. That happens when you rely on the long ball. His back-to-back sub-20 point games in the last two represent just the third time in his career he’s ever been held in check like that in two straight in the postseason. Alien thumb or no, he’s due for a big one.
Since 2015, Curry has scored under 20 points on 40 percent shooting from the field or worse just 17 times in the playoffs. One of those was that famous Game 7 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, so he didn’t have a chance to bounce back there. But in the other 16, he has averaged 31 points. That includes 14 games of 25+ points, 10 of which were games of 30+.
And funny enough, he scored exactly 34 points in five of these games, so if there’s any special prop at your preferred NBA betting sites on Curry’s exact number of points, 34 could be a fun dart throw. We’re not going to go that far here, however. Instead, we’ll stick with Curry’s very reasonable -125 odds to bounce back at least mildly and top 25 points.
Best Bet: Steph Curry to Score 25+ Points (-125)/Betway
