NBA Best Bets Today - Free Playoffs Picks for Thursday, May 11

NBA Best Bets Today - Free Playoffs Picks for Thursday, May 11

This article is part of our NBA Picks series.

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Best Bets

Cameron Payne O8.5 points (+100) -- PointsBet, 1:00 PM CT

Ken Crites: Cameron Payne plays better when he has the support of the home crowd.  Over 48 regular season games, he shot 37.0 percent from the field on the road, but 46.3 percent at home.  And as a starter, he averaged 14.9 points per game.  Of course, most of those starts were without KD in the lineup.  What we learned from Game 5 is that Durant and Booker are running out of gas.  Someone else has to step up for the Suns, especially if DeAndre Ayton (ribs) doesn't play.  Playing fast, small ball should help Payne's game. Payne has had some stinkers in this series, but I'm betting he's due to return to regular season form.

Jayson Tatum + Jaylen Brown to each score 25+ points (+133) -- FanDuel Sportsbook, 1:00 PM CT

Michael Gillow: Jayson Tatum is averaging 26.6 points per game in this series, including a seven-point outing, while Jaylen Brown is averaging 23.6 points. However, with Boston's backs against the wall, I expect the Celtics to lean into their star players to carry the scoring load. Especially considering Brown is shooting 57.1 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three across the first five games against the 76ers, he should see an uptick in volume.

James Harden O15.5 AST+REB (+100) -- DraftKings Sportsbook, 1:00 PM CT

Nick Whalen: For most of the series, this number has been set at 14.5, but even at 15.5 I like the value for a player who's gone over 15.5 in each of the last three games. Harden is plenty capable of racking up counting stats under any circumstance, but I look at this as somewhat of a hedge if you think he has another quiet night as a scorer. In the 29 games this season (regular season and playoffs) in which Harden has failed to reach 20 points, he's tallied at least 16 AST+REB in 19 of them. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Ken
An early RotoWire contributor from the 90's, K-Train returns with the grace of Gheorghe Muresan and the wisdom of Joe Gibbs. Ken is a two-time FSWA award winner and a co-host on the RW NBA Podcast. Championships incude: 2016 RW Staff NBA Keeper, 2019 RW Staff NFL Ottoneu Keeper, 2022-23 SiriusXM NBA Experts, 2022-23 SiriusXM NBA Kamla Keeper and 2023-24 FSGA NBA Expert Champions. Ken still owns a RotoNews shirt.
Michael Gillow
Michael Gillow is a breaking news writer for the NBA, WNBA, college basketball and college football for RotoWire. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in journalism. He loves everything about sports and is an avid sports-bettor.
Nick Whalen
Now in his 10th year with the company, Nick is RotoWire's Senior Media Analyst, a position he took on after several years as the Head of Basketball Content. A multi-time FSGA and FSWA award winner, Nick co-hosts RotoWire's flagship show on Sirius XM Fantasy alongside Jeff Erickson, as well as The RotoWire NBA Show on Sirius XM NBA with Alex Barutha. He also co-hosts RotoWire's Football and Basketball podcasts. You can catch Nick's NBA and NFL analysis on VSiN and DraftKings, as well as RotoWire's various social and video channels. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @wha1en.
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