NBA Week 27: Thursday Match Predictions

Now that we have fully entered the Round 2 of the playoffs, teams are now in a more intense struggle to see who makes it to the conference finals. Last week, the first week of Round 2, was marred by upsets. Teams came from behind with low odds to win. It further adds more dimension to the game and shows you how determined these teams are. Moving forward, let us predict matches holding on Sunday.

The first fixture for the night is Milwaukee Bucks vs. Miami Heat. First, anyone would be honestly surprised to know that the Bucks have lost 3 games to the Heat. It would have been hard to guess so. It is disappointing to see the Bucks end their impressive season record on such a bad note. For some reason, Giannis has not scored his usual 30 points in a game and that has cost the Bucks a lot as it could have made the difference, particularly in their last Wednesday fixture that ended 116-114, but we cannot just heap the blame on him alone.

Khris Middleton has stepped up a few times, having shot the most points on their last Monday game. Still, it is hard to fathom why the Bucks would lose three straight matches. But one cannot deny how impressive Heat has been, with Jimmy Butler acting like a true leader. From the way things are looking, there may not even be a Thursday fixture as the Heat could win their Sunday game and proceed to the conference finals. The Bucks would have to put in a lot of work to win their Sunday and Tuesday fixture to force a Game 6 on Thursday.

Next, we have Los Angeles Lakers vs. Houston Rockets. The Rockets came from a heated rivalry with the Oklahoma City Thunder, winning the Round 1 series 4-3, to beat the Lakers in their first Round 2 fixture. Lakers may have lost the first game, but they still have it within them to win their next meetings against the Rockets.

There is a trend that can be noticed in their last two games and that is the fact that Lakers finished with 97 points on both instances. The Lakers could not feel the impact of LeBron James in their last game, particularly in the 4^th quarter and one could see how that affected things. Still, that is just one loss and the Lakers have enough time to make up for it.