NBA Multi bet of the Weekend| May 11

Saturday will see two Conference playoff series continue, with the Knicks heading to Indiana after knocking off the Pacers in New York twice in a row in a couple of entertaining games, before the Timberwolves host the Nuggets in probably the most intriguing series going on at the moment. The young Wolves, led by superstar Anthony Edwards, knocked off the reigning champions with relative ease twice on their own home floor, but can they keep that form going back in Minnesota? We’ve put together a three-leg multi for the day’s action; check it out below. 

Saturday, 11th of May at 9am AEST, Gainbridge Fieldhouse 

With Jalen Brunson listed as questionable after hurting his ankle in the Knicks’ Game 2 win, there is a whole lot of uncertainty around this game. But one thing which has been very predictable for the Pacers of late has been Obi Toppin being super productive off the bench. Selected with pick 8 by the Knicks back in 2020, Toppin spent three years in New York before heading to Indiana, where he has had the best season of his career, averaging 10.3 points on impressive shooting splits in 21.1 minutes per game. That’s right where his points total set by NBA betting sites sits for this game, but he is in a purple patch which has seen him surpass that number no less than six times in a row, often comfortably. Toppin has averaged 15.5 points per game in that time, scoring at least 12 points in every game, and in his last three games he has surpassed 20 on two occasions. He is proving to be a really valuable punch scorer off the bench for the Pacers against a Knicks team which gives very few minutes to their own, and with a few of his starting teammates failing to fire so far this series, more importance has been placed on Toppin coming off the bench. Whether that trend continues or not in Game 2, Toppin should be getting around 20 minutes or so to get these points, and based on his past couple of weeks of form he should be able to do it comfortably.

Saturday, 11th of May at 11.30am AEST, Target Center 

The Nuggets are in desperate need of something special to turn around their series against the Timberwolves after they lost both games in Denver to start the Conference Semi-Final bout. Fortunately for them, the best player in the world happens to wear their uniform. Jokic was solid (well, he was very good, but solid by his standards) in Game 1, putting up 32 points on 11-25 shooting to go with 8 boards and 9 assists, but he struggled mightily in Game 2 even in Rudy Gobert’s absence, managing just 16 points on 5-13 shooting (along with 16 boards and 8 assists). But Jokic is a hard man to keep down at the best of times, let alone in successive games. He is the best player in the game for a reason and has an uncanny ability to simply take his game up a notch when his team needs it, and never in the past two seasons have they needed him to do exactly that more than they do now. Jamal Murray’s struggles over the first two games of this series have been well documented and he enters Game 3 under an injury cloud, but whether he makes it out onto the floor or not, his partner in crime is going to need to have a big game to steal one back off the Wolves on the road. Expect the Joker to come out all guns blazing in this one and look to be super aggressive on offence right from the outset. The betting agencies have set his line for this game at 29.5 points, a number which he has alternated passing over his past five games. After missing out on it last game, he will likely take a lot of shots in this game and continue that trend with a big scoring performance to give his Nuggets a chance. 

Saturday, 11th of May at 11.30am AEST, Target Center  

The Timberwolves are an extremely well-rounded team and are showing that the defensive dominance they displayed throughout the course of the regular season is very much transferrable to the playoffs. But there is no denying that without Anthony Edwards, they would struggle to do what they are currently doing. The 22-year-old is on the way to taking over as the face of the NBA, with his gradual improvement over his first four years in the league now taking him to new heights this postseason. Probably unsurprisingly, the bright lights of the playoffs have not deterred him in the slightest; in fact, they have done the exact opposite. After a slow start against the Suns with 13 and 15 points in two of his first three games, he has been unstoppable over his past four games, scoring 36, 40, 43 and then 27 – the latter of those two coming in the first two games of this current Nuggets series. And while the 27 might not look quite as impressive, note that it came on 11-17 shooting in 37 minutes – about five less than he had been playing previously. Thanks in no small part to Edwards himself, the Timberwolves starters were not required late in that win, and had he stayed out there he would no doubt have comfortably surpassed the 30-point market. Betting agencies have set his points total for this game at 27.5 points, but based on his past performances we should be able to eke out a little bit of extra value and take him to get 30 or more.