The Golden State Warriors have taken a 1-0 lead in their series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but they’ll have to find a way to win without Steph Curry if they want to keep up that momentum in Game 2.
The Curry injury opens a lot of interesting spots for us to analyze and gives us quite a few good options for tonight's Warriors vs. Timberwolves same-game parlay.
Let’s take a look at how I think this one will play out in my free NBA picks for Thursday, May 8.
Warriors vs Timberwolves same-game parlay: May 8
Warriors +10.5
Buddy Hield Over 14.5 points
Anthony Edwards 25+ points
The Golden State Warriors came into this series facing a bit of disrespect from oddsmakers and pundits alike. That’s not to say that the Minnesota Timberwolves weren’t clear favorites in this series, because they were and remain so even after losing the first game of the series. But the Warriors were never going down without a fight, and this was always going to be a hard-fought series.
To some extent, I think that remains true even with Steph Curry out for at least the next couple of games. Make no mistake: any chance the Warriors had of winning this series is gone without Curry in the lineup, but they can still compete. Game 1 showed that. Curry only played for 13 minutes before going down with his hamstring injury, and yet Golden State still won the game by 11. Given what we saw on Tuesday, I’m happy to take the Warriors getting more than 10 points, even if I don’t expect them to pull a second straight upset.
With Curry out, someone else is going to have to score some points for Golden State, win or lose. My favorite pick is Buddy Hield, who has already increased his scoring production to 12.5 ppg in the playoffs. But we’ve now seen him play a big role in two straight games, putting up 33 against the Houston Rockets in Game 7 of that series and 24 points in the first game of this series. His playing time will remain high with Curry on the bench, so a total of 14.5 points makes this an easy Over pick for me.
Finally, I’ll take Anthony Edwards to hit the 25+ point mark tonight. Edwards is averaging 26.2 ppg during the playoffs, which is down from his regular-season average (27.6 ppg). But he has shown up consistently in big games, such as scoring 29 and 43 in the two contests after the Los Angeles Lakers took a game from Minnesota in the last round. With the Wolves needing a win at home against a vulnerable Warriors team tonight, I expect Edwards to easily pick up 25+ points.
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