Portland Trail Blazers

Picks

The Spurs should want to put this series to bed more than a team normally would up 3-1. Victor Wembanyama may be back on the court, but rest will help him recover from his GAme 2 concussion. His shot did not look great in his GAme 4 return, though he did find 12 rebounds in only 34 minutes.

First of all, Castle has hit 9-of-21 shots from beyond the arc in this series, 42.9%, and cleared this prop in three of the four games. He is very much a shooter, and that only raises his scoring ceiling. Second of all, it may seem counterintuitive to bet on Castle’s props because he should play a full workload tonight to clinch the series and then still expect a blowout, but those are actually hand-in-hand thoughts. Portland should press until the very, very end. That does not mean the game will get closer.