The second round of the NBA playoffs rolls on Monday night with one team on the brink of elimination. The Oklahoma City Thunder can sweep the Lakers with a win in Game 4, stamping their ticket to the Western Conference finals and getting them one step closer to repeating as NBA champions.
The Lakers have struggled to match the Thunder’s level of talent without Luka Doncic, who is ruled out for Monday night’s game.
In the East, the Cavaliers are looking to even up the series against the Pistons after a clutch victory in Game 3 that finally got them in the win column against Detroit. The longer that series goes, though, the more rest the Knicks get. They await the winner of Cleveland-Detroit for the Eastern Conference finals.
Here’s the schedule and a prediction for each matchup:
NBA games today: May 11 playoff schedule
Odds via FanDuel, all times ET
- Game 4: Detroit Pistons at Cleveland Cavaliers (-3.5), 8 p.m. — Prime Video
- Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder at Los Angeles Lakers (+11.5), 10:30 p.m. — Prime Video
Cavaliers vs. Pistons Game 4 prediction
James Harden delivered when it mattered most for the Cavaliers in Game 3. He scored nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, delivering one clutch bucket after another to narrowly escape what would’ve been another disaster of a loss for Cleveland.
He’s taken a lot of heat throughout this series and in the first round against the Raptors, but moments like his performance in the fourth quarter remind you why the Cavs traded for him in the first place. Can he deliver over four quarters and even up this series? That’s the paramount question looming over this matchup. If Harden were playing like the MVP-winning, 11-time All-Star he is, the Cavaliers would fare far better against a Detroit team that has been helped by some well-timed shooting variance, but we have yet to see him consistently produce for it to really sway this series.
So unless Game 3 was the start of Harden dominating this series, I’ll go with the Pistons, who managed to tie the game up with three minutes to go, but didn’t have enough in the tank to get across the finish line first. Pick: Pistons (+3.5)
Lakers vs. Thunder Game 4 prediction
Again, this simply comes down to the Lakers being far overmatched. Game 3 was just the latest example of that. Deandre Ayton played so poorly that he got benched for rookie Adou Thiero with nine minutes left in the game. That wasn’t a situation of JJ Redick throwing in the towel, either. When Ayton managed to register just one defensive rebound and was part of the reason why the Lakers surrendered 64 points in the paint, it became incredibly obvious as to why his coach would be frustrated by his efforts.
But this isn’t just an Ayton problem. The Lakers just don’t have enough offensive firepower to contend with the Thunder. Even if Dončić were healthy, he’s certainly not going to fix L.A.’s porous defense. Pick: Thunder (-11.5)
