Pinnacle +5½ -105 BET365 +5½ -110 SportsInteraction +5½ -110 BetOnline +5½ -108 Bookmaker +5½ -110

Posted at 2:45 PM EST. 

Milwaukee +5½ -105 over PHOENIX

9:00 PM EST. The Lakers without Anthony Davis and with Lebron less than 100%; the Nuggets without Jamal Murray; the Clippers without Kahwi Leonard. That’s who the Suns have gotten past to get to this point — as they should have. But the Bucks have benefited from their share of bad breaks for the other side, too. No Kyrie Irving and an injured James Harden for New Jersey; no DeAndre Hunter, then absences from Trae Young before he showed up to play hurt and lousy in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. We’ve been through the fact that Game 1’s have been some of Milwaukee’s worst since the beginning of the 2020 playoffs and the market is eating it up.

People actually believe that because Milwaukee has been garbage in Game 1’s, they’re going to be garbage in this game too. They might be but if they are, it’s just because it is what it is and not because it’s Game 1. That ridiculous theory is exactly that. The Bucks are 1-2 straight up and 0-3 Against the Spread (ATS) so far in Game 1’s this postseason, needing OT to beat Miami by 2 points in the one win. Now they play a Game 1 on the road with Giannis Antetokunmpko listed as doubtful. No not only is that meaningless trend out in full force, so, too, are the injury chasers. There are seriously some people that are going to bet on Phoenix because Giannis is out. Then when they cash the ticket, they’ll attribute it to Giannis being out, as if the bookmakers overlooked it. Trust us when we suggest that we’re getting extra points because he’s out and all the value is on the dog. That doesn’t mean the dog will cover, it only means our money is playing the value, which is all we care about.

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