Bet the NBA Playoffs! Greg Frank picks Orlando Magic vs Milwaukee Bucks and looks at the spread

Magic (+14) @ Bucks (227)

Tip-off: 4 pm EDT

Pick: Bucks -14

If you haven’t noticed, I like betting favorites in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. We’ve seen three sweeps in the Eastern Conference and Milwaukee-Orlando is all that’s left before we get to the conference semifinals. Not only have the favorites been winning, but they’ve been covering numbers in the process. In today’s Game 5, are the Bucks really going to mess around and flirt with a sixth game against a far inferior Magic opponent? The NBA is a star-driven league dominated by the teams at the top. Especially in a bubble environment when all the games are being played at the same location, I would think a team like the Bucks would take note of the other teams that have already advanced in the East and how easy it was for them. We mentioned the Clippers looking to make a statement in their Game 5 last night after seeing what the Lakers had been doing to Portland and the Clippers rolled right through the Mavericks to push Dallas to the brink of elimination. The Bucks are going to come with a similar effort in today’s first game in the Association. The second round in the East should be far more entertaining and we’re going to be locked into Boston vs Toronto and Milwaukee vs Miami in just a few hours.