Best NBA Bets Today: Free Picks & Player Props for Tuesday, May 5

Expert NBA best bets and picks for Tuesday, May 5's playoff slate, including Pistons vs. Cavaliers, Lakers vs. Thunder, plus SGA and Jaylon Tyson player props from RotoWire analysts.
Best NBA Bets Today: Free Picks & Player Props for Tuesday, May 5

Looking for the best bets for Tuesday's NBA slate? RotoWire has you covered with several picks for this set of games.

For the latest NBA Odds, including NBA Futures and NBA player props, visit RotoWire's NBA Betting page. We also have betting tools like Historical NBA Odds and ATS Standings. For up-to-date NBA player news and NBA Injury Report info, head to RotoWire's NBA Lineups page. You can find more picks at Bookies.com/picks.

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Best NBA Bets Today (Tuesday, May 5)

Detroit Pistons -3.5 (-102) versus Cleveland Cavaliers

DraftKings Sportsbook, 2:38 PM ET

Kirien Sprecher: Despite surviving a 3-1 first-round deficit, the Pistons are being disrespected once again, with the East's No. 1 seed only slight series favorites (-125) over the Cavaliers, who also needed seven games to dispatch the Raptors. I'll admit that Detroit didn't look great against Orlando, with Jalen Duren being the biggest disappointment, but I think the Pistons recaptured their regular-season mojo in a convincing Game 7 win. Duren dominated with a 15-point, 15-rebound double-double, and I expect him to carry over that momentum into the next round. James Harden's playoff struggles are well-documented, and Donovan Mitchell has been extremely pedestrian on the road thus far in the postseason. Things won't get easier against Detroit's defense, with arguably the league's best perimeter defender, Ausar Thompson, chomping at the bit to lock down Cleveland's superstar guards. I think the Pistons hold serve at home in Game 1 with an emphatic win led by their All-NBA duo of Duren and Cade Cunningham, who was spectacular in the opening round, aside from some poor turnover games.

Los Angeles Lakers team total U98.5 (-110) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

DraftKings, 4:36 PM ET

Nick Whalen: The Lakers just finished a rock fight of a series against the Rockets in which at least one team failed to break 100 points in five of six games. While the pace may rise in Round 2, LA is facing a ferocious OKC defense that held the Suns to 84 points in Game 1 of the first round. I think the Lakers can do better than that, but it'll be an uphill battle without Luka Doncic — especially if the Lakers turn the ball over at nearly the same rate they did against Houston.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander over 6.5 assists (-145)

Hard Rock, 2:41 PM ET

Alex Barutha: During the regular season against the Lakers, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 8.0 assists per game against the Lakers -- the third-most against any team he faced at least three times. He also passed well in the opening-round series against the Suns, dropping 8.0 dimes per game. If the Lakers want any chance of winning this series, I think they'll have to frequently double-team SGA, or at the very least, play the gaps and prevent him from driving. That should lead to assist opportunities for him.

Jaylon Tyson O10.5 PRA (-113) at Detroit Pistons

FanDuel, 4:36 PM ET

Nick Whalen: Tyson saw relatively limited action in Round 1 against Toronto, but he still went over this number in the final five games of the series. As a potential defensive matchup on Cade Cunningham — Tyson defended him well in the regular season — I think we see more of Tyson in Round 2.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Alex is RotoWire's Chief NBA Editor. He writes articles about daily fantasy, year-long fantasy and sports betting. You can hear him on the RotoWire NBA Podcast, Sirius XM, VSiN and other platforms. He firmly believes Robert Covington is the most underrated fantasy player of the past decade.
Kirien Sprecher is a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate who has covered the NBA, NFL and MLB for RotoWire since early 2021. In his free time, Kirien is probably arguing a foul call during a pickup basketball game at a local rec center.
Now in his 10th year with the company, Nick is RotoWire's Senior Media Analyst, a position he took on after several years as the Head of Basketball Content. A multi-time FSGA and FSWA award winner, Nick co-hosts RotoWire's flagship show on Sirius XM Fantasy alongside Jeff Erickson, as well as The RotoWire NBA Show on Sirius XM NBA with Alex Barutha. He also co-hosts RotoWire's Football and Basketball podcasts. You can catch Nick's NBA and NFL analysis on VSiN and DraftKings, as well as RotoWire's various social and video channels. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @wha1en.
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