NBA Playoffs Round 2: Free NBA Picks Today for Monday, May 1st, 2023

Our free NBA picks are out for Monday, May 1st, 2023! Make sure you check our NBA picks before the action kicks off.

Look below to find our free NBA picks for the five best games on today’s schedule!

Philadelphia 76ers @ Boston Celtics – 7:30PM ET

Tony Battalio

The Philadelphia 76ers come into this series after a lengthy rest after they swept the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the playoffs. They will likely be without Joel Embiid in this game as he is still healing up from his sprint near here before game number one against the Boston Celtics in the second round series. Which means guys like James Harden and Tyrese Maxey will need to step up and play well if Philadelphia wants to grab the win on the road and get the early advantage in this massive series. Philadelphia will have to play their best basketball of the season if they want to find a way to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals against a tough Boston team.

The Boston Celtics come into the second round series against the Philadelphia 76ers as the presumable favorites to win the Eastern conference. After Milwaukee was upset by Miami in five games, Boston is the highest seed remaining on this side of the bracket and as long as they remain healthy and consistent, they should have an easier path to the NBA finals this season. Guys like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will have to continue to play well if they want to get the win over Philadelphia in the series. That is exactly what I expect in game number one as I have Boston picking up the victory in covering the spread against Philadelphia on Monday at home.

Phoenix Suns @ Denver Nuggets – 10PM ET

Tony Battalio

The Phoenix Suns come into game number two of the series looking to regroup after their devastating loss in game number one against the Denver Nuggets. Phoenix certainly has all the tools they need to regroup and pick up a victory here in game two on Monday night, but they will have to play a lot better than they didn’t game on. The role players will have to step up and the bench will have to perform a lot better against Denver here on Monday night if they want to shut down Nikola Jokić and even up this series before heading home for a pair of games.

The Denver Nuggets looked incredible in their victory in game one of the series last week. Now they will be looking to replicate that performance and pick up another victory here in game number two and take a two games to zero lead heading back to Phoenix for games three and four. Denver is much like Phoenix in the fact that they have a ton of weapons on their roster and I have the ability to make a deep playoff run if they remain healthy. However, I look for game number two of the series to be a lot more competitive, but for the second consecutive game I’m taking the over in this one.

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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.