{"id":716579,"date":"2026-04-23T14:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716579\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:15:15","slug":"road-to-the-nba-finals-nba-playoff-predictions-picks-for-every-game-3-on-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716579\/","title":{"rendered":"Road to the NBA Finals: NBA Playoff Predictions, Picks for Every Game 3 on Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pair of swing games highlight Thursday night\u2019s NBA action, as the New York Knicks take on the Atlanta Hawks and the Denver Nuggets face the Minnesota Timberwolves with their respective series knotted at one game apiece.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those aren\u2019t the only matchups on Thursday, as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Donovan Mitchell have a chance to take a commanding 3-0 series lead against the Toronto Raptors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New York Knicks @ Atlanta HawksCleveland Cavaliers @ Toronto RaptorsDenver Nuggets @ Minnesota Timberwolves<\/p>\n

This season, I\u2019m betting on every NBA postseason game, a fun challenge that I created here at SI Betting. The rules for my \u201cRoad to the NBA Finals\u201d challenge are pretty simple:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bet on every game through the play-in tournament and playoffsBet can be a spread, total, moneyline, player prop or game propENJOY POSTSEASON BASKETBALL!<\/p>\n

After just two games on Wednesday night, Thursday has us gearing up for the weekend, and there\u2019s potential for a No. 6 seed to take control of a first-round matchup. It doesn\u2019t get much better than that!\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Thursday, I\u2019m avoiding a side and taking three player props, including plays for All-NBA stars Nikola Jokic and Mitchell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Josh Hart OVER 12.5 Rebounds and Assists (-114)<\/p>\n

Knicks wing Josh Hart does it all for this game, and he always seems to find another level in the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Atlanta\u2019s frontcourt is extremely thin with Onyeka Okongwu as the only true center in the rotation, which has helped Hart dominate the boards like no other player his size can. He\u2019s averaging 13.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game in this series, yet his combined rebounds and assists prop is at 12.5.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sure, there\u2019s a chance Hart takes a step back on the glass, but the Knicks wing is all about effort even if he\u2019s not scoring the ball at a high level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his last two playoff runs, Hart averaged 11.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game (2024) and 8.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game (2025). So far this postseason, he\u2019s averaging an insane 19.0 rebound chances and 7.0 potential assists per game, giving him too high of a floor to pass up at this number.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Donovan Mitchell OVER 2.5 3-Pointers Made (-152)<\/p>\n

Mitchell averaged over three made 3-pointers per game in the regular season, and he\u2019s come out on fire in the playoffs, shooting 8-for-17 from beyond the arc in the first two games against Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though the Raptors finished the regular season fourth in opponent 3-point percentage, they have not had an answer for Mitchell in this series, as he\u2019s averaging 31.0 points per game while shooting over 55 percent from the field and 47 percent from 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The usage for Mitchell is huge (he has 20 or more shot attempts in each game), and he took at least seven 3s in each game in Cleveland. I think this line is a major discount in Game 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nikola Jokic OVER 9.5 Assists (-138)<\/p>\n

Earlier today, I shared in my NBA Best Bets column \u2013 Peter\u2019s Points<\/a> \u2013 why I\u2019m expecting a bounce-back game from Jokic after a down showing in Game 2:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nikola Jokic appeared to be well on his way to another big game as a passer in Game 2, but he only recorded a couple of assists after the first quarter in the Nuggets\u2019 loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves changed up their game plan a bit, having Rudy Gobert guard Jokic one-on-one to force the big man to attack more as a scorer. The result? A Denver loss and an 8-for-20 shooting game from the three-time NBA MVP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t expect that to continue in Game 3, and I\u2019m going to take Jokic to finish with double-digit assists on Thursday. He reached 10 or more dimes in three of four regular-season meetings with the Wolves and had 11 dimes in Game 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This postseason, Jokic is averaging 20.5 potential assists per game, and he may just need a better shooting night from Denver to blow past this prop. After all, the MVP candidate averaged 10.7 assists per game in the regular season. <\/p>\n

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n

Claim the latest\u00a0DraftKings promo code<\/a>\u00a0offer today. Sign up and get\u00a0$300 in bonus bets instantly when you make your first $5 bet<\/a>\u00a0and that bet wins.<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pair of swing games highlight Thursday night\u2019s NBA action, as the New York Knicks take on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,6,11],"class_list":{"0":"post-716579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-nba-playoffs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}