Road to the NBA Finals: NBA Playoff Predictions, Picks for Every Game on Sunday

Who doesn’t love a Game 7?

The NBA has two Game 7s to close out the first round of the playoffs, and the winners will face each other in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Detroit Pistons are looking to complete a 3-1 series comeback against the No. 8-seeded Orlando Magic, after they dominated Orlando in the second half of Game 6 to erase a huge deficit.

In the other Eastern Conference series, the Toronto Raptors survived on a game-winning 3-pointer from RJ Barrett, giving the home team all six wins in their series with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

This postseason, I’m betting on every single game in the playoffs, in SI Betting’s Road to the NBA Finals challenge. The rules are pretty simple:

Bet on every game through the play-in tournament and playoffs
Bet can be a spread, total, moneyline, player prop or game prop
ENJOY POSTSEASON BASKETBALL!

I’m targeting one total and one side for Sunday’s action, so let’s get into the breakdowns for each game.

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

Orlando Magic-Detroit Pistons UNDER 203.5 (-115)

Both of these teams have been extremely shaky on offense in this series, and Orlando’s putrid second half in Game 6 (which blew my Magic +3.5 bet) makes it hard to bet on a side in Game 7 with the spread at 8.5.

So, I’m looking to the total, as history shows that the UNDER is one of the more profitable bets in Game 7s.

The Magic scored just 19 points in the second half of Game 6, and they finished with 79 points overall. There have been three games in this series where neither team reached 100 points, and after Game 6 these squads were 16th (Orlando) and 13th (Detroit) amongst playoff teams in offensive rating.

Shooting has been an issue for Orlando all season long (it was a bottom-10 team in effective field goal percentage in the regular season), and both of these teams are much better on the defensive end.

Detroit’s lack of shot creation after Cade Cunningham is a concern, so I wouldn't be shocked if both teams struggle to crack triple-digits again on Sunday.

The UNDER has hit in 23 of 43 games for the Pistons at home and 23 of 43 games for the Magic on the road this season.

Toronto Raptors +7.5 (-110) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

The Raptors just won’t go away, and they’ve now covered the spread in each of the last four games in this series.

Toronto has fought through multiple injuries to hang around with this healthy Cavs team, and playoff shortcomings have been a theme for Cleveland since the Donovan Mitchell era has started.

The Cavs had ample opportunities to put this series away in Game 6, yet they struggled to execute down the stretch in overtime, setting up Barrett’s game-winning 3.

Cleveland is just 17-24 against the spread as a home favorite this season, and with the total all the way down at 210.5, I don’t see the Cavs winning this game in blowout fashion.

Toronto has buckled down defensively when it has needed to – it was No. 5 in defensive rating in the regular season – and the last three games in this series have all been decided by five points or less.

I think this spread should be closer to 5.5, so I’ll gladly back the Raptors to keep this a two-possession game on Sunday night.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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