The NBA play-in round kicks off on Tuesday night with two games where the head-to-head history sticks out. The Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic will battle in the Eastern Conference game with the winner taking on the Boston Celtics in the first round.

Ja Morant and Memphis Grizzlies take on Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors in the nightcap. The winner of that contest faces the Houston Rockets. Tuesday’s losers will get one more shot at the postseason in matchups on Friday against the winners from Wednesday’s play-in games.

Hawks at Magic (-5.5) (O/U: 219)

Atlanta and Orlando met four times after February 1, so there’s a better sample size to work with than you would typically see for a postseason (or in this case play-in) matchup. Each team scored at least 105 in all four head-to-head meetings, a number driven by Atlanta’s pace. Atlanta was the second-best team to the over in the regular season at 50-31-1. It’s easy to target the star players in this matchup especially because of how much Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Trae Young were involved in the regular-season series.

Banchero eclipsed the 30-point mark in all three games he played against the Hawks. Wagner went over the 20-point mark in three contests. Trae Young had 38, 28 and 19 in those games. The last head-t0-head meeting meant nothing on the final day of the regular season. Banchero’s point prop sits at over/under 30.5 points, while Young is at 26.5 and Wagner is 25.5.


DraftKings has a profit boost available for the Hawks/Magic game, FanDuel has a 50 percent profit boost, as well as a No Sweat Same Game Parlay for either days of the play-in and BetMGM has an odds boost token as well. Banchero/Young/Wagner to score 25+ points each sits around +220 to +240 depending on the book. I would use one of your boosts on that SGP.

Grizzlies at Warriors (-7) (O/U: 228.5)

There was only one game between the Grizzlies and this current iteration of the Warriors with Jimmy Butler. Stephen Curry went off for 52 points on April 1, a game in which Ja Morant scored 36 and Butler got to 27 points. If you wanted to get crazy, you could combine Banchero/Young/Curry/Morant to score 25+ points and Butler/Wagner to score 20+ points to get to +700. Bumping Butler and Wagner up to 25+ points get you to +1700.

It might just be a big-time players in big-time game-type of night, and while I’m sure one or two role players will step up, the history in head-to-head matchups is pretty distinct, at least in these two games. Bet365 has a super boost for Curry and Morant to score 25+ points each. ESPN Bet has two profit boosts that you can use on the star players as well. As for the spread, Golden State is 5-6 ATS this season as a favorite of between 7 and 10 points, while Memphis is 3-4 ATS as an underdog of seven or more points. And hey if neither game interests you there’s online slots and online casinos!