2024 NBA playoffs - Bets, lines and stats for Sunday - ESPN

After a huge start Saturday, Day 2 of the NBA playoffs gives us another quadrupleheader. We've got both 1-8 matchups with the top seeds heavily favored over the teams that won the last play-in slots, both of which are dealing with injury absences of their best players.

Then, in the other two matchups, we have two road favorites against higher-seeded teams with their best players also dealing with injury. According to ESPN Stats & Information, they'll be just the fourth and fifth teams since the 1990-91 season (excluding the bubble) to be underdogs in their first playoff game while being the higher seed and having home-court advantage… and in all three other instances, the higher seed went on to lose the series.

Let's dig further into today's matchups and find some angles of interest in what projects to be a busy NBA Sunday.

Dallas Mavericks -2.5 over LA Clippers (-115). All eyes will be on the availability of Kawhi Leonard (GTD, knee), who hasn't played in the past eight games. On the season, the Clippers were 44-24 (64.7 win percentage) with Leonard on the court but only 7-7 (50.0 win percentage) with him sidelined. The Mavericks, meanwhile, enter the playoffs as perhaps the hottest team in the NBA. They won 16 of 18 games down the stretch before clinching the Southwest Division and their playoffs seeding and resting their players in the last two games. Luka Doncic was amazing during that run, averaging a virtual 30-point triple-double with 31.3 points, 10.2 rebounds and 9.9 assists. The Mavericks have a great chance to take home-court advantage Sunday, particularly if Kawhi is unable to go.

Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks over 231.5 points (-115). The Pacers and Bucks have played five times this season. The average