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

The NBA has a Wednesday doubleheader featuring the Celtics trying to close out the Heat at home and the Clippers and Mavericks fighting for the series lead in a pivotal Game 5.

The Celtics are prohibitive favorites Wednesday despite the injury absence of Kristaps Porzingis, while the Mavericks are road favorites due in part to the injury absence of Kawhi Leonard.

Let's dig deeper into both matchups and identify some angles of interests in tonight's games.

Bam Adebayo OVER 20.5 points (-135). Rinse and repeat. Adebayo has been a metronome against the Celtics all season, averaging 22.7 PPG in seven games (three regular season, four playoffs) with between 19 and 27 points in each contest. He is coming off a 25-point effort in Game 4 and gets his points whether the Heat win or get blown out. Porzingis is likely out the rest of the series, so Adebayo will also be able to operate without fear of Porzingis' length and shot-blocking moving forward.

Jaylen Brown OVER 23.5 points (-110). Brown has sacrificed his scoring this season to make room for Porzingis to get his shots, but he's shown he can pick it back up again when the big man is out. In 19 games without Porzingis this season, Brown has averaged 25.0 PPG. He scored at least 27 points in all four games Porzingis missed in March and averaged a whopping 23.0 FGA in those games. I look for Brown to come out aggressive and put a big number on the board in tonight's game.

James Harden OVER 22.5 points (-105). Harden has stepped up his scoring big time in both games Leonard (out, knee) has missed in this series. In Game 1, Harden popped for 28 points, then in Game 4 he went for 33. The Clippers won both games. Harden has to be aggressive again on Wednesday, and he has good