NBA First Basket Scorer Odds & Picks: Friday (3/14)
Friday's NBA action is a jam-packed slate with plenty of games on the schedule. This means there is a lot of opportunity to find plays for any NBA fan or bettor. If you're looking to get in on the action early, here are a few value first-basket plays.
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Friday’s Best NBA First Basket Scorer Props
(Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook)
Indiana Pacers at Philadelphia 76ers
Although the season completely slipped away from them, Philadelphia is still performing well in one aspect - first baskets. They've been an above-average team all season and have been on a roll the last few weeks. In this Friday night matchup with Indiana, they should have a huge edge in the opening tip as Andre Drummond has won over 65% of the opening tips he's taken and Myles Turner is one of the worst regular centers in the league at tip-offs.
With the massive tip disparity, I'm looking at a certain matchup for the first-basket pick. Indiana gives up more first scores to wings than any other position. Philadelphia has been a revolving door all over the lineup this season, but this should be an opportunity for Kelly Oubre Jr. to shine. He has 12 first-team scores already this season and took the first shot of the game on Wednesday for Philadelphia. With so many star players sitting for Philadelphia, I'll be backing Oubre on Friday to score the first basket.
Pick: Kelly Oubre Jr. (+650)
Los Angeles Lakers at Denver Nuggets
This primetime matchup will have plenty of eyes on it when Luka Doncic and the Lakers travel to Denver to take on Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets. I expect a hard-fought game from the jump. With so many stars on the court at once it can be tempting to take one of the players with short odds. I'll be going in a different direction.
Denver has been very weak against opposing centers all year when it comes to this prop. Alex Len has started just five games this year for Los Angeles but he already has a first basket score from Thursday night. Los Angeles continues to be a strong first-basket team, even in Lebron James' absence. With the matchup, Len is a great value at incredibly long odds.
Sacramento Kings at Phoenix Suns
The night's final game tips off in Phoenix as the Suns try to keep their playoff hopes alive down the final stretch of the regular season. They'll want to get off to a hot start against Sacramento and they should, as the Kings have been a notoriously slow starting team as far as scoring first is concerned.
There is one matchup that stands out amongst the rest for Phoenix. Sacramento's weakest spot defensively in first-score situations is defending power forwards. This happens to also be Phoenix's strongest spot. Kevin Durant has cashed this prop nine times already this season, scoring first for Phoenix in 15 games. He missed the opening shot in Wednesday's loss to Houston, but he'll continue to get those opportunities as the season winds down. I'll back Durant again here.
Pick: Kevin Durant (+500)