NBA First Basket Scorer Odds & Picks: Saturday (11/16)
The NBA season is in full swing. Saturday night provides a small slate of action but has plenty of great angles to bet on. For a fun quick hitter, here are a few solid first-basket scorer plays.
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Saturday’s Best NBA First Basket Bets
(Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook)
Who will score the first basket in today’s NBA game? We compare historical first basket stats to prop bet odds to help identify today’s best bets. View first-basket odds across sportsbooks here.
Milwaukee Bucks at Charlotte Hornets
It's been a rough start to the season for the Milwaukee Bucks. Their 4-8 record is far from where they expect to be at the end of the year. As they continue to get healthier, though, their results have improved. Now on a two-game win streak for the first time all year, they travel to Charlotte to take on the Hornets.
Milwaukee will be looking to get off to a hot start in this game. The easiest way for them to do that is to feed their big superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. The last time we saw Antetokounmpo he dropped a season-high 59 points against the Pistons. Additionally, he scored another first-team basket for the Bucks. This was his 30th dating back to last year - in only 83 games started.
Antetokounmpo is routinely one of the best first-basket scorers in the league, and this year is proving no different. His matchup against a Charlotte team with injuries in the frontcourt and a penchant for giving up first scores to big men make this my favorite play for Saturday night.
Pick: Giannis Antetokounmpo (+270)
Utah Jazz at Sacramento Kings
Last season, Utah was the worst team in the entire NBA at scoring the first basket of the game, scoring first in fewer than 40% of their games. They've turned things around this season, though. Utah has scored first in eight of their 11 contests this year. They're one of the top teams in the league in that category.
However, the Jazz will likely be without Walker Kessler again on Saturday. He's been the motor behind this team improving in their first scores because of his impressive 6-3 record on opening jumps. Without him, John Collins has gone 0-2, with the Jazz allowing their opponent to score first in both games.
I'm backing Sacramento to score first with Kessler still on the mend. His absence should also be a benefit for Domantas Sabonis, who is the Kings' best first-basket scorer. He has 18 dating back to the start of last season. I like him to score another first basket on Saturday.
Pick: Domantas Sabonis (+500)