NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions: Sunday (1/5)
While it’s a small slate of six games, there’s still some value in the NBA tonight.
Like every NBA PrizePicks article, we’ll give out four player predictions you can use for a four-leg Power Play entry. A two-leg Power Play entry will give you implied odds of -137 for each prediction. A three-leg Power Play entry will give you implied odds of -141. A four-leg NBA PrizePicks Power Play entry will give you implied odds of -128 for each prediction.
Getting -128 on the same prediction is better than -137 or -141. Here are our top NBA PrizePicks player predictions for tonight’s action.
Remember that a Flex play can still win if one pick misses, but you’d get lower payouts.
LaMelo Ball More Than 26.5 Points
The Cavaliers are one of the best teams in the NBA. However, they’re not defending point guards very well. Instead, the Cavaliers rank 27th in points allowed to point guards this season. Point guards have nailed 3.36 threes per game and have shot above 30% from downtown against the Cavaliers this season.
LaMelo Ball loves to take threes and should get plenty of opportunities to drill them in this game.
He’s added at least 27 points in 68% of games this year and has nailed this line in seven of his last 10, including his previous game against Washington on December 26th. A healthy Ball is all we need.
Darius Garland More Than 18.5 Points
Darius Garland has scored at least 19 points in 58% of games this season. He’s also cleared this number in six of his last 10 games.
Yet, he’s coming off back-to-back underwhelming performances against the Lakers and Mavericks. Those were difficult matchups, but he’s got a much better one tonight.
He’s taking on a Charlotte defense ranked 17th in points allowed to point guards this season. Ultimately, point guards have attempted about 20 shots per game against the Hornets this season and continue to get to the foul line at a high rate. I like the sound of that.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Less Than 31.5 Points
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 33 points in six of his last ten games. He’s capable of going off.
However, he’s also hit at least 32 points in only 46% of games this year. Additionally, he’s facing a Celtics defense that ranked fifth in points allowed to point guards this year.
Opposing point guards have struggled from three and have also hit only 38.58% from the field against the Celtics this season. Knowing how good this Celtics defense has been against point guards, I’ll take my chances and bet against Gilgeous-Alexander.
Trey Murphy Less Than 23.5 Points
Trey Murphy has scored at least 24 points in only 32% of games this season. He’s also cleared this number in just one of his last seven games against the Wizards.
Additionally, he scored only 17 points against the Wizards a couple of days ago and made just five of his 19 field goal attempts in that game.
It makes sense. Ultimately, Washington has limited small forwards to 19.67 points per game this season, ranking sixth in the NBA. This year, opposing small forwards have hit below 35% from the field against the Wizards. Take Murphy’s less than.
Our PrizePicks NBA Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections. We highlight top NBA props based on advanced metrics such as Cover Probability, Expected Value and historical Over%. This report is updated in real-time to prove the most current odds, projections and NBA prop bet picks.