Germantas Kneita
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Last night the Atlanta Hawks failed to keep their series alive, falling 4-2 overall to the Boston Celtics. Tonight the Memphis Grizzlies and the Sacramento Kings will be looking to avoid a similar fate. With them both being the higher seeded teams in their respective series, they will have to survive Game 6 on the road. The Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors will be hoping there is no need for a Game 7 this weekend.
Be sure to take a look at all of our NBA predictions for those games, but for now, let’s get into my NBA first basket scorer selections below.
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Grizzlies vs Lakers first basket best bet: LeBron James (+490)
LeBron James has been setting the tempo early for the Lakers in this series. Through 5 games he has made the first overall shot on 2 occasions. He also opened the scoring for tonight’s hosts in another game. Considering he is coming into this on the back of a self-proclaimed poor performance in Game 5, I expect him to come out aggressive. He should have a great chance of opening the scoring as a result.
Anthony Davis should have a decent chance of gaining initial possession. He is trailing Jaren Jackson Jr. 3-2 when it comes to winning the opening tip. However, they seem very evenly matched in terms of physical attributes and this is definitely more of a 50/50 type of situation. Even if he cannot gain his team the ball, the Grizzlies rank 14th this post season in offensive rating. It should help ensure the Lakers get at least one shot at this. It may be all that James needs.
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Kings vs Warriors first basket best bet: Klay Thompson (+550)
Kevon Looney has been getting the best of Domantas Sabonis so far in these playoffs when it comes to winning the opening tip. Through 5 games Looney has been able to gain the Warriors the first possession 3 times. The Kings have won the opening tip just 44.8% of the time this season, going on to make the first field goal in just 41.4% of games. The Warriors should have a great opportunity to open the scoring. No man has done that more for the team this season than Klay Thompson.
In 74 starts this season, Thompson has made the first field goal for the Warriors 23 times. 13 of these were the first in the game overall. Considering he has not done so in the series so far, he feels due. Thompson has put together 2 strong performances in a row heading into tonight’s game. In both he shot above 52% from the field. With the improved level of efficiency, he should be set to convert early on Friday.
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