Andrew Ortenberg
Show Bio
The NBA is approaching the home stretch, and we have another full slate on Friday. There is a solid card with 7 games on the docket, including a couple of highly anticipated showdowns. What better way to celebrate the weekend than with some first-basket bets? Let’s dive into them, using odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.
Knicks vs Heat: Jimmy Butler +800
Getting a highly motivated Jimmy Butler at 8/1 is too good to pass up. For starters, one of the most important aspects of any first basket handicap is who is going to start with ball. Knicks center Julius Randle is out for this one, meaning rookie Jericho Sims will be doing the jump ball. Sims has done two tipoffs this year and has lost them both. On the flip side, Heat big man Bam Adebayo is one of the league’s best at jump balls; he is winning around 69 percent of his tips this year.
Working from there, Butler makes the most sense to me. By now everyone is well aware of the altercation Butler had with head coach Erik Spoelstra during a timeout. After all the talk in the media the past couple days, Butler is going to come out with a chip on his shoulder. And that’s a scary sight for any defender. Even without that extra motivation, he has been scoring it pretty well lately — putting up at least 20 points in five of his past six.
Check out our full game preview for Knicks vs Heat
Rockets vs Trail Blazers: Kevin Porter Jr +600
We have a similar story here with the jump ball. Jusuf Nurkic is out for the Trail Blazers, and Portland is pretty actively tanking. Which means Drew Eubanks is doing the opening tip offs these days. Eubanks has done 30 jump balls now and has only won 11 of them, good for a rate of 36.7 percent. On the flip side, the Rockets have Christian Wood lining up at center court to open games. Wood isn’t quite at Adebayo levels but he’s up there, winning around 64 percent of his jumps this year.
Wood has the lowest odds of any player for this prop at +460, followed by Jalen Green at +550. But it’s been KPJ who has been seeing the heavy early game volume recently. In their most recent game, Porter took two of the Rockets’ first four shots and made their second basket. In the game before that against Washington, Porter took three of their first five shots and made each of their first two baskets. The night before that, he took 18 shots in only 27 minutes against Memphis
If you want to go really big, a Butler-Porter parlay pays out at +6200!
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