Germantas Kneita
We have seen the higher seeds fight back in recent days, with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cavaliers both picking up wins. Now it will be the Boston Celtics turn to do just that, trying to overturn a 2-0 deficit on the road. A loss today will probably spell the end of their tittle defense. Then later in the night, the Golden State Warriors will be looking to stay afloat in their series against the Minnesota Timberwolves until Stephen Curry is able to return. Both games will be live on ABC.
You can find our NBA previews here. But for now check out my player prop selections below.
Derrick White (BOS) under 3.5 made threes (+100)
Boston Celtics guard Derrick White has not been firing on all cylinders so far this postseason. That has been evident looking at his output from beyond the arc. Through 7 postseason games, he is making 33.3% of his attempts, a 5% drop off from his regular season average. It has meant that he has knocked down 4 or more 3-pointers just twice during that stretch.
He has been able to hit the over once in this series so far, knocking down 5 in Game 1. However, he needed 16 attempts to do it. I do not think with his recent struggles that he will be getting anywhere close to that number of attempts here. The Knicks have seen continues success in defending the 3-point line this series too, holding the Celtics to 25% shooting from beyond the arc in Game 2. Feels like White would require over 10 attempts to hit this over but with his recent form, don’t expect him to be that aggressive looking for his 3-point shot here.
Brandin Podziemski (GS) over 9.5 assists & rebounds (-105)
With Stephen Curry going down, another guard will have to step up and fill the void, and Brandin Podziemski looks set to take on some of that responsibility. He is most likely to do this through assists and rebounds. That was evident in Game 2 of the series, where without Curry the Santa Clara product took on more ball handling responsibility and converted that to a 6-assist performance. That was a high for his postseason so far. With Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert clogging the paint, it’s the perfect environment for guards to drive and dish, helping rack up assists.
Podziemski also possesses great size for a guard, being listed at 6’4”. With the Warriors already giving up a lot of size in the paint, it helps to have a guard like him who can drop back and help out with rebounding tasks. He is averaging 7 rebounds per game through the first 2 games and was even able to record 6 or more boards twice in 3 games against them in the regular season. In those games he did not surpass 30-minutes of playing time. With more time on the court, his rebounding should set this over up nicely.
