The remaining first-round Game 1s tip-off, Tuesday, headlined by a meeting of former teammates Chris Paul and James Harden in the Oklahoma City Thunder versus the Houston Rockets, and the runaway 1-seed Los Angeles Lakers playing red-hot Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.
Let’s turn our attention to a player prop in Trail Blazers-Lakers.
Just like in the seed schedule, BetMGM Sportsbook has NBA odds and NBA props for all bubble games so we’re bringing you the best bet for every day of the NBA playoffs.
Anthony Davis Over 29.5 points (-106) vs. the Portland Trail Blazers
Davis scored 36 or more points in four of his last six games against the Trail Blazers, including two of three this season on the Lakers. Davis has scored 30-plus points in two of the three playoff series’ Game 1s his teams have played in.
AD has feasted in games against the Trail Blazers C Jusuf Nurkic. He’s averaging 27.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in his nine head-to-head meetings with Nurkic, but has scored 36 or more points in three of them and dropped a 50-burger on him in another game.
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Portland is allowing the most points per game to power forwards in the NBA (25 PPG), according to fantasypros.com. The Trail Blazers opponents have scored 120-plus points in seven of their nine bubble games and they have the third-worst defensive efficiency in the NBA. The Lakers have the 11th most efficient offense in the league.
Portland’s bigs are compromised — PF Zach Collins is out of Game 1 with an ankle injury — so there could be extended stretches of C Hassan Whiteside, PF Wenyen Gabriel and SF Mario Hezonja, playing a stretch four.
Gabriel is not a regular rotation player and has only appeared in 19 games, averaging 9.2 minutes per game. Hezonja has a 110 defensive rating for his career and is not a guy you want guarding AD. Davis has worked Whiteside in their career head-to-head matchups: AD is averaging 29.9 points on .519/.400/.807 shooting in their 10 meetings.
Another thing to factor is in LeBron’s motivation to get AD involved in the offense early and often this postseason. LeBron has never played with a big as dynamic as AD and getting him the rock makes LeBron’s job a whole lot easier. There’s been a lot of criticism levied on the Lakers for their offensive performance in the bubble and the best way for their offense to get back on track is a little pick-and-roll basketball with AD and LeBron.
This isn’t LeBron’s first rodeo and he’ll be more of a facilitator until Los Angeles needs him to be more of a scorer. Expect AD to get the ball early and often.
BET OVER 29.5 POINTS FOR ANTHONY DAVIS (-106). New to sports betting? A $106 bet on Anthony Davis to go Over his projected 29.5 points will pay a $100 profit if AD drops a 30-piece on the Trail Blazers.
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