NBA Finals Player Props & Bets: Monday (Pacers vs. Thunder)
Game 5 of the NBA Finals is tonight, as the Oklahoma City Thunder look to win on their home court and take a 3-2 lead over the Indiana Pacers.
So far, key players like Tyrese Haliburton and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have played well in the series. Will they have success again tonight? What should we expect from Chet Holmgren on the glass against a Pacers team that struggles to rebound?
Here are the three best NBA player props for Monday, June 16th.
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Monday’s Best NBA Player Prop Bets
Tyrese Haliburton Under 7.5 Assists (+110)
Tyrese Haliburton has struggled to find his teammates in the NBA Finals. While he dished out 11 assists in Game 3, he has seven or fewer in his other three games. In the first two games in Oklahoma City, he managed just six assists in each contest despite scoring 17 or fewer points in both games.
Haliburton averaged 9.2 assists per game during the regular season, so he's more than capable of putting together an excellent performance. But in two regular-season games against the Thunder, he combined for just 11 assists.
In one of those contests, he recorded eight assists, but that performance came in Indiana. In the game in Oklahoma City, he had just three assists. That means that in three road games against the Thunder, he combined for 15 assists and never recorded more than six in a game. With all of that in mind, this price is very surprising.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Under 34.5 Points (-110)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has had a great series, but this total is officially high enough that the value lies in taking the under. He has scored at least 34 points in three of his four games, and he's coming off a 35-point performance on Friday. However, he's still hit this under in two of his last four games, and while he scored a series-high 38 points in Game 1, his floor is worrisome, as he scored just 24 in Game 3.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.7 points per game during the regular season to lead the NBA in scoring. While he averaged at least 27.8 points per game in all three of his Western Conference playoff series, he never scored more than 34.5 points in three games in a single series. It may look like Gilgeous-Alexander has the Pacers' number, but he didn't score his 34th or 35th points until there were seven seconds left on the clock in Game 4. His ceiling simply isn't high enough to justify the over for the price being offered.
Chet Holmgren 10+ Rebounds (+115)
After so-so performances in the first two games of the series, Chet Holmgren went to Indiana and elevated his game. He pulled down at least 10 boards in both games, including 15 in Game 4, and he scored 34 points despite going 0-of-7 from beyond the arc.
During the regular season, Holmgren only averaged eight rebounds per game. In the Western Conference Finals, he never grabbed more than seven rebounds in a single contest. But the Pacers struggle on the glass, and Holmgren has done a great job of taking advantage of matchups like that throughout the year.
In the playoff series against the Denver Nuggets, Holmgren averaged 10.9 rebounds per game, grabbing at least 11 in five of seven contests. Against the Memphis Grizzlies, he averaged 7.8 per game, but he had at least 10 in two of the four games. In the first two games of the NBA Finals, he played 28 or fewer minutes. But in Game 3 and Game 4, he played at least 35 minutes. If he plays that much tonight, he'll once again grab 10+ rebounds in a great matchup.
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.