This was supposed to be a cake-walk of a series for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and look at where we are now. The NBA Finals have delivered on all fronts, with the Pacers playing far more friskier than PrizePicks could have predicted. Sitting as +9.5 road underdogs, can they play spoiler the way they did in Game 1? We’ll find out tonight at 8:30 PM ET.
Below are our top NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections >>
This was supposed to be a cake-walk of a series for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and look at where we are now. The NBA Finals have delivered on all fronts, with the Pacers playing far more friskier than PrizePicks could have predicted. Sitting as +9.5 road underdogs, can they play spoiler the way they did in Game 1? We’ll find out tonight at 8:30 PM ET.
Below are our top NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections >>
Monday’s Best NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions
PrizePicks Record: 91-57-1
Backing the bald bench man for Oklahoma City has been a staple for yours truly throughout the playoffs. While this number has escalated to 17.5, compared to the 12.5 we were getting earlier in the playoffs, it is still playable.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault trusts Alex Caruso and his championship pedigree style of play more than ever. Caruso is averaging a little more than 29 minutes per game against Indiana. He has turned that into 19, 24, 17 and 23 combined points + rebounds + assists.
Aside from Game 3, Tyrese Haliburton has been held in check in the NBA Finals on this player prediction play. That makes sense because he is facing a historically strong defense. He missed on this play in their two regular-season meetings as well.
Add the six meetings together, and Haliburton is averaging a combined 27.3 points + rebounds + assists per game against the Thunder. Now on the road, they’ll continue to make life difficult for him and will place all their attention on what he does.
The adage states that role players perform better at home, and no one fits that to a tee more than Luguentz Dort. He has combined for 12+ points + rebounds in eight of 11 home games during the playoffs, averaging a combined 13.6 points + rebounds per game. Look for him to hit a couple of moon ball threes in this one.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Monday:
Tyler is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from him, follow @808Paperboi.
