Top NBA First Basket Betting Odds, Picks & Predictions: Saturday (11/5)
The Saturday slate brings us a loaded lineup of NBA action. Let’s explore the board and find some First Basket prop winners.
View 5 star bets and historical prop performance by player with our Prop Bet Analyzer >>
Oklahoma City Thunder at Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks have gotten off to the hottest start in the league. Part of the reason they’ve been so successful is that they’ve attacked teams from the jump, literally.
Milwaukee is winning the tip at one of the best rates in the league and has also cashed the First Basket prop at one of the highest rates in the league. They’ve had two players dominating this prop, Jrue Holiday and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Both have cashed the prop multiple times in the first eight games of the year.
I’m going to target both here because there’s an excellent chance one of these two scores the first basket again. So long as Khris Middleton is out of the lineup, both Jrue and Giannis will be names to target for First Basket.
Pick: Jrue Holiday, Giannis Antetokounmpo
Houston Rockets at Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves have been the best team in the league at cashing First Basket props, managing the feat more than any other team in the league. One of the reasons they’ve been so successful is that they’ve managed to score their first field goal in 1.6 attempts on average.
Houstons’ defense remains poor with their young lineup, which makes this pick even more attractive. The interesting thing with this Minnesota roster is that they’ve spread the love evenly between Russell, Towns, Edwards, and Gobert. It can be hard to pick just one.
Because Minnesota has the advantage in scoring the first basket and how they like to spread early looks around, I’m going to target two different plays, Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell.
Houston has given up a lot of points to wings on the season, and these two both have an excellent chance to score early in this game.
Pick: Anthony Edwards, D’Angelo Russell
San Antonio Spurs at Denver Nuggets
I’m going to target the Nuggets in this matchup against a hot Spurs team. The Nuggets have been successful on First Basket props, scoring the first field goal in half of their games. In addition, they’ve managed to score their first field goal on 2 attempts per game.
No one on the Nuggets is putting up more shots early than Michael Porter. He’s been averaging 1.14 of Denver’s first three field goals in the early part of the season. Because of this, he’s cashed the prop a couple of times himself.
So long as the Nuggets continue to look in his direction, I will target him as a play.
Pick: Michael Porter Jr.
Go premium to view top prop bets based on Cover Probability, Expected Value & Star Rating >>
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RadioPublic | Breaker | Castbox | Pocket Casts
Whether you’re new to sports betting or a betting pro, our Sports Betting Strategy and Advice page is for you. You can get started with our 101 section — including 10 Sports Betting Tips for Beginners — or head to more advanced strategy — like Key Numbers When Betting Against the Spread — to learn more.