We’re looking for some first basket winners tonight! With three games on the NBA slate, I added my favorite two first basket wagers of the night. Check it out below and tail along if you’d like!
Follow along and make sure to check out our NBA First Basket Prop Bet Cheat Sheet for help identifying all of today's best prop bets.
- More NBA Betting Advice
- Player Prop Bet Cheat Sheet
- First Basket Cheat Sheet
- Prop Bet Analyzer
- Best +EV NBA Props
Thursday’s Best NBA First Basket Scorers & Picks
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
Who will score the first basket in today's NBA games? We compare historical first-basket stats to prop bet odds to help identify today's best bets. View first-basket odds across sportsbooks here.
Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Neemias Queta will compete against Joel Embiid for tonight’s opening tip. In the regular season, Queta and Embiid each won the opening tip in 43% of games. Neither has a good rate. However, the Celtics scored first a couple of times in the regular season and have the edge there.
The averages point to the Celtics scoring first tonight. Ultimately, Philadelphia allowed the first basket to point guards 26% of the time and centers 24% of the time during the regular season. Queta started 75 games and scored first 15 times. He scored Boston’s first basket in 31% of games as the center for the team. Let’s ride it out with Queta, especially at +800 odds. There’s some real value there.
Pick: Neemias Queta (+800)
New York Knicks vs. Atlanta Hawks
The New York Knicks will look to get off to a hot start against the Atlanta Hawks, leading the NBA first-round series, 3-2. The Knicks scored the first basket in 59% of games in the regular season, while the Hawks added the first basket in only 48% of games this year.
We’ve been selecting Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns for almost every game in this series. Brunson hit for us once. Those two have the best chances of scoring first. The Hawks allowed a lot of first baskets to centers this season. Meanwhile, Brunson led the Knicks in first baskets in the regular season and took the team’s first field goal attempt in almost 30% of games.
Since we hit with Brunson earlier in this series, we’ll give him a try again at +450 odds.
Pick: Jalen Brunson (+450)
