NBA Play-In Tournament First Basket Scorer Picks & Predictions: Tuesday (4/15)
The NBA postseason gets underway on Tuesday night with a pair of NBA Play-In Tournament games. The seventh and eighth-place teams in both conferences will face off to stay alive in the NBA playoff picture. Let’s find some NBA first-basket scorer picks for the Grizzlies vs. Warriors in the West and the Hawks vs. Magic in the East.
NBA first-basket bets are quick and easy ways to place wagers with bigger payouts, and you’ll know if they cash right away. Let’s try to find some winners for a pair of games on Tuesday night.
Note that all betting lines are accurate as of writing, but shop around for the best odds. Enjoy these NBA first-basket picks and predictions for Tuesday, April 15th.
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Tuesday's Best NBA First Basket Bets
(Odds courtesy of FanDuel 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.
Memphis Grizzlies at Golden State Warriors
Tuesday's late-night matchup features the No. 7 seed vs. No. 8 seed NBA Play-In Tournament game in the Western Conference between the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors. We have multiple trends and stats pointing to one of these particular teams scoring first.
The Grizzlies boasted a 70.7% win rate on opening tip-offs during the regular season, the second-best mark in the NBA. Rookie center Zach Edey gives Memphis a great chance at securing the first possession with his 7-foot-4, 305-pound frame. The Grizzlies also scored the first basket in 56.1% of games this year (fourth-best).
Meanwhile, the Warriors had just a 42.7% win rate on opening tips this season. They also scored the first basket 45.1% of the time. These are both below-average rates relative to the rest of the league. Much of that has to do with Golden State rolling out a small-ball lineup with Draymond Green at center.
On that note, Edey has a massive size advantage over Green for the opening tip. Green is giving up about eight inches to Edey head-to-head. Notably, that didn't matter when Memphis and Golden State faced off earlier this month, as Green won the tip over Edey and the Warriors scored first.
That likely won't happen a second time, though. The Grizzlies and Warriors faced each other four times in the regular season. Memphis won the opening tip and scored the first points in three of those four matchups.
As for Memphis, let's roll with Desmond Bane to score first. He leads the team in first shot percentage (23.2%), made first baskets (14) and first baskets per start (20.3%). Bane has also scored the first basket twice already against Golden State this season.
Pick: Desmond Bane (+700)
Atlanta Hawks at Orlando Magic
The early NBA game on Tuesday will be the No. 7 seed vs. No. 8 seed NBA Play-In Tournament game in the Eastern Conference between the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks. As you'll notice from the trends and stats below, this matchup is a total toss-up for the first basket scorer prop. Yet, let's try to find an edge.
Both the Hawks and Magic have identical 50% win rates on opening tip-offs this season. Atlanta has scored the first basket in 52.4% of its games while Orlando has scored first in 47.6% of its games. Those are also too close to lean one way or the other.
The opening tip will feature Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu against Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. Here's where we can find an edge. During the regular season, Carter went 2-0 on tips head-to-head against Okongwu. Atlanta and Orlando faced each other two other times in the regular season, but they weren’t Carter vs. Okongwu tip-offs.
Let's bank on Carter winning the jump ball to give Orlando the first opportunity to score. On that note, Franz Wagner offers plenty of value. He leads the Magic in first-shot percentage this year (15.3%), though his 10.2% first-baskets-per-start rate is fourth among the starters.
In his three games against Atlanta in the regular season, Wagner twice scored Orlando's first points of the game. In the other, he scored second after Paolo Banchero. There are a ton of ways to go for the first basket scorer pick in this matchup, including some Hawks options. Wagner, though, presents some clear value.
Pick: Franz Wagner (+600)