The Cleveland Cavaliers look to avoid a 3-0 hole against the Indiana Pacers, and the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder battle for a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference series.
Can Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin lead the Pacers to a 3-0 series lead? Will Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have another 30-point game?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, May 9th.
Join our free NBA Playoffs Prop Contest to compete for prizes every round, including a grand prize for the overall winner>>
The Cleveland Cavaliers look to avoid a 3-0 hole against the Indiana Pacers, and the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder battle for a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference series.
Can Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin lead the Pacers to a 3-0 series lead? Will Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have another 30-point game?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, May 9th.
Join our free NBA Playoffs Prop Contest to compete for prizes every round, including a grand prize for the overall winner>>
Friday’s Best NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 81-62-1
Tyrese Haliburton had only four assists in Game 2. Because of that, his expected prediction number has dropped from 10.5 to 10 ahead of this game. It's not much of a drop, but it shows PrizePicks has reacted to his one bad game. Considering Tuesday's game was Haliburton's first postseason contest with fewer than nine assists, this is the perfect time to get in.
In Game 1, Haliburton dished out 13 assists. He's now dished out more than 10 in four of his seven postseason games, and he's recorded at least 10 in five games. A push is on the table. After all, Haliburton recorded 10 assists in his last game of the regular season against the Cavaliers. Having that safety net only makes this more enticing.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 34 points in Game 2, despite playing only 30 minutes. He went 11-of-13 from the field and made all 11 of his free throws. The Thunder dominated that game, which is why Gilgeous-Alexander played so few minutes. While they could dominate Game 3, I expect a much closer matchup. A closer matchup means more playing time, which is great news for the NBA's leading scorer.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.7 points per game during the regular season. In both playoff games against the Nuggets, he's scored at least 33. He's now scored at least 33 in three consecutive postseason games. In the contest before this streak started, he dropped 31.
During the regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander scored more than 32.5 points just once out of four games against the Nuggets. In that game, he scored 40. However, he also never scored fewer than 25, and he dropped 28 in two games at the beginning of the year. The Nuggets' defense isn't very good, as shown by the 149 points they allowed in Game 2. This will simply come down to how many shots Gilgeous-Alexander takes. If he gets to his average, then he hits this more than.
Bennedict Mathurin's playing time has significantly dropped in the postseason, which is a big part of the reason why he has been so unsuccessful of late. In the regular season, he averaged 5.3 rebounds per game. In the postseason, he has just 18 boards in three games. He's yet to reach his season average, but he has recorded a postseason-high five rebounds in two contests.
Again, playing time has been a huge factor. Mathurin is averaging fewer than 20 points per game in the postseason. This comes after averaging 29.8 during the regular season. While he has three or fewer rebounds in four of his six postseason games, there's still value in taking his more than tonight.
PrizePicks has considered his playing time when setting this number, which is why it's only at 3.5. While Mathurin is averaging fewer than 20 minutes per game in the postseason, he's played at least 20 minutes in each game of this series. He's on the rise, even if he only grabbed two rebounds in his last game, so get in before PrizePicks adjusts.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Friday:
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
