Miles Bridges will look for his fourth consecutive 20-point game when his Charlotte Hornets battle the Los Angeles Clippers. In the Motor City, Kyrie Irving will look to break out of his shooting funk against the Detroit Pistons. Jakob Poeltl will look to take advantage of a solid matchup when his Toronto Raptors battle the Chicago Bulls.
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks plays for Friday, January 31st.
Miles Bridges will look for his fourth consecutive 20-point game when his Charlotte Hornets battle the Los Angeles Clippers. In the Motor City, Kyrie Irving will look to break out of his shooting funk against the Detroit Pistons. Jakob Poeltl will look to take advantage of a solid matchup when his Toronto Raptors battle the Chicago Bulls.
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks plays for Friday, January 31st.
LaMelo Ball will miss tonight's game. It's the second consecutive game the Hornets' leading scorer is set to miss, so it's not surprising to see Miles Bridges' points player prediction number set higher than usual. Bridges is averaging just 19 points per game this season, but he's scored at least 22 in three consecutive games. In the game in which Ball got injured, Bridges scored 26. He scored 23 without Ball on the court.
Yet, for everything working in Bridges' favor, this is a tough matchup. The Clippers are allowing just 107.1 points per game, which is the third-fewest in the NBA. While Bridges should go over his season average of 19 points, I don't expect him to clear the number by four points against this defense. After all, Bridges is 3-of-19 from deep in his last two games and the Clippers have a top-10 three-point defense.
Kyrie Irving is averaging 2.9 three-pointers per game this season, but January has not been his month. He's averaging just 2.1 three-pointers per contest and he's failed to make a three-pointer in three of his past nine games. However, when he has knocked down shots from long range, he's done so with great success, as he's made at least three threes in five of his nine games this month.
Irving hasn't played the Pistons this season, but I don't expect him to have any trouble in this matchup. The Pistons rank 24th in three-pointers allowed per game, giving up 13.8 per contest. Over their last three games, the Pistons are allowing 15.3 made three-pointers per game. Additionally, the Pistons are allowing the fourth-highest three-point percentage in the league. Everything points to Irving having success from beyond the arc tonight.
How much do the Bulls struggle on the glass? Jakob Poeltl has pulled down nine or fewer rebounds in four of his last five games, and yet, his player prediction number for tonight's game is still set at 10.5. The Bulls rank fourth-worst in the league when it comes to rebounds allowed per game. While Nikola Vucevic could cause problems for Poeltl, I still give the advantage to the Raptors big man.
Poeltl is averaging 10.3 rebounds per game. He pulled down 14 boards against the Pelicans on Monday. While he's only averaging 9.1 rebounds per game this month, he did snag 11.7 rebounds per game in November and 12.6 per game in October. Despite his recent struggles, Poeltl has pulled down at least 11 rebounds in four of his last nine. In a favorable matchup, look for him to get back above his season average.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Friday:
