Twelve NBA Cup games will be played on Friday night. Jordan Poole and his Washington Wizards will take on the Atlanta Hawks in one of the contests. Will Poole have success from beyond the arc against a bad three-point defense? How will Benedict Mathurin fare on the glass against the Miami Heat? Will Franz Wagner stay hot against the Philadelphia 76ers?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, November 15.
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Twelve NBA Cup games will be played on Friday night. Jordan Poole and his Washington Wizards will take on the Atlanta Hawks in one of the contests. Will Poole have success from beyond the arc against a bad three-point defense? How will Benedict Mathurin fare on the glass against the Miami Heat? Will Franz Wagner stay hot against the Philadelphia 76ers?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, November 15.
Go premium to view top prop bets based on Cover Probability, Expected Value & Star Rating >>
Friday’s Best NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 8-6
Fading the Hawks' three-point defense is a surefire way to find success early in this season. They're allowing a whopping 16.8 three-pointers per game thus far, and they're allowing opponents to knock down 39.9% of their attempts from beyond the arc. Both of those numbers rank worst in the league.
To get Jordan Poole's total right at his season average almost feels too good to be true. He's averaging 3.6 makes and 8.1 attempts, shooting 44.4% from beyond the arc this season. He's knocked down at least four three-pointers in five games this season, and though he struggled a bit from beyond the arc in November, he knocked down six three-pointers his last time out.
This is the best matchup a shooter can ask for, so I'll gladly take Poole to hit the more than on his season average.
Bennedict Mathurin is coming off a season-high 12 rebounds against the Orlando Magic. He's pulled down 20 boards in his last two games combined, and he's pulled down at least 11 rebounds in three contests this season. He gets a fairly good matchup against the Heat on Friday, and yet, the less than is the right play here.
Mathurin has six games with fewer than 6.5 rebounds this season. His two November games against the Magic have helped elevate his average, as he's pulled down a combined 23 boards in those two contests.
In his other double-digit rebound game, his team went to overtime and he played 43 minutes. Mathurin's average feels a little skewed right now, so even in a matchup against the team allowing the eighth-most rebounds per game this season, I don't anticipate him hitting his season average.
This number set at a full five points higher than Wagner's season average feels like a trap. The 76ers are allowing 114.2 points per game, the 11th-most in the league, but the matchup isn't so good that we should expect Wagner to have an outlier performance. Yet, oddsmakers don't generally make things so easy for us. Therefore, while the less than seems like the obvious play, it's likely the wrong one.
The main reason the more than is the play is how consistent Wagner has been over the last six games. He's scored at least 29 in back-to-back contests, and he's scored at least 22 in each of his last six. If you remove the two seven-point performances he had at the end of October in games in which he played fewer than 25 minutes, Wagner's averaging 24.2 points per game. He already has five games with at least 27 points, and he enters a favorable matchup red-hot.
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.
