With a full slate of games tonight, I take a look at three players who have solid matchups. How many three-pointers will Lauri Markkanen knock down against the Portland Trail Blazers? Can Trae Young break out of his scoring funk against the Los Angeles Lakers? How will Tyrese Haliburton fare against the Chicago Bulls?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, December 6.
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With a full slate of games tonight, I take a look at three players who have solid matchups. How many three-pointers will Lauri Markkanen knock down against the Portland Trail Blazers? Can Trae Young break out of his scoring funk against the Los Angeles Lakers? How will Tyrese Haliburton fare against the Chicago Bulls?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, December 6.
Go premium to view top prop bets based on Cover Probability, Expected Value & Star Rating >>
Friday’s Best NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 17-15
From a scoring perspective, it's been a rough three games for Trae Young. He's scored 17 or fewer in each game during that stretch, and he went 0-of-9 from deep in his last contest. He hasn't scored more than 25 points in any of his last nine games. This is significant because he averaged 25.7 per game last season.
But when it comes to dishing out assists, Young has been great. He's averaging 12 assists per game, and he recorded 15 assists two games ago against the New Orleans Pelicans. The Lakers are allowing an average of 115.7 points and 29 assists per game this season. In what is likely to be a very high-scoring game, Young will have plenty of opportunities, so it's surprising to see this number set below his season average.
Lauri Markkanen only knocked down one three-pointer in his last game. He's now made two or fewer in three of his last four. However, he's still averaging 2.6 makes per game this season. Before his current four-game slump, he knocked down at least three three-pointers in five consecutive games.
The Trail Blazers are allowing 14 threes per game, which is tied for 21st in the league. Over their last three games, they're allowing an average of 17.3. Opponents are knocking down nearly 37% of their attempts from beyond the arc. In their last three games, opponents have made over 45% of their shots from long range. Markkanen is shooting 38.5% from three-point range this season, so this is the exact type of matchup where I expect him to excel.
Tyrese Haliburton is averaging 8.4 assists per game. He hasn't recorded 10+ assists in four consecutive contests. The fact this number is set at 10 shows just how good of a matchup oddsmakers think this is.
The Bulls are allowing the second-most points in the league. Though the Pacers rank just 14th in scoring offense, the expectation is they will score more than usual tonight. Additionally, the Bulls are allowing 29.6 assists per game - second-most in the NBA. Though he hasn't hit this number recently, Haliburton has dished out at least 10 assists in nine games this year.
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.
