There are nine NBA games today, as the league enters the season’s final third games. How will Naz Reid perform when his Minnesota Timberwolves battle the Houston Rockets? Will Malik Beasley keep up his incredible three-point shooting when his Detroit Pistons take on the San Antonio Spurs? How will Jordan Hawks fare when his New Orleans Pelicans face the Dallas Mavericks?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, February 21st.
There are nine NBA games today, as the league enters the season’s final third games. How will Naz Reid perform when his Minnesota Timberwolves battle the Houston Rockets? Will Malik Beasley keep up his incredible three-point shooting when his Detroit Pistons take on the San Antonio Spurs? How will Jordan Hawks fare when his New Orleans Pelicans face the Dallas Mavericks?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, February 21st.
Naz Reid is averaging only 14.5 points per game, but he's on fire right now. He's scored at least 22 in five of his last seven games, and he managed 27 against the Oklahoma City Thunder his last time out. Unfortunately for Reid, the All-Star break came at the worst time, and I believe it's going to cool him off ahead of a matchup he hasn't had success in this season.
Reid has faced the Rockets three times this year, and he's yet to score 20 points against them. The only time he topped 18.5 points, he scored 19 in an overtime game. Even during Reid's current hot streak, he managed just 15 against the Rockets, as they were one of the two teams he failed to score 20 against.
Malik Beasley is another player who got hot leading up to the All-Star break. He knocked down 25 three-pointers in his four games before the break, making at least four three-pointers in each of those contests. He's now made at least four three-pointers in six of his last seven games.
Beasley has yet to face the Spurs this season, but this is a favorable matchup. The Spurs rank 24th in the league, allowing 13.8 three-pointers per game this season. While there is always a chance the All-Star break slowed Beasley down, he's been shooting well from three-point range all season. He's averaging 3.9 makes per game and is shooting 41.8%. There's nothing the Spurs have done this season to suggest they will suddenly be able to shut Beasly down.
It's been feast or famine for Jordan Hawkins in February. In six games, he's alternated between scoring at least 12 points or five points or fewer. In two of those three games where he failed to score more than five points, he didn't score at all. But Hawkins is still averaging 10.6 points per game. He played well in his only previous game against the Mavericks this season.
In that contest, Hawkins scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting. The game kicked off five consecutive games of Hawkins scoring in double figures. Also, if you begin with that game, Hawkins has scored at least 10 points in eight of his last 12. The Mavericks rank 17th in the league in points allowed per game, so while this isn't a great matchup for Hawkins, it's not a bad one either. With this number two points below his season average, back Hawkins to have a solid game.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Friday:
