Klay Thompson battles the Memphis Grizzlies for the fourth time. Will he score at least 20 points? How will Nick Smith Jr. play when he takes on the Cleveland Cavaliers? What should we expect from Devin Vassell when he faces the Sacramento Kings?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, March 7th.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections >>
Friday’s Best NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 52-42
Klay Thompson battles the Memphis Grizzlies for the fourth time. Will he score at least 20 points? How will Nick Smith Jr. play when he takes on the Cleveland Cavaliers? What should we expect from Devin Vassell when he faces the Sacramento Kings?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, March 7th.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections >>
Friday’s Best NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 52-42
Klay Thompson has faced the Grizzlies twice this season and has yet to score more than 15 points against them. He scored just four points in one of the two contests, as he went just 1-of-5 from the floor. Despite these struggles, Thompson's prediction number is set at 19.5 points tonight. The only possible explanation for this is that Thompson scored 28 points in his last game.
Yet, for as good as Thompson's most recent performance was, he has scored 18 or fewer points in three of his last four. He scored just three points two games ago against the Sacramento Kings. While the Grizzlies are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA, Thompson is still only averaging 14.1 points per game. Considering how he's played against the Grizzlies this season and the fact this number is set more than five points higher than his season average, Thompson's less than is an obvious play.
Nick Smith Jr. is coming off a 3-of-8 performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He's now made at least two three-pointers in three of his last four contests. However, the one game during that span which saw him make fewer than two three-pointers resulted in him shooting a very ugly 0-of-8 from beyond the arc.
This is the fourth time Smith will face the Cavaliers this season. He made four three-pointers in one of the previous three matchups but didn't make any in either of the other two contests. Smith is averaging 1.5 made three-pointers per game this season, but he's only shooting 30.9% from deep. The Cavaliers are allowing the 10th-fewest three-pointers per contest. This isn't a good matchup for Smith. Considering he's shot worse than 25% in two of his last three, I don't expect him to have much success tonight.
Devin Vassell has dished out at least three assists in five consecutive games. In each of his last two games, he has recorded five assists. Despite this solid play of late, his number is still sitting right around his season average.
Vassell is averaging 2.9 assists per game this season. The Kings aren't allowing a lot of assists to opponents (26.9 per game), ranking 18th in the league. If this was a better matchup for Vassell, the number would likely be 3.5. If this was a worse matchup, then this would be a perfect time to back him to end his current hot streak. But with this being an average matchup, look for Vassell to keep doing what he's been doing.
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.
