It's the final day before the NBA All-Star break, and there are only three games on the schedule. A couple highlights include the Golden State Warriors hosting the Utah Jazz in what is sure to be a high-scoring game, and the Milwaukee Bucks traveling to face the Memphis Grizzlies in a game on TNT.
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks plays for Thursday, February 15.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections >>
It's the final day before the NBA All-Star break, and there are only three games on the schedule. A couple highlights include the Golden State Warriors hosting the Utah Jazz in what is sure to be a high-scoring game, and the Milwaukee Bucks traveling to face the Memphis Grizzlies in a game on TNT.
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks plays for Thursday, February 15.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections >>
Thursday’s Best NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 42-49
The Jazz are a great matchup for Thompson. They allow over 120 points per game, and they have the third-worst three-point defense in the NBA. When Thompson faced them on Monday, he scored 26 points after shooting 11-of-19 from the field.
Though he's only shooting 24.5% from deep this month, Thompson is still averaging 7.6 three-point attempts per game. For the season, his averages go up to 8.3 attempts per game while shooting 40%. Against a really bad perimeter defense, Thompson will surpass his three-point attempt average and easily clear this number for the second consecutive game against the Jazz.
The Warriors have a top-10 three-point defense, but that won't stop Markkanen from hitting three three-pointers tonight. He is averaging 3.2 per game this season, and he just went 3-of-7 against the Warriors this past Monday.
Markannen has hit multiple threes in seven consecutive games. He's averaging eight attempts per game and as a 40.4% shooter, eight attempts would be more than enough for him to clear this number tonight. However, because of how many three-pointers the Warriors will take in this game, we expect Markkanen and the Jazz to try to match, so he should end up attempting about eight threes.
Jackson Jr. has not done a good job rebounding as of late. This month, he's averaging just 3.8 boards per game through six contests; that's significantly lower than the 5.8 rebounds per game he averaged in January. In his last eight games, he's only pulled down more than five rebounds once.
However, because Jackson Jr. has been performing so far below his season average, we believe this is a bounce-back spot for him. The Bucks and the Grizzlies are both in the bottom-11 in the league by rebounds allowed per game. There will be plenty of missed shots in this game for Jackson Jr. He will be able to capitalize on them and show that his recent stats do not truly reflect who he is as a player.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Thursday:
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
