Tyrese Maxey will look to follow up a great three-point shooting night with another, as his Philadelphia 76ers take on the Denver Nuggets. In New York, can Ben Simmons dish out at least eight assists against the New York Knicks? And how will Wendell Carter Jr. perform when his Orlando Magic battle the Toronto Raptors?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks plays for Tuesday, January 21.
Tyrese Maxey will look to follow up a great three-point shooting night with another, as his Philadelphia 76ers take on the Denver Nuggets. In New York, can Ben Simmons dish out at least eight assists against the New York Knicks? And how will Wendell Carter Jr. perform when his Orlando Magic battle the Toronto Raptors?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks plays for Tuesday, January 21.
I don't get this line at all. Sure, Maxey just made six three-pointers against the Milwaukee Bucks, but it took him 15 attempts from deep to hit that number. This season, he's averaging just 3.2 made three-pointers per game, and he's only averaging 9.6 attempts. As a 33.4% shooter, he will have his work cut out for him against the Nuggets and their night-ranked three-point shooting defense.
And while Maxey made six three-pointers on Sunday, he's made three or fewer in five of his last six games. Since the new year, he's only gone over this number twice in 10 contests. If this was an easier matchup, perhaps I'd take Maxey to stay hot. But the Nuggets have a good three-point defense, and Maxey hasn't proven he can string together multiple solid nights from beyond the arc.
In two games against the Knicks, Simmons has totaled 13 assists. He recorded eight assists in one of those contests, so this number seems to be right on the money. However, Simmons is only averaging 7.1 assists per game, and he's recorded seven or fewer in four of his last six games.
The Knicks rank ninth in the league in assists allowed per game, as they're giving up just 25.6 per contest. Over their last three games, they've given up just 24.3. They're also only allowing opponents to record assists on 62.1% of their made field goals, which is the eighth-best mark in the NBA. This is a really tough matchup for Simmons, and after seeing him dish out just five assists when his team scored 122 against the Knicks earlier this season, it's hard to have faith in him tonight.
Thanks to three great rebounding performances in a row, this number is higher than it has any business being. Carter has pulled down at least 10 rebounds in two of his last three games, and he hasn't gone under nine during that stretch. Yet, he's still averaging just 7.2 rebounds per game this month, as before his current three-game stretch, he pulled down nine or fewer rebounds in seven consecutive games.
The Raptors rank 19th in the league when it comes to rebounds allowed per game. While that's not great, it also signals that Carter doesn't have an obvious advantage tonight. Earlier this season, Carter pulled down nine rebounds against the Raptors. While that performance gives him some hope tonight, I expect him to revert to his season average in a matchup that isn't nearly as good as it might seem on paper.
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
