There is only one NBA game tonight, as the Milwaukee Bucks battle the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Cup Championship. How will Gary Trent Jr. and Damian Lillard perform against the Thunder's solid defense? Will Jalen Williams be able to clean up the glass against one of the best shooting teams in the league?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Tuesday, December 17.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections >>
There is only one NBA game tonight, as the Milwaukee Bucks battle the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Cup Championship. How will Gary Trent Jr. and Damian Lillard perform against the Thunder's solid defense? Will Jalen Williams be able to clean up the glass against one of the best shooting teams in the league?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Tuesday, December 17.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections >>
Tuesday’s Best NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 19-18
Gary Trent Jr. has had back-to-back poor performances, scoring just seven combined points in his last two games. In his last contest, he was 0-of-5 from the field and scored just one point. While these two performances are certainly alarming, he did score at least 11 points in four consecutive games before his current skid, and he's averaging 8.9 points per game this season.
The Thunder have one of the better defenses in the league, allowing just 103.5 points per game. But to hit this more than, Trent doesn't have to do anything special, he just needs to play his usual role. While he's struggled throughout the last week, he has put up plenty of shots, and he's averaging 3.7 made field goals and 2.3 made three-pointers in December. This number is lower than it should be because of his last two performances, so take advantage of the friendly number.
The Thunder have one of the best three-point defenses in the NBA. They're allowing just 12.6 made three-pointers per contest, and opponents are shooting just 33.1% against them from deep. In their last game, they held the Houston Rockets to just 23.9% from beyond the arc. And yet, I'm still backing Lillard to top his season average in tonight's game.
Lillard has knocked down at least four three-pointers in six of his last eight games. His last time out, he went 5-of-14 from deep. This season, he's averaging 3.5 makes and 9.3 attempts from beyond the arc. Even though this is a tough matchup, this is still a championship game, and I expect Lillard to shoot plenty as the Bucks' second-leading scorer. More than half of his field goal attempts this season have been from beyond the three-point line, which is something I expect to see continue tonight.
Though he's only averaging 6.1 rebounds per game, Williams leads the Thunder in rebounding this season. He hasn't recorded 10 rebounds in a game since November 19 and he's only hit double figures twice this season. But while his ceiling isn't very high, he still plays for one of the best defensive teams in the league, which means his opponents generally miss a lot of shots, which opens the door for him to get more rebounding opportunities.
However, Williams won't hit his season average tonight because of how the Bucks play. The Bucks are averaging the second-fewest field goal attempts per game this season. Over their last three contests, they're averaging just 77 attempts per game. They're shooting 48.4% from the field, so even if the Thunder's top-ranked shooting defense shuts them down a bit, the Bucks will still make plenty of their field goals tonight. Without a significant increase in rebounding opportunities, Williams will record five or fewer rebounds.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Tuesday:
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
