How will Donovan Mitchell fare when his Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Orlando Magic? Will Gradey Dick knock down multiple threes against the Boston Celtics and their excellent three-point defense? Will Jordan Hawkins make multiple threes when his New Orleans Pelicans battle the San Antonio Spurs for the second time in three days?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Tuesday, February 25th.
How will Donovan Mitchell fare when his Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Orlando Magic? Will Gradey Dick knock down multiple threes against the Boston Celtics and their excellent three-point defense? Will Jordan Hawkins make multiple threes when his New Orleans Pelicans battle the San Antonio Spurs for the second time in three days?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Tuesday, February 25th.
Donovan Mitchell has only faced the Magic once this season. In that game, he dished out only one assist. It was one of his worst performances in the category this season. Despite that performance, PrizePicks has Mitchell's number set above his season average for tonight's game. There are numerous reasons why this is surprising.
First, the Magic are allowing the second-fewest assists per game this season. Second, Mitchell has only topped five assists in two of his last six games. Third, Mitchell is averaging just 4.8 assists per game this season. Earlier this season, Mitchell had a seven-game stretch with at least six assists, so he's more than capable of hitting this number consistently. But this is a bad matchup and I can't justify taking him to go 1.2 assists over his season average.
Gradey Dick is averaging 2.1 made three-pointers per game this season. He's knocked down at least two in three of his last four games and just went 3-of-4 from deep against the Phoenix Suns on Friday. Yet, I'm expecting his momentum to come to a screeching halt tonight against the Celtics.
The Celtics are allowing the third-fewest made three-pointers per game. Dick has faced them twice this season. While he did finish 2-of-6 in one contest, he was just 1-of-5 in the other. Dick simply doesn't take enough shots for me to confidently back his more than.
While he's made at least two threes in six of his nine games this month, Dick attempted four or fewer threes in six. Considering the Celtics are holding opponents to just 34.7% from deep, Dick needs at least six attempts to hit this number. I don't think he gets there.
Jordan Hawkins has alternated double-digit games with single-digit outings over his last eight contests. Since he scored 10 points on Sunday, that would seem to imply he's due for a rather lackluster scoring day. However, I'm going to back him to knock down at least two three-pointers against the Spurs for the second time in three days.
On Sunday, Hawkins finished 2-of-6 from beyond the arc against the Spurs. While he only shot 33.3%, it was the first time Hawkins attempted at least six three-pointers since February 5th. To some that may signal an outlier, but to me it signals the Pelicans and Hawkins had a clear plan to take more shots from deep against a team that ranks 20th in three-pointers allowed per game this season. Hawkins is only averaging 1.4 threes this month, but he's averaging 1.9 this season. Look for him to shoot plenty in a favorable matchup tonight.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Tuesday:
