Darius Garland has struggled of late. Will he finally get back on track when his Cleveland Cavaliers battle the Chicago Bulls? Will Wendell Carter Jr. make another three-pointer against the Toronto Raptors? Or is he bound to go scoreless from beyond the arc for the third time in four tries against them? What should we expect from Jaxson Hayes on the glass when the Los Angeles Lakers face the New Orleans Pelicans?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Tuesday, March 4th.
Darius Garland has struggled of late. Will he finally get back on track when his Cleveland Cavaliers battle the Chicago Bulls? Will Wendell Carter Jr. make another three-pointer against the Toronto Raptors? Or is he bound to go scoreless from beyond the arc for the third time in four tries against them? What should we expect from Jaxson Hayes on the glass when the Los Angeles Lakers face the New Orleans Pelicans?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks player predictions for Tuesday, March 4th.
Darius Garland is in a serious shooting slump. He hasn't made more than two three-pointers in a game since February 10th. During that five-game stretch, he hasn't shot better than 33.3% from deep, and he's shot worse than 30% four times. In his last game, he played 39 minutes, but he only managed to shoot 2-of-7 from long-range. Even worse, he was just 4-of-16 from the field.
Garland is still averaging 21.2 points and 2.9 three-pointers per game, so it's just a matter of time before he breaks out of this slump. Tonight, he gets a great opportunity, as he faces the team allowing the second-most points in the league. Additionally, the Bulls rank 20th in opponent three-pointers made per game. During his slump, Garland has never stopped shooting, and I don't expect that to change tonight. In a great matchup, look for him to finally get back on track from beyond the three-point line.
For my second player prediction, I'm targeting another three-point play, but this time I'm focusing on a player that doesn't attempt many shots from beyond the arc. Wendell Carter Jr. is averaging just 0.4 made three-pointers per game this season. He's shooting 21% from deep, as he's averaging just 2.1 attempts per game.
That said, Carter has made a three-pointer in three of his last four games. However, I'm not buying that as a trend. Carter went five consecutive games without a three-pointer in February, and he failed to even attempt a shot from deep in two February games. He just went 1-of-3 from deep against the Raptors on Sunday, but he was 0-for-6 in his previous two games against them. This may feel like a coin-flip prediction, but it's not. Any time you can take a player who shoots this poorly from deep to not make a three, you have to take it.
This line is putting way too much emphasis on what Jaxson Hayes has done recently and not enough emphasis on what he's accomplished throughout the entire season. Hayes has pulled down at least seven rebounds in three of his last four games. However, he's only averaging 4.4 rebounds per game this season. The most recent game in which he failed to collect at least seven rebounds saw him pull down just one in 26 minutes.
The Pelicans are allowing the third-most rebounds in the league, but there are plenty of other Lakers who can take advantage of this matchup better than Hayes can. If he manages to pull down seven rebounds again, then maybe it's time to re-evaluate Hayes, but right now, I'm not convinced this is anything more than a temporary hot streak. After all, he had four or fewer rebounds in seven of his 12 games in February.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Tuesday:
