Tonight, two Western Conference Play-In games will be played. First, the Los Angeles Lakers visit the New Orleans Pelicans, then the Golden State Warriors travel to face the Sacramento Kings.
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks plays for Tuesday, April 16.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections >>
Tonight, two Western Conference Play-In games will be played. First, the Los Angeles Lakers visit the New Orleans Pelicans, then the Golden State Warriors travel to face the Sacramento Kings.
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks plays for Tuesday, April 16.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections >>
Tuesday’s Best NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions
PrizePicks Record This Season: 71-67
Brandon Ingram made his first appearance since March 21st in the Pelicans’ 124-108 loss to the Lakers on Sunday. He scored only 13 points, but he also only played 23 minutes. For the season, Ingram is averaging 32.9 minutes per game. He should get closer to that number with his team's season on the line tonight.
This is Ingram's fourth game against the Lakers this season. He's scored 26 and 22 in two of the games, after scoring just nine in the first meeting between the two teams. Tonight's game is in New Orleans which helps Ingram. He's averaging 21.7 points per game at home this season. Though Sunday's 13-point performance came at home, there's no reason to be concerned. While his scoring was down, he still shot 6-of-9 from the field. Tonight, he'll put up more shots in more minutes and clear this number.
Trey Murphy was red-hot from deep to end the season. He made at least three three-pointers in his final five games. He knocked down six in two of those games. In Sunday's loss to the Lakers, he was 3-of-6 from deep.
However, defense generally ramps up in the postseason, so Murphy will have fewer open looks tonight. Plus, despite averaging 3.0 makes per game, he's struggled against the Lakers this season. In his first two games against them, he combined for just three three-pointers. The Lakers aren't great at defending the three, but with this number sitting right at Murphy's average, we'll back the less than play in what should be a more defensive game than the regular season meetings.
In the first meeting between these two teams, Domantas Sabonis pulled down 18 rebounds. Since then, he's only managed 11, eight and eight in his last three games against the Warriors. Yet, that last eight-rebound performance, which came back on January 25th, was also Sabonis' last single-digit rebounding game this season.
Sabonis has pulled down 13 or fewer rebounds in four consecutive games. However, he still averaged 14.1 rebounds per game in April and 15.1 in March. The Warriors allow the 11th-fewest rebounds per game. A large part of the reason why is that they shoot 47.7% from the field and snag the fifth-most offensive rebounds in the league. But Sabonis has been the best rebounder in the league all season. He's due for a big game after a few lackluster ones by his standards.
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.
