The Eastern Conference Finals get underway tonight, and the Boston Celtics are heavily favored over the Indiana Pacers. In four games against the Pacers this season, Jayson Tatum averaged 32.5 points and 11 rebounds. Meanwhile, Pacers' leading scorer Tyrese Haliburton averaged just 15.8 points per game against the Celtics. What should we expect from the two stars and others tonight?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks plays for Tuesday, May 21st between Pacers vs. Celtics.
Our NBA PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections >>
The Eastern Conference Finals get underway tonight, and the Boston Celtics are heavily favored over the Indiana Pacers. In four games against the Pacers this season, Jayson Tatum averaged 32.5 points and 11 rebounds. Meanwhile, Pacers' leading scorer Tyrese Haliburton averaged just 15.8 points per game against the Celtics. What should we expect from the two stars and others tonight?
Here are the three best NBA PrizePicks plays for Tuesday, May 21st between Pacers vs. Celtics.
Our NBA PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NBA projections >>
NBA PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 79-80
Tatum recorded 12 or more rebounds in three of his four games against the Pacers this season. Because of this, he was able to combine for at least 16 rebounds and assists in all but one of his games against them. In the only game where he failed to hit that number, he combined for 14 assists and rebounds, which shows just how high his floor is for this prop tonight.
Though the Pacers are the third-best team in the league when it comes to preventing their opponents from compiling assists, Tatum has essentially proven to be immune to that stat. And with how bad the Pacers are at rebounding - they rank 27th in the league - Tatum will have plenty of success on the boards. He may have so much success that he will only need one or two assists to hit this over.
Turner is having a great postseason. He averaged 19.2 points per game against the Milwaukee Bucks, then averaged 16.1 points per game against the New York Knicks. Against the Knicks, he scored at least 16 points in five of seven games, and he only went under 13 points once.
However, Turner's production from beyond the three-point line has significantly decreased since he knocked down 17 in his first three games against the Bucks. The Celtics rank eighth in the league in points allowed in the paint. Even though the Pacers lead the league in points from that area, it won't be Turner doing most of the scoring. After all, he only averaged 14.0 points per game against the Celtics during the regular season. Plus, he never scored more than 17 against them in a game.
It's surprising to see this number at 7.5 rather than 6.5. Siakam pulled down more than seven rebounds in just two of his seven games against the Knicks. In that series, he never grabbed more than nine rebounds in a single game. He did average 8.8 rebounds per game against the Bucks, but his production significantly dropped in the final two games of that series.
Siakam averaged just 5.8 rebounds per game against the Celtics this season. He never pulled down more than seven rebounds in a single game. Perhaps oddsmakers expect him to have a better night because he will play more minutes, but this number still seems like it's one or two too high.
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
