NBA First Basket will break down some of his favorite NBA plays of the day here, and will track all his bets in The Action Network app.
NBA First Basket Prop Pick: Jonas Valanciunas, CJ McCollum
| Odds | Valanciunas (+450) I McCollum (+750) |
| Time | 8 p.m. ET |
| Book | FanDuel |
The New Orleans Pelicans will host the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night. Jonas Valanciunas (51% opening tip win rate) will likely be facing Sandro Mamukelashvili who has only participated in the opening tip-off once this season (which he lost). Zach Collins is the normal starting center for the Spurs, but is out with an injury.
The Pelicans have scored first in 58% of their games this season while the Spurs have scored first in just 46% of games. Since the Spurs traded Jakob Poeltl to the Raptors, they have struggled to score first. Over the past 16 games, they have scored first just six times.
In three games this season between these two teams, Valanciunas has cashed the first basket twice, while CJ McCollum scored the first team basket in the most recent game.
The first possessions for the Pelicans have been dominated by Valanciunas and Brandon Ingram this season. Those two players combine to take the first shot in 68% of games started. Valanciunas has cashed the first basket in 25% of games started while Ingram has cashed the first basket in 32% of games started.
The Spurs actually defend the power forward position pretty well on opening possessions, giving up the first basket to the opposing power forward in just 14% of games. For those reasons, I'll take Valanciunas and pair him with CJ McCollum, who is third on the Pelicans in percentage of first field goals, to cash a first basket bet.
Pick: Jonas Valanciunas +450 (0.7units) |
Pick: CJ McCollum +750 (0.4 units) |
Spurs vs. Pelicans First Basket Prop Data
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