Pickswise was nice enough to give me the opportunity to write my plays up for you all. For those of you who don’t know me, they refer to me as JutPicks on Twitter. I post all my plays with brief write-ups every day. Now I get to write even more with no character limit!
I pride myself in being as transparent as they come. My NBA record from last season and this season are listed in my bio alongside with my MLB and NFL record. Without further ado, let’s dive into my favorite plays for Friday:
Chris Paul (Suns) over 9.5 assists (-120)
Line available at Fanduel at the time of publishing.
Tonight, we get to watch the red hot Suns face off against the Dallas Mavericks on ESPN. These teams just squared off on Wednesday, resulting in a comeback win for the Suns. We’re targeting a big focal point in that win, veteran Chris Paul. Paul currently leads the league in assists per game at 10.5. With the return of Deandre Ayton in the lineup, Paul dished out 14 assists on Wednesday night. Taking a look at Pauls’ game log throughout the season, he has covered this line in 9 of 14 games and more importantly 6 of 8 with Ayton in the lineup.
Dallas possesses a nice matchup in terms of assists for point guards. They allow over 8.5 assists per game to point guards and 24 assists overall, both ranking in the bottom 10 of the association. Paul leads the league is assist opportunities per game at 19 which is over 2 more than former teammate James Harden, who ranks 2nd. We should see a replica of Wednesday night’s performance from the All-NBA point guard.
Check out our full game preview of Suns vs Mavericks
Killian Hayes (Pistons) under 6.5 points (+100)
Line available at DraftKings at the time of publishing.
I have not been successful fading the 2-year point guard this season but that ends tonight. Hayes gets one of the toughest matchups he’ll see all year against the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors rank 1st in defensive efficiently, 2nd in points allowed, 1st in opponent field-goal percentage, and 5th in opponent 3-point percentage. That’s pretty good. Hayes has never been known as an offensive threat. He averages 6.5 ppg in his career and is shooting only 31.8% from the field this season. Detroit will look to No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham for offense who has finally found his groove offensively.
Hayes is under in 8/13 games this season and has scored only 4 points in 43 minutes the last 2 games.
Check out our full game preview of Pistons vs Warriors
Darius Bazley (Thunder) under 11.5 points (-120)
Line available at DraftKings at the time of publishing.
Bazley was a money maker for a lot of us towards the end of last season when the Thunder were in tank mode. Now, he’s an afterthought on offense. He is looked at as the 4th scoring option in the starting lineup and seeing only 10 field-goal attempts per game. In his last 3 games, he’s averaging only 6 points per game in 26 minutes of action. This game against the Bucks screams out blowout with a line of 13 points in favor of the Bucks. In games in which the Thunder lost by 10 points or more, Bazley is 5/6 under 12 points.
Fellow young guys Lu Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are going to be the catalyst for most of the Thunder offense tonight against the champions.
Check out our full game preview of Thunder vs Bucks
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