Germantas Kneita
The NBA gets our weekends started with a 6 game slate on Saturday. The nights action will conclude with the Philadelphia 76ers visiting the Golden State Warriors live on ABC. Not only will get to witness Jimmy Butler return to take on one of his former teams, but we will also get to see Stephen Curry in action. The Warriors star is coming into this game after a phenomenal 56-point performance against the Orlando Magic. Considering he made over 70% of his field goal attempts the last time he took on the 76ers, we might get to witness something special once more.
You can find our complete NBA predictions for today’s action here. But for now take a look at my favorite player props for Saturdays action.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL) over 29.5 points (-105)
Milwaukee Bucks superstar should relish tonight’s game against the Dallas Mavericks. The hosts are extremely short of bodies in the paint which resulted in major minutes for Moses Brown in their last outing. Mike Williams was able to exploit him enroute to 26 points in their last game, well up from his season average of 15.4 points per game. Antetokounmpo averages 29.1 points on the road this season and even a slight jump would allow him to hit the over on this line.
He currently leads the league in points in the paint and will go up against a team that over the last 10 games has given up more points in that area than any other team. This should therefore be a perfect matchup for the former MVP. Brown may be tasked with picking up Lopez too which should leave Antetokounmpo to bully an undersized Naji Marshall on the inside. Back the over on his points line as a result.
DeMar DeRozan (SAC) over 7.5 assists & rebounds (-130)
Sacramento Kings guard DeMar DeRozan has been contributing across the board for the Kings of late. I expect him to keep that going tonight in the assists and rebounds categories here as he takes on the Houston Rockets. He has managed at least 9 combined in those categories in 9 of his last 10 games, including each of his last 8. In 2 games against the Rockets this season, he is also averaging a combined 9.5 in those 2 categories.
He should see time matched up against both Amen Thompson and Dillon Brooks. Both are strong on-ball defenders which should force DeRozan to utilize his passing abilities more. Thompson is also far from a floor spacing threat which should allow the Kings guard to drop back into the paint and help out on the rebounding front. He hit the over on this line in both games against them and tonight should be no different.
