Lakers. Warriors. What else needs to be said? I could watch Steph Curry and LeBron James go blow for blow for the rest of my life. I don’t care if they’re both in retirement homes, it’s simply exciting basketball. In the meantime, we’re going to give you some winners for tonight’s matchup. Let’s see how we fare! With prop bets, we don’t need to wait for season-long storylines to play out. Every day is a new day. Fantrax wants to help you win a bit of money, so we will be giving you NBA Player Prop Bets every week. We’ll shy away from keying in on any particular sportsbook, as we know odds vary, and so do props. We’ll focus on our projections, and allow you to find your best odds. Let’s get into today’s prop bets.
NBA Player Prop Bets for May 4
Steph Curry OVER 30 Points:
I’m locking this one in. He averaged just under 30 points over the course of the regular season, and now the Warriors are counting on him to level up, as he’s playing 38+ minutes every night now. Curry has had 30+ points in four of his last six postseason games, and one of the non-30+ games came when the Warriors blew out the Kings and Curry got to sit for some of the 4th quarter. The Lakers play with the 6th fastest pace in the league, while the Warriors lead the league in pace. That means there will be plenty of possessions for both teams to go tit-for-tat. After the Warriors lost Game 1 in a close matchup, they’re going to want to come out swinging and get out to an early lead. Curry will get his shots up, and the Lakers don’t have anyone to stop that.
Dennis Schroder UNDER 10 Points:
Why on earth the Lakers chose Game 1 vs. the Warriors to give Dennis the Menace over 30 minutes of playing time is beyond me, but they won, so I’ll give Darvin Ham his flowers. I won’t bet on it for Game 2, though. He’s only averaged 23 minutes per game over the course of this postseason, and only 7 PPG over that stretch. On top of that, Schroder went 9 of 10 from the free throw line last game, and I don’t anticipate him going to the stripe that much in Game 2. Schroder going off in Game 1 gives us some extra margin for error on the line for Game 2. Don’t expect Schroder’s role to increase.
Anthony Davis OVER 30 Points:
Anthony Davis has stayed healthy and played big in this postseason, and as long as that’s the case, the Lakers have one of the best starting lineups in the league. He went 30/23 in Game 1. The reason I have Davis beating that 30-point mark tonight is because Kevon Looney had a monster game as well. Looney had 23 rebounds in Game 1, meaning he took away additional possessions from Davis and the Lakers 23 times. While Looney is certainly a good enough rebounder to repeat that performance, I think AD is better, so that number should decline. Fewer boards for the Warriors equals more possessions/points for the Lakers. Expect another monster game from Anthony Davis tonight.