It's a busy day in the world of sports, but Saturday's NBA Playoff doubleheader features two awesome games for us to find some PrizePicks plays.
A quick refresher if you aren’t familiar with PrizePicks: you can combine up to five different player squares to payout up to 10x your entry.
You can do a Flex Play or a Power Play. A Flex Play gives you lesser odds, but you can win money if you do not nail every pick. A Power Play is all-or-nothing.
Here’s how I would approach today’s slate in NBA Playoffs slate.
What is PrizePicks? A daily fantasy operator — meaning they’re available in more states (30) than sports betting is! — PrizePicks offers a unique opportunity for action on player squares in which you parlay two or more plays together.
Jimmy Butler Less Than 5.5 Assists
After sitting out Game 2 due to an ankle injury, Butler is expected to play despite being listed as questionable. He may be dealing with a little bit of discomfort, but Butler also had five days of rest. Since the playoffs started, Butler has been a scoring machine averaging a league-high 35.5 points per game with a 33% usage rate. He is shooting 58.5% from the field and 42.9% from behind the arc on 22.5 field goal attempts per game, the most in his career.
Butler leads the Heat in potential assists per game during the playoffs, but a majority of that came in Game 1 of round one where he recorded 11 assists. Since then, Butler is only averaging 3.4 assists per game and has yet to even capture five assists over that time.
The Knicks have a league-best 105.9 Defensive Rating in the playoffs allowing 97.7 points and only 22.9 assists per game. Even if they send more double teams, Butler may struggle reaching six assists.
Austin Reaves Less Than 14.5 Points
Chasing around Klay Thompson defensively is taking a toll on the conditioning of Reaves. He has looked gassed and is shooting 35% from the field on only 10 field goal attempts per game in the first two games.
Reaves is averaging 8.5 points per game in this series and has failed to top 15 points in five of his last seven games. With a usage rate of 18% in the playoffs, Reaves ranks fifth on the team. Expect the offense to run through Anthony Davis and LeBron James.
The Warriors have stepped up defensively with the second-best Defensive Rating (107.4) during the second round of the playoffs. Davis and James are both averaging 20-plus points per game during the playoffs and demand the ball in their hands a majority of offensive possessions.
Since claiming "I'm him" in Game 1 against the Grizzlies, Reaves is shooting 39.8% from the field and 29.7% from behind the arc. He would need to get hot from the perimeter to score 15 or more points and that is a chance worth taking given how poorly and tired he has looked thus far in this series.
