It’s a spectacular day of college basketball action as conference tournaments continue, but also a very busy night in the NBA with 10 games. Here are three prop picks from a trio of those matchups via BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review).
Los Angeles Clippers vs. Atlanta Hawks
Friday, March 11, 2022 – 07:30 PM EST at State Farm Arena
Trae Young Yes/No Double-Double
This could be quite a letdown spot for the Clippers as they had to travel across the country for this matchup. West Coast teams often struggle in their first game of a trip in the Eastern Time Zone.
The Los Angeles defense has been struggling of late, allowing 112.3 ppg in the past three, going 1-2. The Clips again will be without one of their better defenders tonight in Robert Covington, who is out for personal reasons.
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While Covington wouldn’t have necessarily covered Trae Young, Covington’s absence could open up more assist possibilities and there’s zero doubt that Young gets double-digit points. Young comes off a 27-point, 11-assist effort Wednesday in a loss at Milwaukee.
It was the All-Star’s NBA-leading 33rd points/assist double-double and his NBA-best 22nd game this season of at least 25 points and 10 assists – the second-most such games by a Hawk in a single season in franchise history. Young had 24 of those in the 2019-20 season.
Young has scored double-digit points in 112 straight games, tied with Dominique Wilkins for the fifth-longest such streak in franchise history. I expect Young to eat Reggie Jackson’s lunch tonight – Jackson will be the primary defender, and he’s not a good one.
NBA Prop Pick: Young Yes Double-Double (-140) at BetOnline
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Miami Heat
Friday, March 11, 2022 – 08:00 PM EST at FTX Arena
Darius Garland Over/Under 31.5 Points + Assists
Potential Eastern Conference playoff preview, although each team could be down at least one key player. Miami is listing All-Star guard Jimmy Butler as questionable, while Cleveland is without All-Star center Jarrett Allen and guard Caris LeVert.
Without those two, the Cleveland offensive load again lands on All-Star guard Darius Garland. Playing their first game without Allen on Tuesday (LeVert has missed a few games), Garland was sensational in a 127-124 comeback win at Indiana by shooting 14-for-26 from the field and 9-for-9 from the free-throw line for a career-high 43 points to go with 13 assists.
Garland became the first Cleveland player since some guy named LeBron James on April 6, 2018, with at least 40 points and 10 assists in a game. Since returning from a back injury, Garland has had a double-double in three straight games (19 total this season) and is averaging 29.3 points and 11.5 assists since the All-Star break whole shooting 51.2 percent overall and 90.5 percent from the charity stripe.
Cleveland is 2-0 vs. Miami this season and Garland didn’t put up huge numbers in either, but those were both in December before he took over as the clear No. 1 option. I see no reason to add rebounds into this prop (rises to 36.5) because Garland isn’t a big rebounder.
NBA Prop Pick: Garland Over 31.5 P+A (-125) at BetOnline
Utah Jazz vs. San Antonio Spurs
Friday, March 11, 2022 – 08:30 PM EST at AT&T Center
Donovan Mitchell Over/Under 27.5 Points
Note that this is the front end of a back-to-back for Utah, which could affect minutes for some key guys if the team is up or down fairly big. The Jazz’s leading scorer on the season is Donovan Mitchell at 25.5 ppg. However, the leading scorer in each of the past three games has been Bojan Bogdanovic. He has been scorching hot in that stretch, shooting better than 60 percent from the field and averaging 28.0 ppg.
Alas, the Serb will not play tonight due to a right lower leg contusion. He suffered the injury in Utah’s 123-85 blowout win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday in which he finished with 27 points in just 24 minutes.
There are two ways to look at this in my mind regarding Mitchell: He’s going to get more shot attempts … but also likely more defensive attention from the Spurs, who have two very good defensive guards in Devin Vassell and Lonnie Walker. It will be much easier now for the Spurs to force someone else to beat them. And it’s not exactly easy to score 28 points in the NBA.
Utah is 1-1 vs. San Antonio this season and Mitchell played in one, totaling 27 points. He’ll get close to this number (barring injury or blowout) but not over it.
NBA Prop Pick: Mitchell Under 27.5 Points (-104) at BetOnline
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
