Some people like to sweat out a bet for 48 hard minutes – others like immediate satisfaction. Count us as being in the latter, which is why we like to get down with NBA first scorer props. And we’ve decided to pass that knowledge on to you with our first scorer bets for January 8. Go here for NBA Championship odds.
Of course, there are plenty out there taking blind guesses at this stuff. It’s easy to pick the most popular player or look at what happened in the last game. However, we spent the time pouring through the analytics to make sure that we give you the best odds to stay in the green on these first scorer props for January 8.
Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
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NBA First Scorer Props – January 8
Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
Tipoff – 7:00 pm EST
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse – Cleveland, OH
Broadcast – ESPN
In the early ESPN game on Wednesday, we see a nice advantage for the home squad in the first bucket metrics. For one, the Cavaliers have been way better on the tip this year. Their 82.9% tip win percentage is the best in the NBA. The Thunder, meanwehile, come in right at league average of 50.0% – and that number has been on a downward trend since Chet Holmgren went down. The Cavaliers also have a double digit lead over the Thunder when it comes to converting those first scores. With those metrics in place, we’ll take someone from Cleveland.
While there might be plenty of people on the Cavaliers with a good track record (they do have a lot of success on the first score), there is only one who is regularly seeing early action for them at the moment. Evan Mobley is the only player on the team to take one of their first three shots in each of the last three games. He also took two of the first three in one of those. Add in that one netted him a first bucket and you have to like the momentum here.
First Scorer Bet for January 8: Evan Mobley (+500)
Chicago Bulls vs. Indiana Pacers
Tipoff – 7:00 pm EST
Gainbridge Fieldhouse – Indianapolis, IN
Broadcast – NBA TV
The Pacers may have some surface stats that don’t blow us away. They are below league average in both tip win percentage (43.2%) and in first bucket success rate (46.0%). However, despite those numbers, they have huge advantages over the Bulls. The Bulls rank dead last in both of those categories. They are 34.6% behind them on the tip and another 20.3% behind them in the first buckets. Even if you don’t love what we’re seeing from the Pacers, the Bulls are the best team to fade right now.
I know that he is coming off a game where he scored the first bucket, but I’m looking for Pascal Siakam to go back-to-back for the Pacers. He took all three of the first three shots last time out. He also took two of the first three two games ago. To make this even easier on us, the Bulls chronically give up first scores to opposing bigs. While Myles Turner would be another big to be away of, the bulk approach for Siakam seems to be the move here.
First Scorer Bet for January 8: Pascal Siakam (+550)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for January 8, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.
