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 10. 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 10.
Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
CHECK OUT THE SPORTS GAMBLING PODCAST’S DAILY BEST BETS
NBA First Scorer Props – January 10
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Tipoff – 7:00 pm EST
Wells Fargo Center – Philadelphia, PA
Broadcast – NBA TV
The outlook in this game doesn’t look great for the 76ers. Their former MVP Joel Embiid won’t be in the game on Friday, nor will be the man that takes the tips in his place Andre Drummond. That leaves us with the third string option on the jump, French journeyman Guerschon Yabusele. While his numbers aren’t anything to write home about (he’s winning the jump just 37.5% of the time), he has looked much better than Pelicans tip guy Yves Missi. Missi is getting just barely a quarter of the tips this year. With an advantage there and on the first buckets, we’ll take a look at the beat up 76ers for a play here.
Embiid is out. Drummond is out. Paul George is going to be a gametime call. Some might say that it leaves only Tyrese Maxley as a reasonable option. However, the same guy has taken the first shot in back-to-back games, and it isn’t Maxley. The aforementioned Guerschon Yabusele has fired away twice to start games since making it into the starting lineup. He drilled one, but the other team had scored already, and he clanked the second. Let’s get him on the board first here.
First Scorer Bet for January 10: Guerschon Yabusele (TBD)
Brooklyn Nets vs. Denver Nuggets
Tipoff – 9:00 pm EST
Ball Arena – Denver, CO
Broadcast – NBA TV
The difference in this game isn’t much on the tip. In fact, these two teams are neck and neck when it comes to the tip percentages – the Nuggets currently enjoy an 8.3% advantage. However, the difference is really what they do with it. Despite having a below average tip win rate, the Nuggets are scoring first 63.9% of the time. That makes them third best in the league. The Nets lag far behind that, scoring first just 41.7% of the time, which puts them in 27th in the NBA.
Jamal Murray has been the guy getting all the early looks with Nikola Jokic out. However, it’s looking more and more like Jokic will be available for Friday’s action. That doesn’t mean we’re getting behind the big guy, but we are looking for trends when he is in the game. One player tends to be the beneficiary of the attention Jokic draws at a disproportionate level – Michael Porter Jr. If you look at the last three games Jokic played in, Porter Jr. saw a bulk of the early action. We’ll look for Jokic and that action to return again here.
First Scorer Bet for January 10: Michael Porter Jr. (TBD)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for January 10, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.
