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 15. 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 15.
Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
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NBA First Scorer Props – January 15
Dallas Mavericks vs. New Orleans Pelicans
Tipoff – 8:00 pm EST
Smoothie King Center – New Orleans, LA
Broadcast – NBA TV
The away squad walks into the Smoothie King Center on Wednesday with plenty of advantages in scoring the first bucket. Firstly, the Pelicans are in the bottom of the league when it comes to winning the tip. They have just a 26.8% win rate on the year, which is less than half of the win rate of Derrick Lively II. Even if Lively isn’t good to go, as he is listed as questionable, even Daniel Gafford has a 19.9% better tip win percentage. With the tip winners getting 65.3% of the first buckets on the year, there’s already a good enough reason to pick a Mavericks player. If you need more reason, they also have a 13.7% lead in first scorer success rate – in which they rank in the top five.
With Luke Doncic on the sidelines, there a surprising duo dominating the early shot attempts for Dallas. PJ Washington and Naji Marshall have both taked one of the first three shots in each of the last three games. In each of the last two games, Naji Marshall was the second of those two. He’s making shots at a nice clip and I think he’s due to bump up one spot here.
First Scorer Bet for January 15: Naji Marshall (+750)
Memphis Grizzlies vs. San Anontio Spurs
Tipoff – 8:00 pm EST
Frost Bank Center – San Antonio, TX
Broadcast – NBA TV
The tip battle in this game is amongst the game’s best. The Grizzlies are getting the first possession at a 76.9% clip with the Spurs getting it at 76.3%. They rank second and third respectively in the league in that stat category. However, despite that stat being so close, there is much more space in terms of first scorer success rate. The Grizzlies are number one in the league at converting those chances (69.2%). Meanwhile, the Spurs are only getting those first scores at a 42.1% – which puts them at 27th place in the league. With those success rates so different, you have to side with Memphis.
While the Spurs aren’t getting a ton of first buckets, they also give up a very small number inside the paint. There’s one obvious reason why that’s happening. With that being said, it’s good that Memphis has a guard that has taken early shots consistently. Jaylen Wells has taken one of the first three shots in three of the last four games – so we’ll ride with him.
First Scorer Bet for January 15: Jaylen Wells (+1100)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for January 15, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.