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 February 2. 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 February 2.
Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
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NBA First Scorer Props – February 2
Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Tipoff – 6:00 pm EST
Wells Fargo Center – Philadelphia, PA
Broadcast – ESPN
The first of the two evening games on Sunday features a pair of teams with pretty similar early game numbers. The Celtics have a slight advantage when it comes to winning the tip – 8.5% to be exact. However, because of their shot selection, they lag behind when it comes to actually scoring first. In that category, the 76ers lead by 3.2%. While the numbers are tight enough that it could go either way, we have to like that one team attacks with higher percentage shots. We’ll go with Philadelphia for that reason.
If we’re looking for a player who only takes high percentage shots, look no further than Guerschon Yabusele. While the big man isn’t shy about firing from downtown, he does stay pretty short to kick off the game. In addition to that, he is getting a lot of action early in the last few games. In fact, he’s taken the 76ers first shot in two of the last three games. With a number like this on the board, I don’t know how we pass it up.
First Scorer Bet for February 2: Guerschon Yabusele (+950)
Memphis Grizzlies vs. Milwaukee Bucks
Tipoff – 8:30 pm EST
Fiserv Forum – Milwaukee, WI
Broadcast – ESPN
The Bucks are a top five team in the league when it comes to winning the tip. However, similarly to the Celtics, their love for the three-ball tends to lower their chances of scoring the first bucket. While they are above average in that metric, it’s still worth considering how much lower their first score success rate is (8.5% less than the tip win percentage). Now, to make matters worse, they’ll be up against a team that actually had better tip wins than they do. Plus, the Grizzlies are number one in the league when it comes to scoring first. As a result, we like Memphis here.
If we’re looking for someone with volume from the Grizzlies, we have to like Desmond Bane. He’s coming off a game where he took two of the first three shots for Memphis. He also had one of the first three in the game before that. Taking 50% of the early shots in the last two games is enough of the action for me to like the number we’ll get from him here.
First Scorer Bet for February 2: Desmond Bane (+600)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for February 2, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.