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 25. 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 25.
Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
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NBA First Scorer Props – February 25
Phoenix Suns vs. Memphis grizzlies
Tipoff – 8:00 pm EST
FedExForum – Memphis, TN
Broadcast – NBA TV
The Grizzlies are one of the teams you can always look to tail on the first bucket market when you can’t find another spot you want. On one hand, the Suns are an above average team on the metrics that help indicate. They have a 54.4% tip win percentage and an identical first bucket success rate. However, that puts them 20.6% behind the Grizzlies when it comes to tips and 18.8% behind them in first buckets. The Grizzlies rank second and first in those two metrics respectively, which should be enough to get behind them here.
The name I like for Memphis on Tuesday is Jaren Jackson Jr. Firstly, he’s always in the thick of things in the early game. Whether the Grizzlies are working the ball down to him or he’s getting second chance points, he’s always getting early shots. It’s promising that it’s been more of the former lately. He’s taken the team’s first shot in two of their last three games and took the first two in one of those.
First Scorer Bet for February 25: Jaren Jackson Jr. (+400)
Charlotte Hornets vs. Golden State Warriors
Tipoff – 10:00 pm EST
Chase Center – San Francisco, CA
Broadcast – NBA TV
The surface stats here favor the Hornets, but not by as much as you might want to play them here. However, when you look specifically at the people who will be taking the jump in this one, it’s enough to get over the edge. Jusuf Nurkic now takes the tips for the Hornets and he’s nabbing his team the first possession 80.8% of the time. Meanwhile, the Warriors will either use Draymond Green (28.6%) or Trayce Jackson-Davis (27.0%). That gives the Hornets a better than 50% advantage on the tip no matter what. With tip winners getting roughly 65.7% of the first buckets this year, that’s enough to tail the Hornets.
Similar to the Grizzlies, there has been one name that keeps popping up on the early game logs. Josh Green has taken the first shot for the Hornets in two of their last three games. He’s also shown up in the early part of the game logs at an elevated rate over the last three weeks and has some first buckets to show for it as well. I’ll take the recent high volume as a good indicator for this one on Tuesday.
First Scorer Bet for February 25: Josh Green (+700)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for February 25, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.
