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 March 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 March 8.
Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
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NBA First Scorer Props – March 8
Chicago Bulls vs. Miami Heat
Tipoff – 8:00 pm EST
Kaseya Center – Miami, FL
Broadcast – NBA TV
All year the Bulls have been my favorite team to fade, and with just a couple dozen games to go my tune has changed. The spots on the Bulls are some of the best in the league right now, and it’s all thanks to the injury to Nikola Vucevic. Since he’s gone down hurt, Zach Collins has been grabbing early possessions and helping the squad score early. He has a 60.0% win percentage on the tip, which is right around the number the Heat have been posting. Plus, the Heat are converting their first buckets at a much lower rate than their tip wins. Meanwhile, the Bulls number is nearly twice their tip win percentage. For those reasons, I love backing the Bulls at dog money here.
If we’re looking to back an individual player in this one, I have to go with Josh Giddey. The Bulls guard has taken one of his team’s first three shots in each of the last six games that he’s started. He even had a shot during a 0-0 game last time out that would have gotten him an early bucket. With the presence of Ware and Adebayo down low for the Heat, I also expect the early attempts for the Bulls to come from the outside.
First Scorer Bet for March 8: Josh Giddey (+850)
Orlando Magic vs. Milwaukee Bucks
Tipoff – 8:00 pm EST
Fiserv Forum – Milwaukee, WI
Broadcast – NBA TV
Another spot I’m liking for Saturday’s action is the Bucks to score first. They’ve got a big advantage on the tip in this one – winning that first possession 16.8% more often than the Magic. With the tip winner getting the first bucket 65.8% league-wide, that may already be enough of a reason to back the Bucks. However, they’re also converting at a much better rate as well. They score first 13.7% more often than the Magic, who rank in the bottom third of the league.
If you take the first three shots from the last three Bucks games, two players account for almost all of the shots. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez make up 77.8% of all of those early shots, which means it’s really just a two-man competition here. When you look at the odds, one of those men has roughly twice as high of odds as the other one. Since they’re getting roughly the same volume, and it is a lot of volume, I’ll go with the steep price on Brook Lopez.
First Scorer Bet for March 8: Brook Lopez (+650)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for March 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.
