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 December 30. 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 December 30.
Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
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NBA First Scorer Props – December 30
Chicago Bulls vs. Charlotte Hornets
Tipoff – 7:00 pm EST
Spectrum Center – Charlotte, NC
Broadcast – NBA TV
The Hornets are hardly a team to write home about – not in the regular season or the early game action so far. Not only are they an ugly 7-24 on the year, but they are below average at scoring first at just 45.2%. That mark puts them 20th in the NBA and not a team we usually tail. However, they aren’t usually playing the Bulls.
That 45.2% mark may not look great, but it twice as good as the Bulls 22.6% mark. That has the Bulls in dead last. They’re also dead last in tip wins thanks to Nikolva Vucevic’s single digit tip win percentage. With the tip winner grabbing 65.5% of the first scores this year, the below average Hornets are a smash play here.
The Hornets are one of the team’s with the least consistency on the first score. They’ve already had eight players score first in a game and nobody has more than three times. Some of that is due to injuries and rotating starting lineups, and some is due to looking for a more clear team identity. So instead of looking for their trend, let’s look at what the Bulls are allowing. The Bulls allow the majority of their first scores to the opposing teams’ big men. That inlcudes their first game with the Hornets back in December. I like Mark Williams to repeat against the Bulls here down on the block.
First Scorer Bet for December 30: Mark Williams (+500)
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors
Tipoff – 10:00 pm EST
Chase Center – San Francisco, CA
Broadcast – NBA TV
This is a game with big descrepancies that should be easy to exploit. The Cavaliers are not only one of the best teams in the NBA, but they have some of the best early game stats. They rank in the top five in both tip win percentage and in first bucket success rate – the former of which they rank second overall. The Warriors are the opposite side of that spectrum. They rank in the bottom third of the league in both of those meaningful stats and are particularly dreadful on the tip this year. They rank 28th in the league in winning the tip, only ahead of the aformentioned Bulls and the Kings.
The Cavaliers are another team with not a clear cut favorite for their early buckets. Some of that is due to the fact that they just have so many to go around. However, if you look at their last few games, a favorite emerges. Only one player has taken one of the team’s first three shots in each of the last four games. Evan Mobley has been getting consistent early game work and, with a big number next to his name, is ripe to cash in.
First Scorer Bet for December 30: Evan Mobley (+750)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for December 30, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.
