We’ve got a pair of teams hanging on by a thread, but all we care about are first bucket props for May 14. Sure, Boston fans are sweating out another possible collapse in the TD Garden. Steve Kerr and the Warriors feel a sense of impending doom as they hit the road with no margin for error. They’ll have to wait 48 minutes for their final determination, but these bets won’t have to wait quite that long.
We’ve run the data, we’ve look at the trends – now, come check out our first bucket props for May 13.
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NBA First Bucket Props – May 14
New York Knicks vs. Boston Celtics
Tipoff – 7:00 pm EST
TD Garden – Boston, MA
Broadcast – TNT
This series has followed some really odd patterns. First of all, no team that has won the tip has gone on to score the first bucket in the game. That’s an odd stat being that during the regular season the tip winner scored first at a 65.7% clip. The Knicks have won the last three tips, which of course means that the Celtics have scored first in each of those games. Between their dominace on the tip and the Celtics needing to press in this one – I like the Knicks to get the first bucket in this one. You can get that line at +100.
I like one of the longshots in this one on Wednesday. Mikal Bridges didn’t appear in the early shot log of Game 4. However, he had been really active early in the games prior. If you take the first three shots in each of the three games prior, Bridges accounts for 55.6% of all of those shots. That includes the first shot in each of those games as well. We’re just looking for him to knock one of those early ones down and we can see a cash of a four figure line.
First Bucket Bet for May 14: Mikal Bridges (+1000)
Golden State Warriors vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
Tipoff – 9:30 pm EST
Target Center – Minneapolis, MN
Broadcast – TNT
While the Timberwolves have the lead in the series, the early games are a dead heat. Both teams have won two tips. Both teams have scored two first buckets. That’s not exactly what we would have expected in this series. Minnesota has been far better in both of those categories. During the regular season they won the tip at a clip 15.4% better than the Warriors and scored first at a rate 7.7% better. With things even at the moment, I’ll take the statistically better team to jump in front of this one.
Searching through the game logs for early shots, it pretty much comes down to Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle. While Edwards is the one who has turned it on as of late, Randle has been getting more consistent early looks in the series. If you take the first three shots from Minnesota in every game this series, Randle has 33.3% of those shots. That includes a game where he already scored first once.
First Bucket Bet for May 14: Julius Randle (+500)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first bucket bets for May 14, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.
