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 26. 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 26.
Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
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NBA First Scorer Props – December 26
Atlanta Hawks vs. Chicago Bulls
Tipoff – 7:30 pm EST
United Center – Chicago, IL
Broadcast – NBA TV
The Bulls are an auto-fade when it comes to first bucket betting. In the 30 games they’ve played so far this year, they’ve only managed to win two tips. With the tip winners this year getting nearly two-thirds of the first buckets, that stat alone makes them easy to get on the other side of. However, it goes beyond that too. They also rank 30th in first bucket conversions at just 20.7%. When we add in that the Hawks are above league average in both of these metrics – it’s a no brainer what side we need to back here.
The Hawks have really spread out their first buckets over this year. They have six different players who have scored first this year and four of them have multiples. However, if we look to the type of first buckets the Bulls are conceding, there is a clear trend. In the last four first buckets surrendered by the Bulls, three of them were to the opposing team’s big. With Clint Capela already getting a lot of the early action for the Hawks over the last week or so, let’s get him on the board early.
First Scorer Bet for December 26: Clint Capela (+475)
Brooklyn Nets vs. Milwaukee Bucks
Tipoff – 8:00 pm EST
Fiserv Forum – Milwaukee, WI
Broadcast – NBA TV
Despite their up and down nature, the Bucks have been putting up solid numbers all year on the early game action. They rank 5th in the league in first bucket success rate and 7th in the league when it comes to tipoff success. Those numbers blow Brooklyn, who has struggled just about everywhere, out of the water. Brooklyn is bottom five in the league in both of those metrics. When you add in a slight nod to home teams over the course of the season, there’s even more reason to get down with Milwaukee here.
If you look at the early game action for the Bucks lately, we see some clear trends. Both Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis have been getting active with a few of the bigger names getting banged up and resting. It’s looking like Giannis Antetokounmpo might return to the starting line-up on Thursday, which would muscle Bobby Portis out of that starting role. Knowing that, we’ll stick with the other player trending upwards in Middleton.
First Scorer Bet for December 26: Khris Middleton (+600)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for December 26, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.
