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 7. 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 7.
Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
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NBA First Scorer Props – December 7
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Charlotte Hornets
Tipoff – 1:00 pm EST
Spectrum Center – Charlotte, NC
Broadcast – NBA TV
There is no team better in the league at securing the opening tip. The Cavaliers start with the ball a whopping 87.0% of the time. The Hornets sit in the bottom third of the league in that metric with just 40.9%. With the tip winners getting 65.3% of the first scores, this is already enough to favor someone on the Cavaliers. Still, there are more reasons to play that side as well.
The Cavaliers are third in the NBA in converting the first score. They’ve scored first 65.2% of the time. The Hornets, meanwhile, are nearly 20% behind them in that metric and again rank in the bottom third of the league. All signs point to Cleveland, and now we just look for who we like on the squad.
With so many first buckets on the year, there is plenty of love to go around. Four of the regular starters have multiple first scores and three of them have at least three. From those, the name I like best for Saturday is Darius Garland. He’s taken one of their first three shots in each of the last three games. Additionally, the Hornets have given up their last two first scores to shots from the outside, which favor him on this squad.
First Scorer Bet for December 7: Darius Garland (+600)
Dallas Mavericks vs. Toronto Raptors
Tipoff – 7:30 pm EST
Scotiabank Arena – Toronto, ON
Broadcast – NBA TV
When you look at the surface stats, you might see an advantage for the Raptors. They have an 8.7% lead over the Mavericks in terms of scoring first. However, what that season long average doesn’t show is just how good the Mavericks have been as of late. Since getting Dereck Lively II back, he’s been tearing up the tipoff. He has won 63.6% of the tips this year. That’s a big advantage over Raptors center Jakob Poeltl at just 40.9%. Also, Poeltl is banged up, which means we might see a back up here – opening the door for an easier Mavericks first score.
It’s absurd how often PJ Washington is getting the rock early in the game right now. He’s fourth on the team in shot attempts per game, with just over ten, but he has the first shot in each of the last two games. He also took one of the first three shots in the game before that. If that’s not enough for you, he’s also got a quarter of the Mavericks first scores on the year and we’re getting a fat number next to his name.
First Scorer Bet for December 7: PJ Washington (+1000)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for December 7, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.
