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 January 6. 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 January 6.
Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
CHECK OUT THE SPORTS GAMBLING PODCAST’S DAILY BEST BETS
NBA First Scorer Props – January 6
San Antonio Spurs vs. Chicago Bulls
Tipoff – 8:00 pm EST
United Center – Chicago, IL
Broadcast – NBA TV
In this game, there is a wild discrepancy between the tip win percentages of the two teams. The Bulls continue to be the worst team in the league on the jump – getting just 8.8% of the first possesssions for their squad. On the other side of things, the Spurs have been fantastic in that realm. They rank 3rd in the league in tip wins with a whopping 74.3%. With tip winners taking 65.8% of the first buckets on the year, it makes all the sense in the world to grab a pick from the Spurs on Monday night.
If we’re looking for who is getting a lot of the early action for the Spurs, look no further than Harrison Barnes. Barnes has taken one of the first three shots in each of the Spurs last three games. If that’s not enough early action for you, consider that in two of those games he took the team’s first shot. With a near guaranteed tip win, we’re basically just getting odds on to whether he would make that shot.
First Scorer Bet for January 6: Harrison Barnes (+850)
Portland Trail Blazers vs. Detroit Pistons
Tipoff – 7:00 pm EST
Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, MI
Broadcast – NBA TV
Another game where I like the advantages takes place in Detroit on Monday. The Pistons just have a marginal advantage on the tip in this one – 5.2% better than the Trail Blazers. However, the difference on first bucket success rate is monsterous. The Pistons, despite having a slightly above average tip rate, rank 5th in the league in first buckets at 60%. That’s 30.6% higher than the 29th ranked Portland squad. You can’t overlook that kind of difference in this one, so we’ll chase a Pistons player.
If we’re looking to the Pistons, then we might be tempted by Cade Cunningham. Afterall, he did take Detoit’s first three shots last time out. However, if we dig a little deeper, there are some better numbers to entice us. Tobias Harris took both the the team’s first shots in the two games prior. With a much better number on the board than Cunningham, we’ll give him a play.
First Scorer Bet for January 6: Tobias Harris (+800)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for January 6, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.
