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 February 3. 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 February 3.
Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
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NBA First Scorer Props – February 3
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Denver Nuggets
Tipoff – 9:00 pm EST
Ball Arena – Denver, CO
Broadcast – NBA TV
The Nuggets may not be great on the tip this year, in fact they’re well below league average, but they are making the most of those early possessions. Despite the deficiency in that stat category, they are still in the top ten in the league at scoring first. The added bonus of backing the Nuggets on Monday is that they’ll actually have a sizable advantage when in comes to the tip. Yves Missi and the Pelicans have been awful this year on the jump – winning just 28.6% of them. That’ll give the Nuggests a 16.3% lead in that category and should be even easier for them to get on the board first.
If we’re looking for someone with a lot of early game action from the Nuggets here, why not look to Michael Porter Jr. He took one of the first three shots for the Nuggets in their last game and actually took the first two of their shots in the game prior. Despite all of this early action all year, he still only has four first buckets. It feels like this might be a spot to see that start to even out a bit.
First Scorer Bet for February 3: Michael Porter Jr. (+700)
Indiana Pacers vs. Utah Jazz
Tipoff – 9:00 pm EST
Delta Center – Salt Lake City, UT
Broadcast – NBA TV
The home squad should walk into the Delta Center with a nice advantage on Monday. The Pacers have been really bad on the tip lately, and on the year as a whole. Their 34.8% tip win percentage ranks 26th in the NBA and lags behind the Jazz by a whopping 24.8%. As a result, it’s pretty clear that the Jazz will get the first possession here. Being that they are a touch above league average and tip winners are scoring first 65.1% of the time this year – we’ll side with the Jazz in this one.
If you look at their last three games, the Jazz have players shooting in runs. Each of those games saw a different player take two of the first three shots – Collin Sexton, Walker Kessler and Micah Potter. Only one of those guys appears in the early shot logs for more than one game though, and that’s Sexton. With the make-up of the Pelicans’ defense, I like his chances here even better.
First Scorer Bet for February 3: Collin Sexton (+600)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for February 3, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.
