NBA Monday comes to us with a 7-game slate. The highlight of the evening is the late game in Boston continuing their west coast road trip vs Los Angeles Clippers. Brooklyn should field a normal roster tonight against the Wizards after resting half their team against the Pacers Saturday night. The most fun game of the night no one is thinking of: Thunder vs Mavericks with Luka returning and the Thunder winning 2 of their L4 on the road. Let's take a dive into my favorite player props.
Darius Garland (CLE) over 8.5 assists (-105)
Garland has seen some fluctuation lately in his assist total, but the opportunities are still there. You could make the argument they've increased in December (15 potential assists per game) vs November (14.5 potential assists per game). I attribute the inconsistency in results to matchups and lineup changes. Center Jarett Allen missed 5 games straight in late November/early December and returned to the line up 3 games ago and Donovan Mitchell has missed two straight games, being Questionable for tonight's game against the Spurs. This is right at his November average of 8.5APG and I'm expecting both Mobley/Allen to have a field day against the Spurs frontcourt. Instead of playing their point totals because I'm unsure which player will benefit the most, I'm pivoting to Garland's assists. He's hit this line in 6/11 victories this season that he's played in and this kicks off a two game road trip with Dallas on Wednesday night. San Antonio allows the 2 nd most PPG to opposing Centers over the L7 and most ppg to opposing PFs in that same span. We should see a lot of successful high pick and rolls tonight with Zach Collins defending the rim for San Antonio. 1U