There is a monster NBA slate on Wednesday night with 20 teams in action. The 2 featured games of the night will be live on ESPN. The first of the games will see the Dallas Mavericks going up against the Golden State Warriors. With the team involved in a tight race for an automatic playoff berth, this once should be exciting. That will be followed by the Phoenix Suns trip to take on the Los Angeles Lakers. The hosts are involved in the same race too and will b e keen not to lose any ground.
Take a look at my NBA first-basket scorer props for Wednesday below and remember to check out the rest of today's NBA picks'too.
Julius Randle is red hot. The New York Knicks forward is coming into this game after a 57-point outburst against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He took a season high 29 field goals in that game. Do not be surprised to see him come out aggressively from the get-go here. He is likely to be up against Kevin Love, who has the worst defensive rating of all of the Heat starters and is likely to be targeted from the get-go. With Mitchell Robinson winning 70% of his tip offs over the last 10 games, look for Randle to have the ball in his hands first.
The Milwaukee Bucks have also been winning 70% of their tip offs over the last 10 games. With Zach Collins being listed as day-to-day as of right now, the San Antonio Spurs could be undersized with Sandro Mamukelashvili jumping for the ball. That lack of size is also likely to make Giannis Antetokounmpo the target of the opening possession. With the Spurs 29th in opponent points in the paint over the last 10 games, they should have issues stopping the Greek superstar from getting inside. And with the team just 27th in offensive rating themselves, the Bucks are likely to get more than one attempt if they need. In his last 7 starts Antetokounmpo has made the first basket for the Bucks on 4 occasions and should be favoured tonight too.