There are 6 games on the NBA slate on Monday night including a NBA TV double header. It will see several Eastern Conference teams desperately try and improve their position in the standings ahead of the playoffs. The 8th seed Atlanta Hawks will be taking on the 7th seed Miami Heat with the teams separated by just 1.5 games. The result of this one could go a long way to determining who would be at home for the first play-in game. Then later, the Toronto Raptors will visit the Denver Nuggets hoping to keep pace with the earlier mentioned pair.
But for now, let's dive straight into my favorite NBA first-basket scorer props for tonight's games. And don't forget to take a look at the rest of our'NBA predictions'for tonight's slate as well.
With 6'8″ Drew Eubanks jumping for the opening possession for the Portland Trail Blazers, the Detroit Pistons should be well positioned to get tonight's first attempt. With the lack of size on the inside, the Pistons will be looking to attack and finish in the paint from the start. One player that will be well positioned to do that is rookie Jaden Ivey. The explosive guard will be up against Damian Lillard here, who has the worst defensive rating of all Trail Blazers starters. If he can get past him off the dribble there should be little resistance on the inside. Over the last 10 games, the Trail Blazers are 28th in opponent points in the paint. Ivey could be set to benefit from that here.
Brandon Ingram has been on an amazing first basket scoring run for the New Orleans Pelicans. In his last 9 starts, he has made the games opening field goal on 5 occasions. Domantas Sabonis not being very effective at winning the opening tip for the Sacramento Kings. The Lithuanian has done so just 4 times over his last 10 games. That should help ensure the Pelicans will get the first shot here. The Kings are just 29th in defensive rating during that time and could struggle to force a stop. Considering the frequency the visitors have been turning to Ingram to begin games, this looks to be a good value pick.