The NBA Playoffs, well Play-In, are here! Tonight, the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans square off in the #7 vs #8 matchup, where the winner will get the 7th seed. Following that, we have the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings in the #9 vs #10 game. The winner of that will face the loser of Lakers/Pelicans to claim the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Pelicans br ought Brandon Ingram back for the last game of their regular season, coincidentally against the Lakers, to get back into game shape. Let's see if Ingram gets a minutes boost tonight over his 23 on Sunday. You can see our'NBA picks'for both of tonight’s play-in games, but for now, let’s get into my favorite NBA player prop bet of the day.
CJ McCollum (NOL) under 5.5 assists (-130)
McCollum benefited greatly in the assist column from Ingram being out, but now that he is back, I’m skeptical McCollum is a facilitator. With Ingram ON the floor, McCollum averages 6.287 assists per 100 possessions. If we say that McCollum plays another 34 minutes tomorrow, that projects him to 4.84 assists with Ingram on the floor. In games that Ingram played this season, McCollum only hit this line in 16 of 49 games (32%).
McCollum has a better matchup scoring-wise tomorrow than he does at facilitating. McCollum’s assists primarily come at the rim, where the Lakers allowed only 63% shooting last postseason (4th-best). His biggest assists target this season has been Jonas Valanciunas (24% of his total assists) and he got benched in the second half where the Pelicans performed significantly better on both ends of the floor. I expect more Larry Nance and small ball from the Pelicans tomorrow. 1.5u.