We are two days from the beginning of All-Star weekend. For most players, this is viewed as a mid-season vacation where they will be off until February 23rd (7+ days rest in some cases). For the stars, All-Star weekend is fun getaway with minimal effort outside of their one event or game, with then 4 days of rest. In either scenario, how productive are you the week before a vacation? Yeah, me too. So, with that in mind, we will be very cautious in which player props we approach tonight. There are 10 games tonight, with a few interesting matchups. Heat vs Nets and Cavs vs 76ers a re potential playoff previews in the East. Mavericks and Nuggets could be a Western Conference Final preview, while Kyrie/Luka continue to develop their chemistry in Denver. Let's look at a few player props.
Deandre Hunter (ATL) under 15.5P -115
This is a controversial play considering how Hunter has played of late, but his last two performances came against SAS and CHO, both bottom 7 in aDRTG. The Knicks defensively aren't pretty when it comes to advanced metrics but had made a jump to 18th overall since adding Josh Hart and 11th in PITP in the same span. Hunter performed well in his last two outing against the Knicks, but I'm reluctant to believe this is a trend as both performances were Jekyl & Hyde in nature. In November, Hunter put up an absurd 21 FGA (most all season) with Evan Fournier in the lineup and their last meeting in January, Hunter shot 63% from the field. Tonight, the Hawks take on a Knicks team 2-0 since adding Hart and 6-4 over the L10. It's a zag play for sure, but I'm confident this version of the Knicks defense is not like the previous two instances and certainly better than the Hornets and Spurs he's seen of late. Saddiq Bey should eat into his FGA as he becomes more entrenched into the rotation. This will be a sweat. 1U