Following up on the format introduced on our NBA livestreams featuring Michael Rasile and myself, we’ll be giving you all our Thrive Five for each NBA slate. For those that are familiar with the inside joke on the livestream, life is too short to live for the unders, but all jokes aside, we’ll be providing both sides of our five favorite player props from our partner at Thrive Fantasy; the picks are listed in order of preference, with the last two the “friskiest” of the bunch. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of Thrive Fantasy, make sure to read our full partnership review here, and to join now to get a deposit match of up to $50 and 3 free months of WinDaily: Gold Package using promo code windaily.
NBA Pick #1: Jayson Tatum OVER 9.5 Rebounds
The first pick of the day is a young NBA player blossoming into an absolute star in these NBA Playoffs: Orlando Bubble edition. As the Celtics look to get over the hump in the Eastern conference, you can argue that this is as good of a chance that they’ll ever have considering both Milwaukee and Toronto have been eliminated. In his past 9 games, Tatum has gone for 9 or more rebounds 8 times, including going for double digits in his last 5. With Theis being man handled by Adebayo down low, Tatum has been crashing the glass often and efficiently, and he should continue to do so.
NBA Pick #2: Marcus Smart OVER 22.5 PRA (Points, Rebounds, Assists combined)
The second pick of the day is one of the defensive specialists in the NBA, Marcus Smart. Coming out of OSU, Smart had a great March Madness tournament and really found his offensive game in his sophomore year. In the NBA, he’s a two-time NBA all-defensive team member, both coming in the past two seasons, but in these NBA playoffs, he’s contributing just as much on the offensive end of the floor. His volume in undeniable, and so are his minutes – Smart has played 35 or more minutes in every playoff game other than Game 1 against Toronto, which was a blowout. With the amount of minutes he plays combined with having 48 FG attempts in his past three games, including 34 from deep, this is a great spot for someone with a 22.5 over/under PRA.
NBA Pick #3: Goran Dragic OVER 18.5 Points
The third pick of the day is someone that we spoke about in the livestream, and while the majority of the field focused on Jimmy Butler, we nailed Dragic’s importance to Miami’s offense in this series. After dropping 15, 15, and 17 points in Games 3-5, respectively, versus Milwaukee, Dragic put up 29 in Game 1 versus Boston and had not gone under 20 points in every game throughout the NBA playoffs.
NBA Pick #4: Jaylen Brown OVER 28.5 PRA (Points, Rebounds, Assists combined)
The fourth pick of the day is one where end up getting a bit riskier with our selections as we look to maximize our payouts on parlays and points scored in GPP style tournaments. While Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart are both the preferred “over” picks, JB’s 28.5 mark for all three primary offensive statistics is low considering he’s seeing more usage than Kemba Walker as of late, and has been playing more minutes. Being on the wing and not having to face Jimmy Butler, who is tasked with guarding Tatum, Brown should be able to take advantage of anyone else who guards him, including Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro, or others.
NBA Pick #5: Daniel Theis UNDER 10.5 PA (Points + Assists combined)
The last pick of the day is one that we got in Game 1, with Daniel Theis hitting under 17.5 points and rebounds. Today, we have the opportunity to hit the under 10.5 points and assists combination; Theis has only gotten more than two assists in one of his last ten games, and, as predicted on the livestream, his struggles versus Bam Adebayo on the interior will make it tough for him to hit such a low total, nonetheless.
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