Friday Play-In Tournament: Bank on Must-Bet Player Props

Here’s a quick rundown of the NBA Play-In Tournament results:

• The Lakers defeated the Pelicans and claimed the No. 7 seed in the West playoffs. Los Angeles advances and will play the No. 2 seed Denver Nuggets in the first round.
• The Pelicans have another chance to secure the No. 8 seed tonight when they host the Sacramento Kings, who defeated the Warriors. The winner will claim the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and play the Thunder in the first round.
• In the East bracket, the 76ers defeated the Heat and claimed the No. 7 seed in the East playoffs. Philadelphia advances and will play the No. 2 seed New York Knicks in the first round.
• The Heat have another chance to secure the No. 8 seed tonight when they host the Chicago Bulls, who defeated the Atlanta Hawks. The winner will claim the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and play the Boston Celtics in the first round.

Four teams. Two spots. One night!

It’s win or go home in the #SoFiPlayIn as the Bulls face the Heat in the East, and the Kings and Pelicans clash out West for the final postseason spots! pic.twitter.com/dTchZl5LAU

— NBA (@NBA) April 18, 2024

With our track record of success with our NBA player props, we’ll look to keep things rolling tonight. As Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat host Coby White and the Chicago Bulls at 7:00 pm EST. The Sacramento Kings will follow that matchup on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans. We’re coming off of another profitable regular season, so let’s stay hot with our best NBA player props tonight.

Here are the best NBA player prop bets for Friday.

Best NBA Player Props Today

Pelicans SF Brandon Ingram Over 5½ Assists (-137)

Unfortunately, the storyline in both matchups concerns the significant injuries a pair of superstars suffered. The New Orleans Pelicans nearly took down the Lakers, with Zion Williamson appearing unstoppable. However, Zion sustained a hamstring injury late in the fourth quarter after scoring 40 points and could not return to the game. He is expected to miss some time and will miss tonight’s matchup with the Kings.

Brandon Ingram returned from a knee injury a couple of games before the end of the regular season, and he was clearly on a minute restriction and played just 25 minutes in the loss, recording 11 points, four rebounds, and four assists. I expect him to be a full-go for this Play-In game on Friday night on TNT. This is a win-or-go-home so the Pelicans will need to deploy their best for all four quarters.

Zion Williamson was playing the best basketball of his career, which allowed Ingram to be more of a distributor. Passing is a highly underrated aspect of BI’s game; he showed that this season. Ingram led New Orleans with 5.7 assists per game. He exceeded this number in 8 of his previous ten matchups with the Kings. He has recorded at least 6 assists in four of his last five games without Zion this season. This is an excellent buy-low spot for Ingram, whose services will be needed for New Orleans tonight.

Heat SF Duncan Robinson Over 1½ Made Threes

The Miami Heat will also play tonight without their star Jimmy Butler. Butler suffered an MCL injury in the loss against the 76ers and will miss tonight’s game. Miami did get some good news with Duncan Robinson expected to return tonight after he suffered an ankle injury on April 7. Robinson is a sharpshooter and could be just what the doctor ordered for the Miami squad tonight.

The Bulls finished 19th in opponent 3-point percentage and faced the most 3-point attempts per game. They allowed the second-most threes per game and the highest percentage of points from three this season! Only the Utah Jazz allowed more total threes this season. The Bulls will likely be without their best perimeter defender, Alex Caruso, who also suffered an injury on Wednesday.

Robinson shot lights out in his four games against the Bulls this season. He went 16 of 25 (64%) from three-point land in four games against Chicago this season and made at least three shots from beyond the arc in all four games against the Bulls. There is some risk here because Robinson could be on a minute limit, but we’re buying low. He made at least 2 threes in 48 of 67 healthy games (71.6%). Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has not said if Duncan will play, but without Butler and Terry Rozier again, they will need his shooting abilities to help this anemic offense score points. Don’t doubt Duncan and bet on him in the sportsbook!

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