3 Point Shootout – Denver Nuggets/Sacramento Kings
This play seems entirely too simple. Jamal Murray is an extremely streaky shooter, and we’ve seen him hit one or fewer three-pointers on a relatively consistent basis, but he recently made nine three-pointers against the Phoenix Suns. Yes, he would have won this play by himself. The Sacramento Kings rank as one of the worst three-point defenses in the NBA against guards, allowing 5.91 three-pointers made per game. As mentioned before, Buddy Hield recently had a string of bad games, but that doesn’t reflect his new role in the offense. Excluding his two bad games, Hield has made four or more three-pointers in seven of his last eight games, including three games with six or more three-pointers. He has been an elite shooter throughout his career, and he’ll continue to take a plethora of three-point attempts in this game. Bogdan Bogdanovic adds a bit more consistency to this play, as he has made three three-pointers in each of his last three games. He has been a bigger part of the offense recently, although he doesn’t come with the same upside as Murray or Hield in this play. Still, 8.5 three-pointers between these three players is entirely too low.
Play $50 on Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Jamal Murray OVER 8.5 three-pointers made to win $100 (2x)
Scoring Champ – Denver Nuggets/Sacramento Kings
For my only other play of the night, I’m going back to this game. The 65.5 point total is another play that seems entirely too low for the offensive players involved. As mentioned above, Buddy Hield has taken on a new role for the Sacramento Kings, and he has scored 20+ points in eight of his last 10 games. In those eight games, he’s averaging 27.1 points per game, and he’ll likely see 20+ shot attempts once again tonight. Jamal Murray is the inconsistent option of the trio, but he has scored 46 and 41 points in two of his last three games. I don’t necessarily expect another outburst like that tonight, but he needed only 18.3 minutes to score 19 points against the Sacramento Kings earlier this season. I expect Murray’s floor to be raised a bit because of his three-point shooting in this matchup (see above), and he comes with tremendous scoring upside, as well. Nikola Jokic continues to perform at a high level for the Denver Nuggets, as he has scored between 19 and 32 points in nine of his last 10 games. While he’s known as a “do it all” center, he does come with quite a bit of scoring potential, especially in plus matchups. His floor adds quite a bit of value to this play, but his ceiling is the part we’re truly attacking. All three of these players have the potential to score roughly 50% of the needed points themselves. That should be the highest scoring game of the evening, and 65.5 points is simply too low for the potential production of this trio.
Play $50 on Nikola Jokic, Buddy Hield, and Jamal Murray OVER 65.5 points to win $100 (2x)
