While everyone is busy talking about the spread and total betting odds for Game 1, let's take a look at at the other betting options we have for this matchup. Here are my favorite individual player props for tonight's battle between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Guys, check out our series preview as well as our Game 1 NBA
pick articles that have already been released on the site. In addition, see
what Jordan Sharp feels about this matchup here.
This is going to be an epic series, no doubt about it.
Arguably the two best players in the game today going head-to-head and we're
going to eat it all up.
The Thunder are favored now by as many as 5.5 points at the
sportsbooks, while the total has risen from 192.5 all the way up to 196.
However, we are going to focus our attention on some player props for Game 1 in
this piece, and the two superstars are in the spotlight.
LeBron James
LeBron has shown he can be unstoppable when in the right
frame of mind, but has failed to get there on a consistent basis. Still,
expectations are so high for a reason: the King is one of the best players to
ever touch a basketball.
The Heat are going to need him more than ever in this series
and it's likely we'll see him running the point a lot. On the other end of the
court, he's going to be guarding whoever's most dangerous at the time, whether
it be Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook or James Harden.
A list of Game 1 player props at Pinnacle has the O/U for
LeBron's point total at 30.5, while the number is 9.5 for rebounds and for 5.5
assists. Of those, we think the OVER in the dimes category is worthy of the
most attention.
Granted the regular season is a completely different arena,
but LeBron did average 8.5 assists in two games against the Thunder. He also
averaged more assists on the road (6.5) than he did at home (6.0).
Kevin Durant
Even with LeBron guarding him at times, Durant is going to
have a monster series. He's been amazing throughout the entire postseason, so
there's reason to expect any kind of dropoff in the NBA Finals.
The player props for KD have his point total at 28.5 (with
more action coming in on the UNDER), while the rebound total can be found at
7.5.
It's not like we'd be flabbergasted if Durant went for 30+
here in Game 1, but we actually feel that the OVER 7.5 rebounds may be the
right play. In the games that have mattered most, he's been even more invested
on crashing the glass.
Durant had 11 rebounds in the Game 4 series-clinching win
over the Dallas Mavericks, averaged 8.6 boards against the Lakers and had 14
rebounds in the Game 6 victory over the Spurs. Every NBA Finals matchup is
going to be the biggest game of his career and we think he'll be contributing
all over.
The Sidekicks
Dwyane Wade's point total for Game 1 is listed at 23.5
points. The problem is we haven't seen such inconsistent play out of D-Wade for
quite a while.
Are we going to see the guy that tore up the Indiana Pacers
in five of the six games, or the Wade that disappeared at times throughout the
Boston Celtics series?
The one thing about Wade is he seems to live off silencing
crowds on the road. He averaged 23.2/5.7/4.3 away from Miami and 20.7/3.8/5.0
at American Airlines Arena. If anything, take the OVER 23.5 as Wade could very
well be saving his best for last.
For Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook has certainly been
maturing at the right time.
In these NBA finals, he's going to have to exploit the
defensive assignments as he'll have no trouble darting past Mario Chalmers out
on the perimeter. Even with that advantage, Westbrook has had no shortage of
troubles against the Heat over the last couple of seasons. He shot 31.0 percent
in two appearances against them this season and 31.6 percent in two games in
2010/11.
Pinnacle has his point total at an even 23 and assist number
at 5.5. We are tempted by the OVER 5.5 assists as Westbrook became much more of
a provider in the Conference Finals, dishing out 7.3 helpers per game against
the Spurs.