NBA Finals First Basket Props: Top Picks for Game 5 Include Jaylen Brown, Andrew Wiggins

NBA Finals First Basket Props: Top Picks for Game 5 Include Jaylen Brown, Andrew Wiggins article feature image
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Via Ezra Shaw/Getty Images. Pictured: Andrew Wiggins #22 of the Golden State Warriors guards Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics during the third quarterin Game Two of the 2022 NBA Finals at Chase Center on June 05, 2022 in San Francisco, California.

  • The Celtics are an elite first-basket team, but the Warriors have scored first more frequently this series.
  • With both teams shooting 3s early in the game, NBA First Basket has a handful of long-shot plays for Game 5.
  • Check out his picks and analysis below.

NBA First Basket will break down some of his favorite NBA plays of the day here, and will track all his bets in The Action Network app.

Jaylen Brown | Jayson Tatum | Andrew Wiggins | Curry | Thompson

PropBrown (+1600) | Tatum (+2700) | Wiggins (+3400) | Curry (+9000) | Thompson (+1500)
MatchupCeltics vs. Warriors
Time9 p.m. ET
Book FanDuel

Game 5 of the NBA Finals moves back to San Francisco as the Warriors tied up the series on Friday night. Robert Williams (60% Win Rate) will be either taking on Kevon Looney (33% Win Rate) or Draymond Green (20% Win Rate) in the opening tip-off. Williams has won three of five tip-offs versus Looney this season and has won the tip the only time he squared off versus Green this year.

Boston is first in the league at scoring first, scoring first 63% of the time, while Golden State is below league average and scores first 40% of the time. Boston has been more successful than Golden State has at scoring first in the playoffs, but Golden State has scored first in three of the four games this series.

This series has been rather difficult to predict, so I’m going to spread my plays out a bit more but keep the same risk today. Picking one player to score the first basket in a game in this series honestly makes little sense, given the odds for exact methods and the randomness of players scoring first. While this looks like a lot of plays, any of these options would be profitable.

I still think Boston will win the tip. Both teams have heavily relied on the 3-point method for first baskets versus each other. Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Andrew Wiggins exact method – 3-point basket are my favorite plays for Wednesday (and all on FanDuel). I’m also taking Steph Curry exact method – Free Throw on DraftKings and Klay Thompson exact method – 2-pointer on DraftKings.

Picks:

  • Jaylen Brown Exact Method: 3-pointer (+1600, Risk 0.4 units, play to +1200)
  • Jayson Tatum Exact Method: 3-pointer (+2700, Risk 0.3 units, play to +1800)
  • Andrew Wiggins Exact Method: 3-pointer (+3400, Risk 0.2 units, play to +2700)
  • Steph Curry Exact Method: Free Throw (+9000, Risk 0.1 units, play to +6000)
  • Klay Thompson Exact Method: 2-pointer (+1500, Risk 0.3 units, play to +1200)

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