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.
Jerami Grant | Josh Hart
| Prop | Grant +650 | Hart +1100 |
| Time | 7:30 p.m. ET |
| Book | FanDuel |
The Portland Trail Blazers square off against the New YorkKnicks Friday night in the Garden. Jusuf Nurkic (68% opening-tip win rate) will square off against either Mitchell Robinson (61% win rate) or Isaiah Hartenstein (14% win rate).
Robinson is questionable with a knee injury, but he did play on Monday against the Thunder and participated in most of Wednesday's practice for the Knicks, according to head coach Tom Thibodeau. Nurkic won his only opening-tip off in a head-to-head matchup against Robinson back in February.
Both teams have been mediocre at scoring first this season, with each scoring first just 44% of the time. Both teams are near the bottom of the league in averaging over 2.6 attempts to make their first field goal this season.
To place your bets on this and many, many other markets across the world of sports, head over to FanDuel Sportsbook right now!
With Damian Lillard still injured for Portland, that eliminates one solid scoring option. Nurkic was the overwhelming leader at scoring first last season for Portland, but he has only taken the first shot attempt once this season.
Looking at the last 10 games, Jerami Grant and Josh Hart are taking quite a few early shots over the first three possessions of the game. The Knicks have allowed opposing power forwards or shooting guards to score first in 61% of games this season and Hart slides into the shooting guard spot with Lillard out.
I like Grant or Hart to make the first basket in this game tonight and I'll risk a total of 0.75 units.
The Pick: Jerami Grant (+650 0.45 units; play down to +500) | Josh Hart (+1100 0.3u; play down to +900)
Trail Blazers vs. Knicks First Basket Data
Get NBA First Basket's bets instantly in The Action Network app.
