The Brooklyn Nets play just their second game without Kevin Durant this season when they host the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.
Boston is on the second night of a back-to-back, which means it could sit a few players against an already shorthanded Brooklyn team.
Kyrie Irving is going to have a big role on offense for the Nets, but he’s not my favorite prop target tonight. With Boston having some players up in the air and Durant out, there are two Nets players that I am looking at for tonight’s best props:
Celtics vs. Nets best NBA prop bets
- Royce O’Neale OVER 1.5 3-Pointers
- Ben Simmons UNDER 23.5 Points, Rebounds and Assists
Royce O’Neale OVER 1.5 3-Pointers
Royce O’Neale is averaging 2.3 3-pointers made per game this season, and I’d expect him to see a few more shots now that Durant is out of the lineup.
Over his last 10 games, O’Neale is taking 5.7 shots from beyond the arc per game, clearing this prop in six of those games.
That’s solid volume for a good shooter (41.1 percent from 3 this season), and I expect him to get plenty of chances from deep on Thursday.
Ben Simmons UNDER 23.5 Points, Rebounds and Assists
Ben Simmons may have to step up as a scorer with Durant out, but he’s shown all season long that he’s not really interested in scoring the basketball.
Simmons is averaging 7.7 points per game this season, and he’s gone UNDER 23.5 points, rebounds and assists in 14 of his last 15 games.
There is some concern that Simmons takes more shots tonight, but he’s attempting just six shots per game so far this season. That really limits his ceiling against Boston, so I’ll take the UNDER here and hope that Ben doesn’t find his scoring touch for the first time really all season.
Find Peter Dewey’s full betting record here.
—
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.