The highly anticipated second round matchup between the Suns and Nuggets gets underway on Saturday afternoon with stars all over the floor.
Devin Booker led the Suns through the team’s first round series against the Clippers by averaging 37 points on 60/46/85 shooting splits, how will he handle the defensive matchup of the Nuggets?
What about Denver’s two-time MVP Nikola Jokic, who is off a stellar first round against the Timberwolves? Can he win his matchup against Deandre Ayton and go over his points prop?
Lastly, I hit on a role player prop, eyeing Suns’ wing Torrey Craig.
Best prop bets for Suns vs. Nuggets
- Nikola Jokic OVER 25.5 Points (-115)
- Devin Booker OVER 41.5 Points, Rebounds, Assists (-113)
- Torrey Craig UNDER 12.5 Points, Rebounds (-113)
Nikola Jokic OVER 25.5 points
Jokic played in two games against the Suns in the regular season and proceeded to average 31 points. He is a triple double threat, but with Kevin Durant lurking on the wings and Devin Booker taking his defense to another level, I believe the weak point of the Suns defense comes on the interior with Ayton struggling on defense in space and backup Bismack Biyombo ill-equipped to guard Jokic.
I think we see a scoring outburst from the big man in the first game of this series.
Devin Booker OVER 41.5 points, rebounds, assists
Booker has taken his game to another level. The scoring numbers are as efficient as it would be in a video game, and he’s proving to be a willing contributor and a lockdown defender as well.
Now, he faces a Nuggets team that is a middling defensive team and doesn’t have the standout defender to slow down Booker. Maybe it’s Bruce Brown or Jamal Murray, but Booker is going to push into the mid-30’s with ease in this game while also getting a steady diet of rebounds and assists to clear this total.
If the Nuggets try to blitz Booker, his potential assists can go way up, which is why I like going through the PRA route.
Torrey Craig UNDER 12.5 points and rebounds
Craig had a monster series against the Clippers, making life hell for Los Angeles defenders as the team was busy trying to slow down Booker and Durant and Craig was just sniping from the corner with ease.
However, I’m skeptical that Craig will shoot 55% once again and with that I see a dip in his stat line. His points prop is 7.5, which is too low for me. Craig doesn’t have to do much to get that, but couple that in with his rebounds and I like the under here. He had over seven rebound chances in the first round, but a lot of that had to do with LAC’s small-ball lineup that they trotted out often after Kawhi Leonard was injured.
I think Craig is going to see a sharp decline in production.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.