The Cleveland Cavaliers will face the Houston Rockets in Texas tonight. Houston, fresh off a five-point loss to the Washington Wizards, comes in without rest. Cleveland’s top scorer, Donovan Mitchell, seemed to have re-aggravated his hamstring injury in their last game. Bettors looking to score some value on Thursday’s basketball action should tail this Cavaliers-Rockets NBA player prop at OddsShopper’s tools for other sharp plays.
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Best Cavaliers-Rockets NBA Player Prop | Darius Garland
Darius Garland Prop O/U 2.5 3-Pointers
If Donovan Mitchell sits, Cleveland’s offense will look dramatically different. He leads the Cavaliers in usage rate (30.8%) over Darius Garland (26.5%) and has ed for 34% of the team’s points scored this season. Mitchell failed to practice on Wednesday after aggravating his groin injury on Tuesday and is probably on the wrong side of questionable. That the books have already started taking action on Garland — albeit on priced-up totals — suggests Mitchell will sit tonight.
Garland hasn’t been exceptional when Mitchell sits. Although he is averaging 25.7 points per game without Mitchell, most of that production came in a 51-point outlier performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Garland’s median performance in that seven-game sample is just 21, slightly below his season average. However, Garland will benefit from conditions similar to those that led to his 51-point explosion against Minnesota.
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Neither the Timberwolves nor the Rockets can effectively defend the perimeter. Garland shot a whopping 10-for-15 from deep without Mitchell against the Timberwolves. However, the Rockets have fared even worse — Houston has allowed the most 3-pointers per game to point guards (3.8) and the most above-the-break 3s per game (11). Garland shot 3-for-6 from deep in his lone appearance against the Rockets last season. He also turns 23 years old today.
The odds for Garland’s 3-point props are consistent across the market, as are the odds for his scoring props. Bettors can get him to hit at least three 3-pointers at -120 and to score at least 24.5 points at -105. There are a number of ways to attack Garland’s props today, but since Mitchell technically could suit up, I recommend splitting just over three-quarters of a unit on the below lines at FanDuel Sportsbook. Readers who are new to FanDuel can score $150 in bonus bets after placing just a $5 wager! If you’re in Ohio, you can get an extra $50 with this link instead!
Best NBA Cavaliers-Rockets Player Prop: Darius Garland 3+ 3-Pointers (-120 for 0.6 Unit) at FanDuel
Best NBA Cavaliers-Rockets Ladder Bet: Darius Garland 4+ 3-Pointers (+230 for 0.25 Unit) at FanDuel
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