The Cleveland Cavaliers and Brooklyn Nets will square off on Tuesday night. The Cavaliers could get their star center, Jarrett Allen, back after he logged a full practice session on Monday. Still, bettors hunting out an NBA Cavaliers-Nets player prop should tail the prediction below — OddsShopper’s tools for other sharp plays.
Best Cavaliers-Nets NBA Player Prop | Isaac Okoro
Isaac Okoro O/U 0.5 3-Pointers
Isaac Okoro has faced small forward Mikal Bridges, formerly of the Phoenix Suns, five times in his short NBA career. Okoro has sunk at least one 3-pointer in each of those games and is averaging 13.8 points and 2.2 made 3-pointers in those contests — a massive outlier from his career averages of 8.3 points and 0.9 3-pointers per game. Phoenix’s tendency to line Bridges up against a better offensive weapon and hide a worse defender on Okoro likely explains this trend.
But Bridges is now on the Brooklyn Nets. He starts alongside talented, switchable wings in Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith. With Nic Claxton at center, the Nets have but one true defensive liability — point guard Spencer Dinwiddie. But with Finney-Smith questionable, it’s entirely possible that an inefficient defender like Cam Thomas, Seth Curry or Joe Harris spends significant time working against Okoro.
The Nets have struggled to stop what Okoro does best: shoot from the corner. Through the last seven games, the Nets have allowed the third-most corner 3’s per game (4.4) on a sky-high conversion rate (46.3%). Although Brooklyn has shut down the top of the key, that won’t effect Okoro much, as he almost exclusively shoots from the corner. Okoro leads the Cavaliers in corner 3’s made (0.7) and attempted (2) per game. A whopping 86.9% of his 3-point attempts came from the corner.
Although the Nets might get Allen back by Tuesday, the star center’s return would arguably help Okoro. Forcing the Nets to defend someone else down low could help him earn a few extra open looks from the corner. The books have set this total correctly (0.5) but haven’t stacked the juice on the over enough. At -210 (67.7%), bettors can squeeze out some value down to about -230 (69.7%). Still, I’m limiting my exposure to the standard prop so that I can get serious action down on a teased-up version of this prop once it becomes available. For now, buying the -210 via DraftKings Sportsbook is a decent play. Readers yet to at DraftKings can score $200 in bonus bets immediately after placing a $5 wager!
Best Cavaliers-Nets Player Prop: Isaac Okoro Over 0.5 3-Pointer (-210 for 0.52 Unit) at DraftKings
