The Hawks travel to Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers in the final play-in game for the Eastern Conference. The winner tonight will take on the Miami Heat in the first round. The Hawks own the season series at 3-1, taking a game in Cleveland along with their 2 wins at home.
Tonight, we get another opportunity to experiment with an underrated market in the sports betting world – first quarter prop bets. I’m going back to the well and riding with Trae Young assists in the first quarter. In the last two games against the Cavs, Trae has put up 4 and 5 assists in the first quarter. He is easily the best ball-handler and playmaker the Hawks have. In his last 5 games, Young has recorded 5, 2, 6, 5, and 6 assists in the first quarter, including 5 against the Cavs on March 31. For this SGP, all we need is 3+ assists from Trae. One of my favorite aspects of Trae Young is the fact that he almost always plays all 12 minutes of the first quarter, allowing him plenty of time to get a few assists.
One thing I typically look for in same game parlays is correlation between plays. To go with Trae’s assists, I’m looking to target De’Andre Hunter’s first quarter points prop. Hunter has proven himself with the Hawks, becoming a consistent starter and an important presence on both sides of the ball. For this play, all we need from Hunter is 4+ points in the first quarter. In his last 5 games, he’s dropped 7, 0, 6, 6, and 9 points in the first quarter. Against the Cavs, he had 5, 5, and 3 points in the first quarter. The volume has been there plenty recently in the first for Hunter, averaging 4.6 field goal attempts in his L5. As long as he makes two shots, we’ll be golden. My favorite thing about this play is that Trae consistently looks for Hunter in the first quarter. In the last two games against the Cavs, 4 of Trae’s 9 total 1Q assists have gone to Hunter.
Play: 1.25U Trae Young 3+ 1Q assists / De’Andre Hunter 4+ 1Q points -105 (DK)
For my mini longshot, I’m laddering the above play and adding Darius Garland’s first quarter points prop. Garland has transformed into an all-star this year and has become the leader of this young, surprising Cavaliers team. In his two games against the Hawks this season, DG had 12 and 10 points in the first quarter on 5/8 and 4/7 shooting. I truly believe he can get us 9+ points in the first quarter tonight.
Play: 0.15U Trae 4+ 1Q assists/Hunter 6+ 1Q points/Garland 9+ 1Q points +800 (DK)
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