Easter Sunday is an “egg-celent” day to shop for NBA props. With four Round 1 playoff series about to “hop” off on the holiday, NBA bettors have baskets upon baskets of tasty treats to sink their teeth into.
OK, no more “yolking” around. We’ll try to keep the Easter puns to a minimum.
Check out our favorite free NBA player prop picks for April 17, we hope you’re "all ears."
That’s the last one, I swear…
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NBA player props for April 17
Picks made on 4/17/2022 at 10:35 a.m. ET.
The odds widgets below represent the best odds currently available for each betting market at regulated sportsbooks.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Today’s best NBA player props
Bulletin board Bruce
Today’s sports scene is so scared to give opponents any extra incentive to win in the form of bulletin board material that you aren’t even allowed to tell the truth.
Nets guard Bruce Brown caught some blowback from Boston and even his Brooklyn teammates simply by saying that the Celtics' loss of center Robert Williams was “huge” to their defensive chances in Game 1, specifically keeping Brown and his fellow Nets out of the paint.
Brown is absolutely right. Not having Williams in the Celtics’ switch-heavy scheme opens things up inside where Brown loves to do his business. Since March, the 6-foot-4 guard is averaging almost 15 points per game and picking up more than nine of those points in the painted area.
Brown’s ability to muscle his way inside, hit his trademark floater, or find an open teammate when the defense collapses has been key to the Nets rounding into the form before the postseason. In the past 25 games, Brown has received almost 33 minutes per game while averaging 14.7 points and 3.9 assists.
He closed out April with 14.8 points and 4.8 assists through four Brooklyn wins, including 21 points and three assists in the finale with Indiana. Brown then posted 18 points and eight assists in the play-in win over Cleveland this week, constantly getting inside a Cavs defense also missing its big center and either scoring at the hoop or finding the Nets frontcourt for easy dunks.
With the Celtics focusing on Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Brown will put his prognostications to the test and tear Boston apart from the inside out.
Pick: Bruce Brown Over 16.5 points + assists (-120)
Big Bucks, no whammies
The timely return of center Brook Lopez gave the defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks a big shot in the arm before the postseason.
Lopez, who injured his back in the season opener and finally returned to the court in mid-March, was limited in action as Milwaukee was cautious of his workload. The Bucks keep a minutes limit on him most nights, but he torched the Chicago Bulls for 28 points and seven boards in 29 minutes of floor time in the one game where he saw his normal workload.
Even with his minutes capped, Lopez still finished the home stretch of the schedule averaging 12.8 points and four rebounds in just 22.5 minutes per game in that span. He topped his points + rebounds prop total for today (17.5) in five of his last six contests before the playoffs.
Lopez gives the Bucks a dynamic threat for a 7-footer, able to battle inside for buckets but also stretch the Chicago defense with his 3-point shooting. Defensively, he’s a rim protector and will have plenty of chances on the glass versus a Bulls offense that hit a nasty skid in the second half of the season, shooting an effective field goal rate of just 52.6% (25th) since the All-Star break.
Pick: Brook Lopez Over 17.5 points + rebounds (-110)
Sunburned
The New Orleans Pelicans played their way into a Round 1 date with the top-seeded Phoenix Suns, knocking off San Antonio and the Los Angeles Clippers to photo bomb the playoff picture after finishing the schedule as a No. 9 seed.
The Pelicans’ pluck should be applauded, but NOLA benefited from a lack of quality big men on the other side, which allowed their frontcourt to feast — most notably on the boards. New Orleans outrebounded the Spurs 53-34 and then outworked the Clippers 54-45 on the glass in the play-in tournament.
Ruling the rebounds will be much tougher versus Phoenix center Deandre Ayton, who is averaging more than 10 boards per game on the season an upped those efforts to almost 12 per outing in three regular season games in April.
Phoenix is one of the better defenses in the league, checking foes to just 44.4% success from the floor. New Orleans is not a great shooting team and is playing its third game in five days, including back-to-back road trips. The Pelicans shot better than 51% over its two play-in contests but I don’t see them staying hot given the situational schedule and quality of opponent.
Ayton has snatched more than 10 rebounds in seven of his last 10 outings (grabbing exactly 10 twice in that span) and while he collected just a total of 10 rebounds in his two meetings with NOLA this season, there will be plenty of boards up for grabs at home tonight.
Pick: Deandre Ayton Over 10.5 Rebounds (-112)
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