RADIO
Scott Cullen provides his NBA DFS prop picks for August 23rd, 2020 on Monkey Knife Fight. Make your DFS picks with his fantasy basketball advice.
Sunday’s NBA schedule offers more opportunities to play props and win with Monkey Knife Fight.
The first round of the playoffs is heading to a critical point. Some teams are on the brink of elimination while others will aim to get back to even in Game Four.
The Philadelphia 76ers have not been able to keep pace with the Boston Celtics and will try to climb out of a 3-0 hole. Same goes for the depleted Brooklyn Nets against the defending-champion Toronto Raptors.
However, the other two series going Sunday are more competitive at this point. The Dallas Mavericks will try to even up their series with the Los Angeles Clippers. The obvious hurdle for the Mavericks is that star guard Luka Doncic is questionable for Game Four. Given how important Doncic is to the Mavs, it feels like Dallas’ chances will be tied quite heavily to Doncic’s availability.
In the final game of the day, the favored Denver Nuggets look to get to a 2-2 series with the Utah Jazz
Here are some Star Shootout prop angles to consider for Sunday’s Monkey Knife Fight NBA Playoffs schedule:
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STAR SHOOTOUT
MORE OR LESS
Joel Embiid MORE THAN 28.5 POINTS
In the first three games of the series against Boston, all losses for Philadelphia, Embiid is averaging 30 points per game, and that includes scoring 30 in Game Three while shooting just 35.0% from the field. He gets to the line a bunch and he’s naturally the Sixers’ primary option on offense. With their season on the line, try Embiid for at least 29 in Game Four.
Jayson Tatum LESS THAN 27.5 POINTS
Tatum’s recent hot streak came crashing to a halt in Game Three, when he was held to just 15 points, on 6-for-19 shooting. The Celtics are not as dependent on Tatum scoring to have success so he could still have a strong game and come in with less than 27 points.
Donovan Mitchell MORE THAN 25.5 POINTS
The return of Mike Conley Jr. to the Utah backcourt in Game Three did cut into Mitchell’s production but he still scored 20 points on just 13 field goal attempts. Given that Mitchell dropped 87 points on the Jazz in the first two games, it’s still reasonable to think that he can get to 26 or more in Game Four.
Caris Levert LESS THAN 22.5 POINTS
Sure, Caris LeVert may be the best scoring option for the Nets since they arrived in the Orlando bubble but he’s been locked up against the Raptors, scoring 15, 16, and 15 points in the first three games while shooting 32.0% from the field. The main reason that the Raptors are contenders once again this season is their outstanding defensive performance and LeVert is finding out about it in an up-close-and-personal way in this series.
RAPID FIRE
Jarrett Allen -0.5 rebounds vs. Rudy Gobert
Through three games against the Raptors, Allen has grabbed 44 rebounds (14.7 per game) while Gobert has managed 28 rebounds (9.3 per game) against the Nuggets. The question is how much should regular-season production weigh compared to what is happening in the playoffs? Gobert put up 13.5 per game during the regular season, compared to just 9.5 per game for Allen but the Nets center is playing a much bigger role in the postseason, playing more than 35 minutes per game in the first three games against the Raptors, compared to 26.5 minutes per game during the regular season, so that increase in rebounding does come somewhat naturally.
Kyle Lowry -0.5 fantasy points vs. Jarrett Allen
As much as Allen is getting a bigger role in a depleted Nets rotation, he also scored four points in more than 32 minutes in Game Three. Allen’s rebounding numbers are great but Lowry has a higher upside as an all-around statistical contributor.
Kyle Lowry +0.5 assists vs. Nikola Jokic
While Jokic, Denver’s multi-talented center, has dropped some double-digit assist performances in the bubble, he has a relatively modest 15 in three games against Utah. Of course, Lowry only has 16 assists in three games against Brooklyn, as he tends to share point guard duties with Fred Vanvleet, so it’s not a decisive advantage but Lowry is at least a worthy play as the underdog in this category.
