We have a two-game slate on Saturday, but I’m going to be focused on the early tip between USA and Puerto Rico. With a massive spread north of 35-points I’ll be looking specifically to the player prop market.
USA vs. Puerto Rico
Jose Alvarado UNDER 15.5 Points (-120) – 0.75-units
Tremont Waters UNDER 14.5 Points (-115) – 0.75-units
I’m going with a pretty elementary handicap on this one, but the matchup for these undersized guards of Puerto Rico is about as tough as it gets. Puerto Rico opened up with a solid effort in an 11-point loss to South Sudan, and the guards played well. Alvarado and Waters both played over 30 minutes, combining to go 15-for-35 from the field. Alvarado finished with 26 points, and Waters with 18.
Then Puerto Rico ran into a stronger team in Serbia, and things went sideways. The Serbians have terrific size, and used it to dominate in a 107-66 victory. That size was also tough on the smaller backcourt of Puerto Rico, as the duo we’re taking unders on here combined for just seven total points. Neither player played more than 17 minutes in the game, but given the spread, we can likely expect a similar result going up against the USA.
Off of the poor efforts, and going up against the team with the biggest target on their back, it’s a decent bounce-back spot for Alvarado and Waters. That said, USA has a slew of guards to shut these two down. Alvarado is listed at a very generous 6’0″, while Waters is listed at just 5’10”. Team USA has a roster of players that are essentially 6’4″ and up, and even those smaller players are tenacious defenders like Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.
While Alvarado and Waters have player props posted right around their averages from a two-game sample. This one should play out much more like the matchup we saw against Serbia.
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All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
