Friday night has a nice little three-game slate of NBA action, and in one of the three contests the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers will look to get back on track as they visit the Philadelphia 76ers. The Cavs are 36-7 after losing in Houston Wednesday, while the Sixers are 15-27 and currently sit No. 11 in the East, just out of the final spot in the Play-In Tournament. In this matchup, the Cavs are 10.5-point road favorites, with the point total set at 228.5 on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Both teams will be without some key pieces due to injury. For Cleveland, Evan Mobley (calf) and Isaac Okoro (shoulder) are out. Caris LeVert (wrist) is questionable. The Sixers will be without Joel Embiid (knee), Andre Drummond (toe), Kyle Lowry (hip), and Caleb Martin (hip).
Best Prop Bets for Cavaliers vs. 76ers on DraftKings Sportsbook
Guerschon Yabusele over 10.5 points (-110)
Yabusele will get all the work he can handle with both Drummond and Embiid out. In his nine games this season without those players available, he has averaged 34.3 minutes per game with a 15.1% usage rate and 11.9 points per contest.
He is coming off a career-high 22 points on Wednesday, when he came off the bench behind Drummond and lit up the Nuggets in his 24 minutes in a lopsided loss.
Due to a knee issue of his own, the 29-year-old Frenchman had missed the two previous games, but he looked ready to jump right back into the fray on Wednesday. Before missing those two games, he had at least 11 points in three of six games, and with both bigs out on Friday, look for him to step up and be very active in multiple ways.
You could attack Yabusele’s props with something more aggressive like him to record 30+ Points + Rebounds + Assists at +750. However, I think this is a good spot to keep things simple and take this almost even-money prop that he should be able to hit regardless of game script.
Jarrett Allen over 26.5 Points + Rebounds (-105)
While I like Yabusele to get his production, I’m not convinced at all that he’ll be able to deal with Jarrett Allen on the other end. Allen has a three-inch height advantage and should dominate down low with so many other bigs on the bench for both teams.
In his five games this season without Mobley, Allen is averaging 17.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. He had 17 points and 13 rebounds against the Rockets on Wednesday, going over this total for the first time in six games.
With a favorable matchup against Yabusele and no Mobley to rely on, the Cavs should get him the ball early and often on Friday. He takes on more work on both ends of the floor when Mobley is out, and that should be enough to push him over the total for a second straight game.
Paul George to record a double-double (+350)
George only has three double-doubles on the season (10.7% of his games), but he has a better chance to reach this level of production than these +350 odds indicate.
He only played 28 minutes on Wednesday in his return from a two-game absence, but he had 11 points and nine assists, falling just one dime short of a double-double. He had two of his three double-doubles in his previous three games, and fell just one rebound short in the game just before that.
The near-misses indicate that he could hit this mark with either rebounds or assists, and he should be ready for a full workload after ramping back up on Wednesday. The Sixers will need him to take on as much as he can, so I think PG has a good shot of delivering on this long-shot play on Friday. If you are looking for a more conservative option, he has gone over 4.5 assists in 16 of 28 games this season (57%) and is -140 to reach that mark on Friday.
