In his final game before his first career All-Star appearance, Houston Rockets center Alperen Şengün will face the new-look Golden State Warriors, who will surprisingly have 36-year-old Stephen Curry, 35-year-old Jimmy Butler, and 34-year-old Draymond Green suit up for the second straight night. This season, the 22-year-old Turkish center has averaged 19.0 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game on 49-23-70 shooting splits.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Houston is a two-point favorite and the point total is set to 222. Below, I’ve highlighted my favorite prop bets centered around Şengün.
Best Alperen Sengun Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Alperen Sengun 12+ Rebounds (+130)
Last night, Golden State’s starting lineup had four players you’d expect — Curry, Butler, Green, and shooting guard Buddy Hield — plus Quinten Post in the middle, a Dutch seven-footer who was a late second-round pick in last summer’s NBA Draft. Although Post only averages 14.4 minutes per game and grabbed four rebounds in just 11 minutes of playing time yesterday, I’d imagine that Şengün is salivating over the idea of taking on an overmatched rookie. Kevon Looney is an elite rebounder in his own right, with a 22.7% rebounding percentage that is 4.9 percentage points higher than Şengün’s, but he’s just six-foot-nine, two inches shorter than Şengün. I like his chances against a Warriors team that has allowed the 10th-most rebounds per game this season.
Since returning from a three-game absence due to a calf strain, Şengün has been a menace on the boards. In his first game back, a narrow loss to the Brooklyn Nets, he recorded his first career 20-point, 20-rebound game, and has since recorded 10-, eight-, and 13-board performances. His stats are somewhat depressed by a three-rebound outing on Sunday against the Toronto Raptors in which he played just three minutes before being ruled out with a back injury.
Alperen Sengun 6+ First-Quarter Points (+105)
This season, the Rockets have operated a fairly egalitarian offense, with seven different players averaging at least 10 points per game this season, and of those, Şengün is a fairly slow starter. Although he leads the team in usage rate in the first quarter, 1.5 percentage points more than Jalen Green, he’s just fourth on the team in the opening frame with 4.1 points, and he shoots just 40.9% from the field. He also plays only eight minutes in the first quarter, on average, the fourth-most on the team.
However, point guard Fred VanVleet, who ranks first on the team in first-quarter minutes and second in first-quarter points, continues to be out after suffering an ankle injury on February 1, so Şengün should be able to take over some of the early scoring burden. Plus, he’ll probably spend a plurality of his time in the first quarter going against Post, against whom opponents have shot 0.9 percentage points better. For the rest of the game, he’ll face more matchups against Looney, who has held opponents to 4.1 percentage points worse from the field, or Green (6.5 percentage points worse).
