The NBA only has two games on the schedule this Saturday as the focus of the basketball world shifts to Las Vegas for the two NBA Cup semifinal contests. The first of those two games is an Eastern Conference matchup between familiar foes as the New York Knicks take on the Orlando Magic. The two teams have already faced off three times, and their fourth matchup of the season gets underway at 5:30 p.m. ET, with a trip to the NBA Cup Championship on the line. Each team has some interesting storylines and players who are fun to watch, so let’s take a look at my favorite player prop bets on DraftKings Sportsbook from Saturday’s matchup.
In the big picture, the Knicks are 5.5-point favorites, with the game total set at 225.5 points. The matchups between these teams have gotten a little chippy already this season (see Desmond Bane’s dodgeball incident), so we should have a hard-fought, tight game in the first semifinal on Saturday.
Overall, the Knicks have had a stronger start to the season at 17-7, compared to 15-10 for the Magic, who have already had to overcome injuries to Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Wagner will miss this game, while the Knicks will be without Miles McBride and Landry Shamet.
In the three meetings this season, Orlando has won twice, but the Knicks got a victory last Sunday in their most recent contest. Let’s dive into this exciting Eastern Conference matchup and check out some player prop bets to target.
Knicks vs. Magic Best Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
OG Anunoby over 19.5 Points + Rebounds (-116)
At this point we’ve all seen it, but it’s still such a great “highlight.”
Anunoby should be fired up for the rematch against the Magic and be especially aggressive on Saturday night. He finished that game with 21 points and seven rebounds to go over this prop line and came up just short of it with 13 points and six rebounds on Tuesday against the Raptors. The positive sign for Anunoby in that game, though, was that he played 36 minutes, showing he’s fully past his hamstring injury that cost him nine games last month.
Not counting the game he left early with the injury and the first game after returning from the injury, Anunoby has gone over this points and rebounds prop line in seven of his last nine games and in nine of his 13 full games this season.
With a little extra intensity, this looks like a revenge spot for OG against Orlando on Saturday night.
Anthony Black over 24.5 Points + Rebounds + Assists
Black moved into the starting lineup on Tuesday in place of Wagner. He only had 20 PRA (points, rebounds and assists), but he shot just 5-for-15 from the field, which should give him a chance for positive regression if he can shoot the ball better in similar opportunities Saturday night.
Coming off the bench, Black has been excellent over the last few weeks for the Magic, and he posted a double-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and 29 PRA in last Sunday’s matchup against New York at MSG.
Black has gone over this prop line in four of his last seven games and has at least 20 PRA in eight of his last 10. With extra minutes and usage while Wagner is out, Black should be able to go over this PRA line in this matchup on Saturday.
He has been contributing across the board in multiple categories, and if he plays big minutes Saturday, it’s easy to see how he can go over this mark with good production with multiple paths to success.
Tristan da Silva under 9.5 points (-122)
The Magic used da Silva in the starting lineup while Paolo Banchero was out, but as Banchero ramps back up, the second-year forward could be in a reduced role in the short term. Banchero has quickly ramped from 20 minutes to 24 minutes all the way to 32 minutes in Tuesday’s quarterfinal. He could be ready for even more work on Saturday, leaving da Silva with fewer opportunities.
While da Silva is averaging 10.1 points per game and had 11 points against the Heat, he had scored under 10 points in six of his previous eight games.
This matchup has particularly been a tough one for da Silva this season, and in three matchups against the Knicks, he scored zero points, four points and eight points.
In this semifinal matchup, the Magic will likely lean more on their starters, which is why I like backing Black and fading da Silva in Saturday’s contest. The correlation between the two Orlando picks lends itself to parlaying the picks together as you can see in my parlay play below.
Bonus Parlay Pick: Mikal Bridges over 0.5 blocks (-181)
If you’re looking for a fourth leg for your Same Game Parlay or SGPx, you can add in this Bridges block prop to push your parlay to +750, as you can see below (and add in that juicy parlay boost from DraftKings Sportsbook if available).
Since the teams will likely lean harder on their starters and the starters will turn up the intensity, I think Bridges should be able to pick up at least one block at some point in this matchup. He is averaging 1.1 blocks per game on the season and has at least one block in eight of his last 10 contests. He had a block in each of the last two games he played against the Magic as well.
SGP odds: +750
