The NBA celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a full scoreboard of great matchups. NBC has a featured tripleheader as the focal point of the day, and we’ve been running down the top player prop bets from each matchup. I highlighted my top player props from Thunder-Cavaliers and Knicks-Mavericks, and now we’ll look at my favorite player prop bets from the nightcap, when the Detroit Pistons host the Boston Celtics in a clash of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.
Overall in the contest, the Pistons are 3.5-point home favorites with the point total at 223.5. Both teams are relatively healthy (with the exception of Jayson Tatum), so we should get a great matchup with both teams fired up for this showdown.
The Pistons won the first meeting between these teams in the Motor City, but the Celtics won by three points in the rematch just before Thanksgiving. In the third game between the teams, Detroit won again, 112-105. This will be the final matchup between these teams during the regular season, but a playoff series could loom since the Pistons are 30-10 atop the Conference, while the Celtics are 26-15 and currently the No. 2 seed.
In this awesome Eastern Conference capstone to the tripleheader, let’s take a look at some of the best player prop bets to attack this Monday.
Pistons vs. Celtics Best Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Cade Cunningham over 26.5 points (-107)
Lots of combos and complex options are on the board to consider for Cade in this matchup, but let’s not get cute. Cunningham to score at least 27 points is available at almost even money, and he’s shown he can rise to the occasion against Boston and in big games like this one, especially at home.
Cunningham’s prop line would likely be higher if he hadn’t had back-to-back down games. He only scored 10 points against the Suns last Thursday while shooting 3-of-16 from the field in 38 minutes. He still did enough for the Pistons to win, though, and some rust is understandable since he missed the two previous games with a wrist injury. On Saturday he bounced back with 6-of-14 shooting from the field for 16 points in only 21 minutes in a rout of the Pacers. This should be a more competitive game and require his full typical effort, so the well-rested Cunningham should return to his previous production level.
Before those two down games, Cunningham had scored at least 27 points to go over this prop line in six straight games. He also went well over this prop line with 32 and 42 points in his last two games against Boston after coming up just short with 25 points in the first meeting of the season.
Since he’s knocked off the rust and got some rest, look for a big Cade scoring game on Monday night, as the Pistons look to get another statement win.
Jaylen Brown under 4.5 assists (-140)
For the Celtics, Jaylen Brown has been carrying the offense this year and putting together an impressive season across the board. He’s averaging career highs in multiple categories and producing 29.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.
Despite all that success, though, I like the under on Brown’s assists in this matchup since Payton Pritchard will be back from a one-game absence to take over the primary point guard responsibilities with Derrick White also doing work in the backcourt. The presence of those two in the backcourt should allow Brown to be the primary scorer and not require him to do as much creation.
Brown has come in under this prop line in eight of his last 12 contests and he only had two and zero assists in the Celtics’ last two games. He’s a very willing creator and passer, but the current rotations call on him to do most of the scoring, so unless that radically changes, he’ll likely stay under this assist prop Monday night.
Anfernee Simons 15+ points (-101)
Simons has helped the Celtics through their recent injury issues, but he’s mostly just grown comfortable in the role the team has been looking for him to fill this season coming off the bench and offering some nice scoring punch in the second unit.
Even with multiple different lineups throughout the year, Simons has played all 41 of his games off the bench, averaging 14.1 points in 24.2 minutes per game. He’s been catching fire lately, shooting 48% from the field and 50% on three-pointers over his last 10 games.
In those 10 games, Simons has averaged 18.0 points in 26.3 minutes per game and has scored at least 15 points to go over this prop line in seven of those 10 games, including six of his last eight. He came in just under this prop line with 14 points on Saturday, but he only had to play 24 minutes in the Celtics’ rout of the Hawks. Since this should be a more competitive game, Simons should get even more chances and reach at least 15 points.
Bonus Parlay Pick: Tobias Harris under 1.5 3PM (-185)
If you’re looking to build a SGP (Same Game Parlay) in this Motor City matchup, adding in the under on Harris’s 3PM takes you to a solid +800, as you can see below.
Harris just returned from two weeks on the sideline with a hip injury and went 0-for-2 on three-pointers in 29 minutes in his return against the Suns. He looked good aside from his long-range shooting, though, and made his only attempt against the Pacers on Saturday, still staying under this prop but only playing 18 minutes.
He has been under this prop line in 11 of his last 12 games and made exactly one three in each of his last two games against Boston.
