Friday night’s NBA slate features nine matchups, with a few nice inter-conference matchups as Eastern Conference contenders head to the West.
At 9 p.m. ET, the Cleveland Cavaliers will roll into the desert to take on the Phoenix Suns at Mortgage Matchup Center. It’s a fascinating matchup, despite both teams playing with a slightly injury-impacted lineup. The Cavs won’t have Darius Garland (toe) or Evan Mobley (calf), while the Suns won’t have Devin Booker (ankle).
The rest of the rosters carry plenty of intriguing player prop bets, which can make an already tight matchup even more intriguing. In the overall matchup, the Suns are slight 2.5-point home underdogs, with the point total set at 220.5.
Phoenix is playing for the second day in a row after knocking off the Pistons on Thursday night. The win moved the overachieving Suns to 29-19 on the season and 16-6 at home. They currently sit as the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference but are within just one game of the Houston Rockets, who are currently fourth. In the East, the Cavaliers are 29-20 which has them as the No. 5 seed but within one game of the No. 2 New York Knicks.
In this post, I’ll run down my three my favorite options from the player prop bets market, for you to either use as stand-alone plays or group them in a Same Game Parlay (SGP), as indicated at the bottom of the post.
Cavaliers vs. Suns Best Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Jaylon Tyson O26.5 Points + Rebounds + Assists (-106)
With Garland and Mobley out, Tyson has had to step into a much more prominent role for the Cavaliers, and the second-year wing has had a breakout few weeks.
Tyson has started each of the last seven games without Garland, and he has gone over this prop line six times, averaging 30.9 PRA (points, rebounds and assists). He had an impressive 48 PRA in the first game of that stretch and finished with 32 PRA against the Lakers on Wednesday in his most recent contest.
The only time during that stretch in the last seven games, he fell just one shy despite playing his second-fewest minutes of the stretch. If you’re not familiar with his game, check out these highlights from Wednesday, and hop on board the hype train as he rolls into Phoenix on Friday.
Dillon Brooks O21.5 Points (-111)
Dillon the Villain is proving that he’s more than just an antagonist, making meaningful contributions across the board and pushing for an All-Star selection in his first season with the Suns.
The nine-year veteran is averaging a career-high 21.0 points per game while averaging 31.1 minutes in his 42 games, all starts. He has gone over his average and this prop line with at least 22 points in three straight games since Booker’s injury. He has taken at least 15 shot attempts in each of those three games and went off for 40 points in Thursday’s win against the Pistons.
All in all, he is up to 23.6 points per game in the seven contests he has played without Booker this season, and his usage jumps to 32.8% in those games.
That much work in an up-tempo game against the Cavs should help him get to at least 22 points on Friday.
Jarrett Allen U16.5 Points (-122)
While Allen could get more work with Mobley out, this point total seems too high for the big man, who is averaging only 13.4 points per game this season overall and 15.7 points in his seven games without Mobley.
Allen just squeaked over this prop line on Wednesday against the Lakers, finishing with 17 points, but it was the first time in 11 games that he reached that threshold. All told, he’s only reached 17 points or more three times in his last 27 games.
The Suns will have their regular front-court rotation, with Mark Williams, Oso Ighodaro, and Nick Richards all playing both legs of the back-to-back. They’re a solid front-court defensively, and I think they’ll be able to keep Allen from getting over this point total for a second straight game, even after accounting for a potential uptick in usage.
Bonus Parlay Pick: Collin Gillespie U4.5 Assists (-141)
If you’re building an SGP (Same Game Parlay) for this Friday night matchup, adding in the under on Gillespie’s assists boosts your SGP odds to a solid +950 overall, as you can see below. If you want to mix in picks from other games, you can also build a strong SGPx with these core plays.
Gillespie has stepped up in multiple ways for the Suns this season, but with Jalen Green, Grayson Allen and Dillon Brooks in the rotation, he won’t have quite as much playmaking responsibility tonight. Gillespie has finished under this prop line in four straight games, including both of the games he played since Booker’s latest injury. He had zero assists on Sunday against Miami, missed Tuesday’s game, and then had two assists on Thursday in his return to action. It’s definitely not impossible that he goes over this assist line, but it’s not likely based on his projected role tonight.
