NBA First Basket Prop Picks: Target Ingram, McCollum in Pelicans vs. Rockets (Friday, March 17)

NBA First Basket will break down some of his favorite NBA plays of the day here, and will track all his bets in The Action Network app.

Pelicans vs.

Rockets

NBA First Basket Prop Pick: Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum

The New Orleans Pelicans will make the short trip to Houston to take on the Rockets Friday night. Jonas Valanciunas (49% opening tip win-rate) will take on rookie forward Jabari Smith (35% win-rate) for the opening tip-off. Smith recently took over tip-off duty for Houston, but has won just one of his past 10.

In the first match-up this season, Eric Gordon (now on the Los Angeles Clippers) cashed the first basket and Zion Williamson made the first team basket for New Orleans.  In the second match-up, CJ McCollum cashed the first basket with Smith making the first team basket for Houston.

On the season, the Pelicans are one of the better teams in the league in early possessions, having scored first in 58% of games. Brandon Ingram has taken the first shot for New Orleans in 41% of games he started, and cashed the first basket bet in 34% of them. Valanciunas is the second option on the team, having taken the first shot in 27% of games started and cashed the first basket in 24% of them.

The odds of both players are pretty low, so I'll focus on Ingram and pair him with McCollum to score the first basket.

Pick: Brandon Ingram +440 — Down to +375 (0.7 units)

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Pick: CJ McCollum +800 — Down to +600 (0.4 units)

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Pelicans vs. Rockets First Basket Prop Data

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