PropBetGuy’s Tuesday NBA Player Prop: How To Fade CJ McCollum in Pelicans vs. Suns Game 2

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CJ McCollum Points

While I successfully played Brandon Ingram's PRA under in Game 1, it was under somewhat false pretenses. I had assumed that Defensive Player of the Year Award runner-up Mikal Bridges would be defending him, but Bridges spent most of his floor time defending McCollum (51%) compared to just 15% on Ingram.

McCollum struggled in those minutes, going 0-for-4 when guarded by Bridges, and a whopping 0-for-7 when big man DeAndre Ayton was switched onto him. This is a microcosm of the Suns stout pick and roll defense, in which ball-handlers shot 40.6% (second) and scored 0.85 points per possession (fifth) against them this season.

McCollum struggled in general in Game 1, shooting 9-for-25. While Ingram didn’t fare better (6-for-17), I expect him to take on more of a lead role tonight. The newly acquired Pelicans guard's Game 1 usage of 29% to Ingram’s 22% was not indicative of the nearly even split these two saw this season. In fact, when they shared the floor in the regular season, Ingram’s 29% usage outshone McCollum’s 25%.

Overall, I see CJ dialing back the volume in a tougher individual matchup, and letting Ingram go to work. I have the veteran guard projected around 22 points.

Pick: CJ McCollum Under 25.5 points (play to 24.5)

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