After dealing with multiple adversities over the weekend, the Golden State Warriors (26-21) and Minnesota Timberwolves (27-19) finally played on Sunday with the Californian NBA franchise winning a 111-85 decision.
These two teams face off again tonight inside the Target Center. Should bettors expect a different result in this back-to-back rematch? We’ll cover that and provide individuals with our top three player props from Monday’s NBA contest.
The only Minnesota player to have a decent showing on Sunday was Anthony Edwards. The 6-foot-4 guard finished with 32 points and 11 rebounds against Golden State, but his team was hurt by his season-worst eight turnovers.
Should bettors expect him to have a better game on Monday? Historically, the Warriors have held Edwards below his season scoring average each of the past four seasons.
Don’t expect that to happen on Monday, however. For the fifth time this month, Edwards will score at least 30 points to cover his scoring prop bet total.
Golden State listed Stephen Curry on its injury report, noting the future NBA Hall of Famer is a game-time decision for Monday’s outing. That could open up more opportunities for the Warriors’ supporting cast to showcase its talents.
Part of that cast is third-year guard Brandin Podziemski. The 6-foot-4 athlete is averaging 12.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists for the Warriors this season. Without Curry in the lineup, he’s taking more shots, especially from deep.
That’s normally a recipe for bettors to take the over. This is not the case. Whether or not Curry plays, Podziemski has been in a slump in January, hitting just over 32 percent of his trifecta attempts. He’s 1-for-13 over the past three games. Take the under on this player prop wager.
Before Sunday’s game against the Warriors, Minnesota center Rudy Gobert had been on a hot streak in January. The 7-foot-1 starter had notched 11 straight games with at least double-digit rebounding totals.
That streak snapped emphatically against Golden State. Gobert managed just five boards in his team’s emphatic loss. Bettors shouldn’t expect a repeat poor performance, however. Take Gobert to finish with at least a dozen rebounds tonight.
Minnesota weathered multiple adversities to play its contest on Sunday. In addition to nasty weather conditions, the city was also suffering from Saturday’s shooting that killed a 37-year-old ICU nurse.
The Warriors went on a 15-5 run to open the second half to build a cushion against Minnesota. Golden State pulled off another late third-quarter run to extend its lead to 22 points heading into the final period.
Expect the Timberwolves to have a much better showing on Monday. Still, a nine-point Minnesota win seems as unlikely as Sunday’s results were, even if Curry is unavailable for the game. Take the Warriors to keep this contest close, covering their 8.5-point spread.