NBA Player Props and Best Bets: Fade Brown, Butler, and Take This Playoff SGP

The NBA playoffs are hitting pivotal stages on Wednesday with a pair of matchups that are at the perilous 3-1 standing, and I have the best player props from the day’s action. 

The Oklahoma City Thunder rallied in the fourth quarter last night to take a 3-2 lead over the Denver Nuggets heading back to Mile High. Meanwhile, the Indiana Pacers won as 7.5-point underdogs to close their series with the first-seed Cleveland Cavaliers in five games and to advance to their second straight conference finals.

Wednesday's action will begin with the New York Knicks going on the road to meet the Boston Celtics and will conclude with the Minnesota Timberwolves hosting the Golden State Warriors.

Before diving deeper into NBA props, be sure to check our predictions for Warriors vs. Timberwolves and Knicks vs. Celtics.

Here are my best NBA playoff player props for Wednesday.

Best NBA Prop Bets for Wednesday, May 14

Jaylen Brown Under 25.5 Points

Brown has been terrible shooting the ball in the series, averaging 20.5 points on 37.7 percent shooting from the field, 22.6 percent from the floor, and 70.8 percent from the free-throw line. Either he’s been put off by the Knicks’ physicality and intensity, or they’ve simply done an outstanding job at defending him.

Without Tatum on the floor, Brown will get the best defender every time he has the ball and will face more help defense when attacking the rim. He hasn’t scored more than 23 points in one game in the series and isn’t in a strong position to go over tonight, no matter what the stakes are.

Karl-Anthony Towns Over 19.5 Points

Towns scored at least 21 points in three straight games and just had 23 on 73.3 percent shooting in Game 4. He’s often defended by Tatum, who will no longer be available to draw the assignment, which could give him more space for three-point shots if he’s tailed by a big like Porzingis or Al Horford.

Jalen Brunson has been killing the Celtics, but Towns has been quietly impactful and should be the recipient of open looks due to future communication breakdowns without Tatum, who played an unspokenly large role on defense. I like the Knicks to win tonight and for Towns to be at the center of that.

Jimmy Butler Under 26.5 Points

If “Playoff Jimmy” still exists, then why didn’t he show his face in Game 4? The 35-year-old only scored 14 points and, even more troublingly, only took nine shot attempts as he sat and watched his team fall into a 3-1 hole with Stephen Curry still sidelined by a hamstring injury.

Butler averaged 21 points per game on 44.1 percent shooting in the series and went under in three of four games. The Timberwolves have very few credible offensive threats to honor and are a terrific defensive team, so they should be able to stay in front of Butler and move on to the conference finals.

Mike Conley Under 7.5 Points

Conley is coming off of his first double-digit scoring night in the playoffs, scoring 11 points but on only 22.2 percent shooting. He went under in three straight games before that and averaged just 6.0 points on 25 percent shooting in the series. 

The Warriors have mostly played terrific defense throughout the series, they just haven’t had the horses on offense to go back at Minnesota’s offense. Conley is far from the primary option in the offense and isn’t in rhythm, which gives him a great chance to go under yet again.

NBA Same-Game Parlay (+402) at FanDuel

-Golden State Warriors at Minnesota Timberwolves (-11.0)

• Draymond Green over 8.5 points: Scored 14 points on 14 shots in his last game and, without Curry and with an underperforming Butler, should be in a position to take lots of shots. 

• Anthony Edwards over 3.5 threes: Made 11 threes in his last two games and has had more space to get his shots off recently, and he shot 41.2 percent from deep in the series.

• Buddy Hield under 13.5 points: Scored 13 points in his last game and only shot 38.2 percent from the floor, while Minnesota can afford to send more defensive resources his way.

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