Most of the weekend's NBA action will be taking place on Saturday night with the Super Bowl going down on Sunday, so get your player prop bets in while you can as the slate tomorrow is down to the bare minimum with three early starts.
Here are three expert player prop picks for your consideration on February 8, 2025, including a scoring prop for Boston Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown (-102) at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks.
Jaylen Brown OVER 22.5 Points vs. Knicks (-102)
Preview: Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks, 8 p.m. ET
Jrue Holiday has been ruled out for Saturday's festivities with a shoulder injury, and whenever the All-Defensive guard isn't available for Boston, that tends to result in greater statistical output for Brown, who's already averaging a team-best 24 points over the last seven games.
Now the 2024 Finals Most Valuable Player has only reached an OVER on 22.5 points in four of those outings, but in games played without Holiday this season, Brown has scored at least 23 on all eight occasions while producing 29 points per game.
He also dropped 23 points in the 2024-25 opener on Oct. 22 versus the Knicks, needing fewer than 30 minutes of action to pull it off. Holiday being out is the big selling point here, though, so hammer this bet for Brown.
Rui Hachimura UNDER 24.5 Points + Rebounds vs. Pacers (-106)
Preview: Indiana Pacers vs. Los Angeles Lakers, 4 p.m. ET
The Los Angeles Lakers will be without both LeBron James and the newly-acquired Luka Doncic when the Indiana Pacers visit Crypto.com Arena, thrusting Rui Hachimura into a greater role to keep pace with an opposing offense indentical to the one he's a part of (114.3 points per 100 possessions).
Austin Reaves will likely be the top option for head coach JJ Redick in this particular matchup, and oddsmakers do have lines available for Mark Williams, as well, so the Lakers' new center could be making his debut in front of a home crowd. If Williams is out there, Hachimura's personal rebounding numbers will suffer as a result, and he's only gone OVER 24.5 combined points and boards nine times in his total 42 appearances.
He's contributed 20 or more points in three of his last four games, but that was with James by his side. There's no hiding versus Indiana, who will surely try and put the clamps down on Hachimura as one of the few Lakers players worth mentioning on the whiteboard in the locker room.
Goga Bitadze UNDER 13.5 Points + Rebounds vs. Spurs (+102)
Preview: San Antonio Spurs vs. Orlando Magic, 7 p.m. ET
Goga Bitadze's playing time has been reduced coming off a six-game absence after being in the league's concussion protocol. He hasn't exceeded 22 minutes since Jan. 27, with his 19.4 minutes per game being eighth on the Orlando Magic during that span.
Taking on the San Antonio Spurs is a rough matchup for someone of Bitadze's size and plodding nature against the 7-foot-4 unicorn that is Victor Wembanyama, so head coach Jamahl Mosley may resort to using more of his mobile bigs like Jonathan Isaac and Wendell Carter Jr. Bitadze has also gone UNDER this combined prop in three of his last five games for Orlando, with six or fewer points in four of his last five.
