After a blowout loss in Game 2 to the Bucks, the Hawks return home for Game 3 and will look to regain control of a currently knotted Eastern Conference Finals.
Let’s jump into this matchup between Milwaukee and Atlanta with a look at the best Bucks vs. Hawks player prop bet prior Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Bucks vs. Hawks Game 3 Player Prop Bet
Bobby Portis Points, Rebounds & Assists – Over 11.5 (DraftKings Sportsbook -118)
Bobby Portis, who was mic’d up in Game 2 in Milwaukee, has become an emotional leader for this Bucks team during its most important stretch of the season. Coach Mike Budenholzer’s trust in Portis was evident when he was the only Bucks player in the regular rotation to be left in the game after the third quarter. Portis played the first couple minutes o the fourth quarter, clearly deployed to ensure the team’s tone was properly set for garbage time and no slip up would occur.
If it did occur, it could have forced the starters back onto the court in a game that was clearly over.
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Portis’ importance to what the Bucks will want to do against Atlanta tonight stood out, though, when Coach Budenholzer eventually sat him down alongside the Bucks’ other key figures, keeping him healthy and fresh for Game 3. We believe the 6’10” center is primed for a huge role in Game 3.
Atlanta’s frontcourt is extremely athletic with Clint Capela, John Collins, Onyeka Okongwu, and Cam Reddish all agile and extremely aggressive on the glass. Brook Lopez is less mobile and more poorly suited to match up with that group, as evidenced by his three combined rebounds thus far in this series. Lopez could give way more often to Portis, who can contend with such athleticism on the boards.
Portis’ 16.1 minutes per game average in the postseason could jump back up above the 20.8 minutes per game he averaged during the regular season, providing ample opportunity to eclipse this meager 11.5 number.
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Portis did not provide a good fit during the Brooklyn series, but in the first round against the Heat — and so far in this series — he has topped this prop’s Points-Rebounds-Assists number in all six games.
He averaged 16.2 combined points, rebounds, and assists in those six contests and eclipsed the 11.5 number in each of his final six regular season games. In fact, Portis would have cashed this prop in 58 of his 66 regular season games (87.9%).
More Portis meant more winning for the Bucks this season. Portis played more, scored more, shot better, rebounded more, assisted more, and got more blocks and steals in the team’s win than in its losses. Sunday was easily his best scoring day of the week this season, averaging enough points on Sundays (14.6 ppg) to cash this prop on his scoring alone.
Portis also averaged 14 points, six rebounds, and an assist per game against the Hawks in three regular season meetings. He topped this prop’s required total in all three of those outings, producing point-rebound-assist totals of 28, 20, and 15. With his 20 combined points, rebounds, and assists in Game 1 of this series, and 12 more in Game 2, Portis has yet to not reach this 11.5 number in any game against Atlanta this season and stands to potentially play an even bigger role tonight.
We expect a role tonight in Game 3 similar to that which Portis played during the regular season when he averaged 20.8 minutes, 11.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game. It’s hard to fathom the big man not tallying 12 or more of those combined statistical categories.
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