Sean Barnard details his top Jalen Brunson player props on DraftKings Sportsbook for Saturday’s New York Knicks at Cleveland Cavaliers Game 3 matchup.
Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks have leaped out to a 2-0 series advantage over the Cavaliers with the action traveling to Cleveland tonight. Brunson remains at the epicenter of the Knicks’ attack, and this will continue to be the case tonight. Cleveland will play with a desperation to avoid a 3-0 series hole, but New York has made quite a statement to start this series.
Looking at the odds for Game 3, the Cavaliers enter as narrow 2.5-point favorites and hold -135 odds of winning outright on DraftKings Sportsbook. The Knicks hold +114 odds of winning outright with the game total set at 215.5 points.
Let’s dive into my favorite Jalen Brunson player props for the Game 3 contest.
As has come to be expected, Jalen Brunson set the tone for the Knicks right from the start of this series. The three-time All-Star lit the Cavaliers up for 38 points and six assists in Game 1. He had plenty of success getting whatever matchup he wanted, largely choosing James Harden as his primary victim and getting the switch he desired. The Villanova product built on this in Game 2, finishing with 19 points and 14 assists.
The biggest takeaway from Game 2 was the Cavaliers’ desire to force the ball out of Brunson’s hands. While his 7-for-16 shooting performance left some scoring on the table, Cleveland did a better job avoiding leaving Brunson in one-on-one coverage by blitzing and double-teaming him at a high rate. The Knicks star is too talented to take away all of his abilities, and the Cavaliers look to have accepted they would rather roll the dice with other members of the Knicks stepping up and forcing Brunson to make his biggest impact felt as a passer.
Across the regular season, Brunson posted averages of 26.0 points and 6.8 assists per game. He tallied over 6.5 assists in 40 of his 74 games played. Since the playoffs started, Brunson has averaged 27.6 points and 6.8 assists per game. He has tallied over 6.5 assists in six of the 12 games.
Expect Cleveland to remain committed to forcing the ball out of his hands and for Brunson to have success finding open shooters and cutters. He is too talented to take out of the game entirely, so count on the Knicks’ star guard to fill the shoes of a true floor general tonight.
To take things a step further, I am backing Brunson to record 10+ assists tonight at +328 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook. Initially, I was looking toward the double-double line, but this holds +335 odds for tonight’s matchup. Considering Brunson was held to under 10 points in three regular-season games this year, getting +328 odds for him to tally 10+ assists is better value, even if the scoring does not feel like a real threat to be missed out on. The In-Season Tournament MVP has not been held under 10 points in a playoff game since 2022, when he was still with the Mavericks.
Across the regular season, Brunson tallied 10+ assists in 13 games. While the 14 assists performance in the previous game is his lone time cracking double figures in the playoffs, he has finished with nine assists in a game and eight assists in two others.
The Cavaliers made plenty of progress in forcing the ball out of Brunson’s hands in Game 2. But there is still plenty of the game plan left to be desired, with the Knicks star still seeing too many opportunities to create his own look off the dribble. Expect this effort to be even further magnified tonight with the home crowd behind the Cavaliers. Brunson is a more gifted passer than he sometimes gets credit for, and expect him to continue putting his fingerprints all over this series by tallying 10+ assists tonight.
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