Hassan Whiteside (C, Miami Heat)
Hassan has been the leading scorer at Miami, with 18.1ppg in 9 games played. Closely behind is Goran Dragic, with 16.3 points. Of course Hassan is not comparable with Wade (at least not for now), but still his scoring has been doing the job. It is not that rare to see, Whiteside going over 20 points in a match as he has done it 5/9 times. Looking at his previous 3 matches, he averaged 21.7 points. In the upcoming match for Miami, they will host Atlanta Hawks without Bosh, Dragic and Ellington. Miami needs to take into consideration their opponents are No.2 rated in Defensive efficiency. In the end both teams are great when it comes to defending the rim, so we can expect a low scoring match. Absence of key playmaker and a strong defence of opponents is good enough reason for me to say Whiteside will most likely not cross the 18 point mark.
Prediction: Whiteside under 18.5 points
Bojan Bogdanovic (SF, Brooklin Nets)
This big man has a record of 13.5 ppg in this season, which is improvement of 3.2ppg compared to his career average. Not only that, but he has also improved his FT% and rebound count. When we take a look at his previous matches and points scored, it’s really an up and down. One day he will score 4 points, on the other day he will score 26. Nets next opponents are LA Lakers, who are not known for their good defence. Lakers are in the bottom half of Defence Efficiency ranking table and are extremely bad when it comes to protecting the paint, allowing opponents to score 49.5 points. This can only spell one thing, Bogdanovic will have a chance to shine and I believe he is more than capable of scoring a lot of points. Pick Bogdanovic to score more than 12 points.
Prediction: Bojan Bogdanovic over 12.5 points
Robin Lopez (C, Chicago Bulls)
He is not a player considered to be a top scorer in his team, not by a mile. Lopez is averaging 8.9 points per game this season (last season; 8.5ppg). But there has been a slight improvement in the last 2 matches, scoring 8 (against Boston) and 12 (against Indiana) points. And looking by their next opponents (Portland), Lopez should have no hard task to repeat his performance. Portland are ranked 25th in defensive efficiency, letting opponents score and average of 47.1 points in the paint. For this match I am going with Lopez being able to get over 9 points.
Prediction: Robin Lopez Over 8.5 points
