(5/1) NBA | Tonight’s Best Player Props in the Association: Postseason Friday
Written by: Varun Sharma
Last Update: Fri May 01, 2026, 4:32 pm ET
Read Time: 5 minutes
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The first round of the NBA Playoffs this year has been crazy. Six of the eight total matchups have gone at least six games and we've already got one Game 7 scheduled for tomorrow between Boston and Philadelphia.
Tonight we've got three more Game 6s, all with potential Game 7s on Sunday. A Sunday full of Game 7s would be perfect, but let's not get ahead of ourselves and talk about tonight's matchups first.
The night starts in sunny Florida, where the Orlando Magic will look to close out the Detroit Pistons on their home floor. The Magic jumped out to a 3-1 series lead and then in Game 5 without Franz Wagner, failed to close out the series.
Shortly after tipoff in Orlando, the Cleveland Cavaliers will look to close out the Toronto Raptors in Toronto. Neither team has won a road game yet in this series and Toronto hopes to continue that trend for at least one more game.
The night finishes in down in Texas. The Los Angeles Lakers jumped out to a 3-0 lead against the Houston Rockets, but have since dropped back to back games and let Houston right back into this quarterfinal.
Season on the line tonight for three teams, how many of them can stay alive?
Today's Best Bets
Anthony Black o1.5 Steals (+120) | Lucky Rebel
Anthony Black just played 39 minutes in Game 5, finished with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. He shot 58.3% from the field and hit 4 threes in the process. Black was a huge part of the team's offense with Wagner out of the lineup and what he brings defensively is just an added bonus.
Black's cleared this line in three of the five games so far in this series, averaging 2.0 steals per game and playing just 25.9 minutes per contest. He's one of Orlando's best defenders and one of their best options when trying to guard Cade Cunnigham.
Cade's averaging 6.6 turnovers per game in this series and the Pistons rank second last among playoff teams in turnovers per game (18.0). Orlando's averaging 21.2 points off turnovers per game so far in the postseason and it's the reason they jumped out to a 3-1 series lead.
Orlando's scoring 21% of their points off turnovers and tonight on their home floor, they'll need to do more of the same if they hope to close out this series.
Marcus Smart o6.5 A/R (+120) | Lucky Rebel
This is a guy that hasn't let us down yet, not in the postseason. Marcus Smart is averaging 35.1 minutes per game so far in the playoffs, 16.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 6.4 assists. With Austin Reaves back in the lineup, Smart's touches saw big decline but his minutes stayed the same.
Smart played 36 minutes in their most recent game and tallied 11 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists; just enough to get over his prop line.
Tonight with a chance to end the series and move on to the next round, I'm expecting a big Marcus Smart game in his home state of Texas.
Scottie Barnes o37.5 PRA (-110) | Lucky Rebel
I'm going right back to Scottie Barnes, especially in this elimination game. This is just Scottie's second time in the postseason and just his first time since his rookie year.
He's averaging 24.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game in the postseason and he's looked like the best player on the court in this series. The Raptors looked dead early on this quarterfinal and it's really because of how bad Brandon Ingram's looked; especially in Games 1 and 2.
Ingram's out tonight and while that's a tough pill to swallow in the postseason, the Raptors did go 3-1 this season in games without Ingram but with Barnes. Barnes averaged 22.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 10.8 assists per game in these four games, taking an average of 15 shot attempts per game and getting to the line for 7 free throw attempts per game.
Back against the wall, in front of your home crowd; I'm going directly to the best player on the court.
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