There are four NBA playoff games Saturday, with the nightcap featuring the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers squaring off at 8:30 p.m. ET. All eyes will be on Luka Doncic for how he fares in his first playoff game wearing purple and gold. Doncic has averaged 30.9 points per game in his postseason career, only behind Michael Jordan's 33.5 for most in NBA history.
At FanDuel Sportsbook, the No. 3-seeded Lakers are -186 favorites to advance to the next round, while the No. 6-seeded Timberwolves are +156 to pull off the upset. LeBron James has only lost in the first round twice in his career, and they both came with the Lakers—going down in six games to the Phoenix Suns in 2021 and in five to the Denver Nuggets last season.
Los Angeles opened as a 3.5-point home favorite against Minnesota, but this spread has been bet up slightly to Los Angeles -4. The Lakers are -186 (bet $186 to win $100) on the money line, according to SportsLine consensus, while the Timberwolves are +155 (bet $100 to win $155) underdogs.
But what if you want to bet on player props, particularly on whether Doncic has another massive playoff performance? The SportsLine model has you covered. It continuously refreshes the most recent available data and can help you spot the biggest discrepancies in the lines. The SportsLine model, which can be found on every game forecast page on SportsLine under the "Prop Picks" tab, assigns ratings of up to five stars for each projected value play on every NBA slate. Those picks can be integral to building winning parlays on DraftKings, FanDuel, PrizePicks, Underdog Fantasy or Sleeper Fantasy and in same-game parlays on any betting site.
Let's check out the SportsLine model's three highest-rated player prop recommendations for Timberwolves-Lakers and see what the payout would be if they were put into a same-game parlay -- and check out the optimal same-game parlay for every playoff game on Saturday's NBA schedule at SportsLine.
Timberwolves-Lakers SGP (+814)
- Luka Doncic Over 7.5 assists (+108): 4 stars
- Austin Reaves Over 4.5 assists (-102): 4 stars
- Mike Conley Jr. Over 4.5 assists (+122): 4 stars
The only three 4-star recommendations for this monster matchup are a trio of Overs on assists props. Two of them are on the Lakers, with Doncic projected for 8.4 dimes and Reaves calculated for 5.5 assists. In fact, Reaves has gone Over his assists prop in six of his past 10 games against teams with winning records, averaging 5.7 helpers over that span. Along with the +108 on Doncic, we'll add another plus-money leg with Conley Over 4.5 assists at +122. Conley has cleared his assists prop in four of his past five road games against teams above .500, averaging 6.0 assists in those contests.
