Some people like to sweat out a bet for 48 hard minutes – others like immediate satisfaction. Count us as being in the latter, which is why we like to get down with NBA first scorer props. And we’ve decided to pass that knowledge on to you with our first scorer bets for January 21. Go here for NBA Championship odds.

Of course, there are plenty out there taking blind guesses at this stuff. It’s easy to pick the most popular player or look at what happened in the last game. However, we spent the time pouring through the analytics to make sure that we give you the best odds to stay in the green on these first scorer props for January 21.

Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.

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NBA First Scorer Props – January 21

Portland Trail Blazers vs. Miami Heat

Tipoff – 7:30 pm EST
Kaseya Center – Miami, FL
Broadcast – NBA TV 

The Blazers are perfectly an average team when it comes to winning the tip. However, while their 50.0% win rate for the first possession would usually be solid, they are slowly becoming one of the easiest teams to fade in the first bucket market. Despite all of those tip wins, they have just a 31.0% first score success rate. Now they enter a matchup with the Heat, who are far better on jump. They lead that category by 20.7% and rank 4th in the NBA. As a result, you can’t trust a Blazers team to score first, especially when they won’t even be favored to win the jump.

If we’re going with the Heat, how about an unconventional play? Sure, Jimmy Butler is back and they have plenty of other scorers, but I’m digging Hayward Highsmith in this one. Quietly, Highsmith has been getting a lot of early looks for Miami. In two of the last three games, he took the team’s first shot. With that kind of volume and a number this high, how can we pass it up?

First Scorer Bet for January 21: Hayward Highsmith (+1200)

Orlando Magic vs. Toronto Raptors

Tipoff – 7:30 pm EST
Scotiabank Arena – Toronto, ON
Broadcast – NBA TV

The Magic are another team that is treading into must-fade territory. They currenly rank 28th in the league in first bucket success rate – scoring first just 39.5% of the time. Meanwhile, they’ll be up against a Raptors team that has been in the top five of that metric all year long. They currently rank 4th with a 61.9% success rate. Not that we should need much more than that, but they also have a small advantage on the tip that should help matters here.

Although we went down ballot in the first game, we’re sticking with the big names here. The Raptors tend to lean on their most potent shooters, even early. If you take the first three shots in each of the last three games, the Raptors have given 55.6% of those shots to either RJ Barrett or Scottie Barnes. With Barnes fitting the profile of the type of first bucket the Magic concede and the numbers being close enough, we’ll ride with him here.

First Scorer Bet for January 21: Scottie Barnes (+600)

If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for January 21, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.