Timberwolves vs Mavericks First Basket Odds and Picks — 5-26

If the Minnesota Timberwolves do not find their way to victory tonight, the Western Conference Finals may be effectively over. So, if the Dallas Mavericks open an early lead, this Game 3 may lack entertainment.

One way to be sure to enjoy the Game is to target the first basket prop. You will sweat the first score and then enjoy whatever the Game brings the rest of the way.

Let’s add a first basket prop to our NBA picks and Timberwolves vs. Mavericks predictions on May 26.

Timberwolves vs Mavericks first basket picks

• Minnesota: Edwards (+550 at FanDuel)
• Dallas: Washington (+1,300 at FanDuel)

Click on each name to jump to the full analysis

Minnesota Timberwolves

First basket pick: Anthony Edwards
(+550 at FanDuel)

Anthony Edwards knows he has not played well in this series. He has shot 11 of 33 from the field and 7 of 19 from deep, scoring only 40 total points. He knows.

“I probably been getting away from having fun out there,” he said during Sunday’s shootaround. “Just letting my misses and stuff get in my head. I just got to get back to having fun, playing with joy, with a smile on my face.”

“Y’all gonna see tonight. It’s gonna be a lot of shots.”

Ant o26.5 points tonight? 🤔pic.twitter.com/ncpmuxAIJS

— Covers (@Covers) May 26, 2024

In particular, Edwards has abandoned his mid-range game. In the first two rounds, 36.8% of Edwards’s shots came from beyond the arc. In this series, that has been 57.8%.

The Minnesota Timberwolves need Edwards to find his spots and establish a rhythm. Doing so right away should create some offensive flow.

Dallas Mavericks

First basket pick: P.J. Washington Jr.
(+1,300 at FanDuel)

The Dallas Mavericks attempted more corner threes than any other team in the regular season and continued at that rate in the first two rounds. The Timberwolves have cut those off, which is a big reason why P.J. Washington attempted only four threes in Game 2 and 12 in this series, compared to 8.2 per Game in the last round.

But Minnesota’s defense is not getting the job done right now, and altering its emphasis should be expected. The Timberwolves will focus more of their defense on denying Dallas at the rim, and in turn, they will leave shooters like Washington wide open.

The value on Washington at this number is based on that expected defensive adjustment, one that would be somewhat shocking if Minnesota does not embrace it.

Timberwolves vs Mavericks first-basket odds

• Anthony Edwards (+550)
• Karl-Anthony Towns (+550)
• Luka Doncic (+600)
• Rudy Gobert (+650)
• Kyrie Irving (+700)
• Mike Conley (+850)
• Daniel Gafford (+850)
• Jaden McDaniels (+850)
• P.J. Washington (+1300)
• Derrick Jones Jr. (+1600)

Odds courtesy of FanDuel