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In theory, right now should be NBA regular-season crunch time.

With teams having only one or two games left before the playoffs, Adam Silver, NBA suits, and basketball fans everywhere were hoping these late-season games would be important for playoff spots and the fight for home-court advantage.

Unfortunately, when you look at the NBA “injury report,” it tells us a different story.

Kyrie Irving – Day to Day
Luka Doncic – Day to Day
Joel Embiid – Day to Day
Giannis Antetokounmpo – Day to Day
LeBron James – Day to Day
Anthony Davis – Day to Day
Nikola Jokic – Day to Day
lay Thompson – Day to Day
DeMar DeRozan – Day to Day
Jalen Brunson – Day to Day
RJ Barrett – Day to Day
7 Cleveland Cavaliers, 8 Sacramento Kings, 11 Portland Trailblazers

We are either looking at one of the all-time greatest coincidences in sports history, or NBA teams might not be 100% honest about using the Injury Report.

Either way, this can throw a wrench into our Player Prop Betting plans.

Enter BestOdds Edge AND Herbert Jones to solve our player prop problems.

Herbert Jones Doesn’t Know You Either

Assuming most of us are not intimately familiar with the New Orleans roster, Herbert Jones was the 2nd-Round pick of the Pelicans in the 2021 draft.

The 2020 SEC Player of the Year has started 64 games for New Orleans this year, averaging 9.8 points per game.

Tonight, he has a Total Points prop line set at +9.5.

These are the reasons why I like Jones OVER +9.5 points.

He is playing! Or at least I couldn’t find him on any injury reports yet, which isn’t the case for a lot of NBA players right now.

The Data says so.

Herbert Jones Minutes Per Game (Last 10)

Above we can see the Minutes Played for Jones in his last 10 games. The graph tells us over his last 5-games, Young Herbert is playing more minutes than his previous five-game stretch.

More minutes are good when taking the Total Points OVER, but does more minutes translate into more points for Jones?

**Herbert Jones Points Per Game (Last 10)**

The recent increase in minutes played has helped Jones go Over the total **in 4 of his last 5**. (80%)

Those totals included a 30+ outburst just a couple of nights ago.

Smooth Operator

In 1984, Sade released the hit banger Smooth Operator, a massive win for Alto Saxophone fans everywhere and the main reason she won a Grammy for Best New Artist of the Year.

In his last ten games at the Smoothie Center, Jones has averaged almost 12.8 points per game.

Although that won’t win him any awards, another 12+ points tonight will help us win our bet.

Sade might not have been writing about Herbert Jones when she released her ‘84 banger, but I think her lyrics still apply.

“No place for beginners or sensitive hearts….No place to be ending, but somewhere to start. He’s a smooth operator. A smooth operator.”

I’m all in on Herbert Jones going OVER +9.5 points tonight.

Wishing you the best of luck with all your upcoming NBA picks and parlays.