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NBA Monday player props: Brutal spots for Warriors' Wiggins, Spurs' Murray

Melissa Majchrzak / National Basketball Association / Getty

Anyone jumping on the player prop train late last week got in on some fun: Friday's bets went 3-1, sealing the envelope on a 13-6 week.

We can't remember our last losing week, so if someone finds it in the archives, let us know. In the meantime, back to the drawing board.

Here are the two best looks for Monday.

Andrew Wiggins under 19.5 points and under 1.5 made threes

There are plenty of stats to illustrate just how solid the Jazz's defense has been this season, but here's another: Utah is top four in the league in shooting percentages allowed to four separate positions on the court.

Jazz defense vs. all positions in 2020-21

Position FG% NBA Rank
Point Guards 42.3% 4
Shooting Guards 44% 18
Small Forwards 43.7% 4
Power Forwards 44.5% 2
Centers 50% 1

Bettors have all sorts of options to fade, but we'll go with Wiggins.

The Warriors just enjoyed one of the easiest stretches of opposing defenses a team could hope to find, playing units that rank 24th (twice), 22nd (twice), 28th, 27th, 18th, and 30th in efficiency. Wiggins managed to reach 20 points in half those games.

Utah is No. 3 in defensive efficiency, surrendering a league-low 1.7 made triples and just 16.8 points per game to small forwards over the last 15. Both bets are safe.

Dejounte Murray under 16.5 points and under 1.5 made threes

The Spurs and Wizards are the only two teams shooting 3-pointers at a rate below 30% over the last 10 games. Just 27.8% of San Antonio's shots from the floor over that span have come from the perimeter, while its 8.3 made triples per game is the lowest such mark in the NBA.

Here, we'll fade Murray, who might need a herculean effort to get past not only his 3-point tally but his overall point total as well.

The Bucks are bottom 10 in the NBA in both points and 3-pointers allowed per game to point guards across the last 15. They're holding the position to just 42.1% shooting, however, the fifth-best clip in basketball.

Murray isn't necessarily a 3-point threat - he's converting triples at just a 31.8% rate this season and has made none of his last 11 attempts - so it's not hard to go under the total on a guard who will have to find multiple ways to score.

He's also been held under his point total in three of his last four. The lone exception came against the lowly Kings, who give up more points to floor generals than any other team in the league.

Alex Kolodziej is a betting writer for theScore. He's a graduate of Eastern Illinois who has been involved in the sports betting industry for 12 years. He can quote every line from "Rounders" and appreciates franchises that regularly wear alternate jerseys. Find him on Twitter @AJKolodziej.

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