NBA Props and Pick'em

As we saw in Game 4, the floor is extremely low for the Lakers' ancillary pieces. Head coach JJ Redick rolled with the same unit for the entire 2nd half, which meant guys like Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent, and Jaxson Hayes were planted on the bench. Vanderbilt played just 7 minutes, finishing with 2 rebounds. The gambit didn't work out for Redick, as the Lakers fell behind 3-1 in the series. They can't take their foot off the gas tonight. We should see 40+ minutes for their core 5 players again.

RotoGrinders has Vanderbilt projected for 8 minutes, which feels about right. He's at 10.5 MPG in the series, but this is an elimination game. Vanderbilt saw a little bit more burn in Game 1 and Game 3, playing 14 and 13 minutes, respectively. The problem is that he's an extremely low-usage player who's really only in the game to play defense. Vanderbilt has 5 shots and 4 potential assists in the series. Even in his "ceiling" playing-time games, he topped out at 8 PRA.

Vanderbilt's best path here is probably a bunch of rebounds. He's averaged 3 rebounds on 6.3 rebound chances in the playoffs. Minnesota has been tough on the glass this series, posting a 52.1% rebounding rate. They've held the Lakers to fewer than 40 rebounds per game.

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