Everything points to a big night for Reaves, Lakers

The top of the week seems like a nice time to bring out a few player props. We have a pair of pivotal games on our hands. The Lakers surely will be vying to avoid a sweep to the Nuggets and extend their postseason life, and the Hurricanes and Panthers are at an important inflection point with the series 2-0 in favor of Florida. We'll touch on a prop for each game, no matter your sport preference.

Reaves is rolling

Austin Reaves continues to be quite the story, playing his way into one hell of a second contract. The Lakers guard has dropped 22+ in all three games this series and has finished with 20+ points in five of his last six games.

Reaves is shooting 55% from the field this series, a bright spot for Los Angeles despite being down 0-3 to Denver. We have to back the shooting streak, especially when we're getting such a discounted line that still has not caught up to what this man is doing on the floor. 

We do expect the Lakers to find a win tonight. They've been in these games and feel too talented to go down in a conference finals sweep. In the past two winning efforts the Lakers have found, both of which came at home, Reaves finished with 21 and 23 points.

Tonight, we're asking for just 18, a reasonable ask if we do say so ourselves. If you'd like to go for some value, 20+ points is +145 on FanDuel.

Betting: Austin Reaves over 17.5 points (-110 BetMGM)

Bark(ov)ing up the right tree

As we prepped our Carolina vs. Florida notes ahead of this series, Aleksander Barkov kept popping up. The man just loved facing the Hurricanes, and he's carried over that success thus far in this series.

On paper, we prefer the Panthers tonight. They've taken both games on the road and now get a chance to add some cushion to their series lead at home, where they tend to get their offense going. Off that belief, we'd like a bet that revolves around the Florida offense, which brings us back to Barkov.

Barkov has netted a goal in both games so far, and he's scored 10 goals in his past 11 meetings with Carolina. At these odds, we have to go back to the man to keep this thing rolling.

Betting: Aleksander Barkov goal (+220 FD)

In the news ...

Brooks Koepka wins PGA Championship; Michael Block steals the show — Thanks to a final-round 67, Brooks Koepka took home his third PGA Championship win, his fifth major. Koepka is now the 20th golfer to win five major championships, but only the third over the past 30 years, joining Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. Koepka was north of +2000 to win the tournament prior to Thursday. The story of the weekend was likely 46-year-old club pro Michael Block, who qualified for the event and made the cut despite not being on the PGA Tour. Block's day was capped by an amazing hole-in-one on the 15th hole, which helped him secure a spot in the Top 15 and automatic qualification for next year's PGA Championship. We will see you next year, Michael.

Heat and Nuggets both up 3-0 in NBA Conference Finals — The Miami Heat completely blew out Boston in Game 3 Sunday night, now up 3-0 in the series. Thanks to a 29-point outing from Gabe Vincent, the Heat won 128-102, and if you believe it, that final score makes the game sound a lot closer than it really was. For the first time, Miami is the favorite in a game, -130 on the moneyline to win Game 4. The Heat are +235 to win the Finals. Out West, Denver handled business on the road against the Lakers and is on the cusp of advancing to the Finals themselves. The Lakers are three-point favorites tonight as they host the Nuggets at 8:30 p.m. ET. Denver is currently -215 to win the NBA Finals.

Florida and Vegas both up 2-0 in NHL Conference Finals — All four games we've seen between Florida-Carolina and Vegas-Dallas have gone to overtime, the first time in Stanley Cup playoff history. Vegas took down Dallas 3-2 in OT yesterday to go up 2-0 on the Stars. Dallas is favored to win tomorrow at home, and we'll likely go to them then. Florida took both games in Carolina and now hosts the Hurricanes tonight as the slight favorites (-115 to the moneyline). 

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll