Raptors vs. Nets: The best player prop bets for Dec. 14

The short-handed Brooklyn Nets will host the Toronto Raptors Tuesday night in a battle for the Atlantic Division.

Both teams are riding two-game winning streaks, but Brooklyn will be without Paul Millsap, LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Bembry, Jevon Carter, and James Johnson, who all entered COVID-19 health and safety protocols within the last 24 hours.

The Raptors are still missing key pieces themselves, with OG Anunoby, Khem Birch, and Precious Achiuwa still out.

Short rotations make for big opportunities, though, which could mean outsized statistical nights for the remaining Raptors starters.

Raptors vs. Nets tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET on League Pass, and we have the three best player prop bets below.

Fred VanVleet: Over/Under 2.5 3-pointers made

Players like Fred VanVleet are the lifeblood of the NBA. Not only is he generously listed at just 6'0" tall, he was undrafted coming out of college and had to scrap for his spot in the league with a ferocious combination of grit and skill.

That hunger never went away, even as VanVleet’s skill and stature have grown. He is currently having an All-Star caliber campaign as the Raptors leading man this season.

His shot profile is what you’d expect for a player his size, and he only rarely goes to the rim looking to score (just 17% of his attempts this season, per Cleaning the Glass).

However, he’s become a reliable self-creator and knockdown shooter. With 49% of all his attempts coming from beyond the arc, he’s a deadly player out of the pick-and-roll, coming off screens, or pulling up in transition.

He’s hitting 38.6% from deep on 8.3 attempts per game, with only a relatively small portion (61%) of those attempts coming off of assists.

The Nets are seriously lacking in perimeter players well-suited to guard VanVleet. Patty Mills might once have been his match, but at 33, he’s often a step slow against opponents his size, like Fred.

Pick: Over 2.5 3-pointers made (-175)

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Scottie Barnes: Over/Under 7.5 rebounds

Scottie Barnes is already one of the most likable players in the NBA. It’s not just his infectious personality, though. It’s the way he plays on the court.

He’s an energizer whose effort ripples throughout the fabric of a team, where a rebound or a blocked shot by him means more than how it's marked down on a box score.

Barnes hasn’t been consistent this year, which is to be expected. This is his first season as a starter since high school, as he was a bench player at Florida State.

Incredibly, he has already played more minutes for the Raptors than he did his entire last season in the NCAA. His defense and decision-making have suffered at times due to what appears to be fatigue.

Despite that, one thing that he’s managed to do nearly every game is rebound the ball. Barnes is in the 97th percentile of offensive rebounding among NBA forwards, an unheard-of number for a rookie.

He’s also averaging 8.2 boards over his last 10 games. With Aldridge and Millsap out, the Nets will rely on a creaky Blake Griffin to battle Scottie on the boards all night. I’m picking youth over experience on this one.

Pick: Over 7.5 rebounds (-106)

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Pascal Siakam: Over/Under 20.5 points

Pascal Siakam is a mercurial player. Sometimes he plays like an All-NBA guy, other times he can be a damaging offensive player.

He just had a nice game against the Kings, going 8-of-15 from the field, but he didn’t get to the line or make a single 3-pointer. That was following a brutal 3-of-18 game against the New York Knicks.

Siakam should thrive against the Nets' limited interior defense. He is a skilled player, and he gets going by scoring inside on the back of his agile footwork and his patented spin move.

What can give him trouble is serious size or shot-blocking, neither of which the Nets have a great deal of.

While Durant isn’t a soft cover by any means, Siakam can take him off the dribble. If Nic Claxton is the only healthy rotation-quality Nets center, Siakam will have free rein to the rim more often than not.

Pick: Over 20.5 points (-121)