Is James Harden’s Assists Prop a Ladder Play in Game 7?

The NBA Playoffs are reaching a fever pitch with a monster Game 7 between the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics on Sunday afternoon at the TD Garden. After fighting their way back from a 3-2 deficit on the road, the Celtics are overwhelming favorite with the 'books to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, but our NBA predictions model thinks there is still life in the Sixers, especially if James Harden can have his way on offense.

If you're going to bet James Harden, we are here to help. Our projection model has identified a Harden ladder play on his assists line that you're going to want to get in on.

RELATED: 76ers vs. Celtics Prediction and Picks

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Which bets should you make?

Our projection model, which simulates every NBA game 10,000 times, has earmarked a giant Game 7 for Harden, predicting him to not only go over his points total (23 points projected by our model compared with a sportsbook over/under line of 20.5), but to also smash through his assist over/under line of 8.5 with 11 assists predicted in our NBA Bet Hub.

Harden has been the focal point of the Sixers offense this series, especially facilitating for others, hitting his assist line in his last four games, hitting a high of 11 dimes in Game 3.

In addition to the assists that Harden is racking up, he's also been unlucky not to have more. As per the NBA's potential assist tracker, which monitors passes to players who shoot but don't score, Harden has averaged an additional 14.3 assists per game in this series. In Game 6, he had 21 potential assists gone begging.

All in all, it makes for a tantalizing prospect to attack Harden's assist prop and alternate assist markets with FanDuel Sportsbook via way of a ladder play.

If you've never run a ladder play before, it's simple: the idea is to stagger your wager across multiple levels. The biggest wager would be on the first level, with small stakes evened out over the remaining levels.

Based upon our projections, here's how we suggest playing Harden's assists vs. the Celtics:

BET 1: James Harden Over 8.5 Assists (-132 on FanDuel)

BET 2: James Harden 10+ Assists (+130 on FanDuel)

BET 3: James Harden 12+ Assists (+430 on FanDuel)

Although our projections have Harden getting 11, the value on the 12+ assists market is simply too good to pass up.

Find out who we're betting on for every basketball game, every day via our NBA Bet Hub, where we deliver you NBA predictions and suggested bets, or check out the NBA Betting News section.