Sacramento Kings' DeMarcus Cousins (15) drives the ball past Houston Rockets' Joey Dorsey in the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, April 1, 2015, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Well, we're coming off one of the weirder days in the NBA. An historically great team lost to an historically bad team. Some absolutely huge performances led to lots of 400+ point lineups on a relatively short slate. Just weird. Since this is the NBA, today will probably be weird, too. The big narrative of the day will likely be: Will the Warriors go berserker mode on the poor Magic? Let's break down the top plays.
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Opponent - DAL
FD Proj. Pts - 46.21 DK Proj. Pts - 48.11
Paul increased on his league leading time of possession per game from 8.7 minutes in January to 9.1 in February. The trend is clear - when Blake is out of the picture, Paul is the entire facilitator of the Clippers' offense. He's got 6 straight games with a double-double, and averaged 6 rebounds during those game as well. He's filling it up right now, and looks like a very safe 50/50 play in a league average match-up with the Mavs. After watching Mudiay get 21 shots in the air against the ailing Deron Williams, it's hard to imagine what Paul can do to him on the 2nd night of a back to back after an overtime game.
Opponent - NOP
FD Proj. Pts - 38.73 DK Proj. Pts - 39.44
Rondo's been averaging 13 assists a game since the All-Star break, and he's locked into 37-40 minutes a game at the moment. He manages to have the 7th highest time of possession per game in spite of sharing the court with two huge ball hogs (Boogie, Rudy Gay), which is really saying something. The Pelicans have allowed the 10th most points per game to opposing point guards, and this has all the makings of high teens assists game for him.
Opponent - GSW
FD Proj. Pts - 27.87 DK Proj. Pts - 28.4
Just because you commenters out there always want the more off-beat plays, here you go. This one just comes down to a straight minutes guess. Payton has put up monster numbers when he gets his full run of 33+ minutes, and the Warriors are still second in the NBA in terms of PACE. If things break right, he could be looking at an up and down game with a lot of transition opportunities, and he's still very cheap. He could also be totally embarrassed, and get pulled in the way only Scott Skiles can. Still, if you're rooting around for a guy that could be in top lineups tonight, he's definitely one to consider.
Also considered: Ricky Rubio.
Opponent - CHA
FD Proj. Pts - 27.9 DK Proj. Pts - 29.13
It's a drum I beat all the time, but sometimes the sites are slow to move on guys who move into larger roles. In the case of LaVine, they're moving at a snail's pace. The world's best dunker has paid 5x-6x points per dollar in each of his last 5 games, and the Hornets have been surprisingly bad against opposing shooting guards in spite of playing one of the league's slowest paces. They've allowed the 6th most fantasy points per game to opposing shooting guards this season, and the max-effort LaVine should be poised for a monster here.
Opponent - MIN
FD Proj. Pts - 30.96 DK Proj. Pts - 32.93
After an eerie dry spell, Batum has rounded back into form over his last 3 games, including tying his season high with 22 shots against the Pacers on Friday. The Timberwolves have been a tough match-up for opposing shooting guards over the course of the whole season, but they've been awful since LaVine started playing high 30s minutes per game - they've allowed the most points to opposing shooting guards since the All-Star break. Great spot to grab Batum on the upswing.
Opponent - LAC
FD Proj. Pts - 21.21 DK Proj. Pts - 23.92
Opponent - MEM
FD Proj. Pts - 48.05 DK Proj. Pts - 50.04
The highest points per dollar play at the position according to our projection system, and the third most expensive guy on the slate. You know what that means? He'll wind up in a lot of our optimal lineups today. LeBron has been going all out recently - the 13 rebounds he had against the Wizards were a season high, and he followed that up with 11 against the Celtics. He's put up above average assist numbers in those games as well, while maintaining his shots per game total. All of this to say - LeBron's been very active. It's basically a league average match-up, and LeBron is still underpriced relative to other stars. High floor here.
Opponent - CHI
FD Proj. Pts - 40.49 DK Proj. Pts - 41.73
It's going to be very tough to afford both LeBron and Giannis today, and in the interest of full disclosure, most people are going to go with the Greek Freak. And, well, it kinda makes sense. He's cheaper, and he's been soul-crushing everything in sight. I mean, I dunno, can this guy continue to put up triple doubles every game and be a rich man's Oscar Robertson? It kinda seems like it, right? Well, it's a nice match-up for him - the Bulls have allowed the 8th most fantasy points to opposing small forwards this season, and if Durant couldn't slow him down, there's no way Mike Dunleavy will be able to. Don't mind him in any format.
Opponent - IND
FD Proj. Pts - 38.69 DK Proj. Pts - 40.23
Leonard has been on a mission, posting his highest three shot totals of the season in each of the last three games. Paul George is a less than welcome match-up for opposing 3s, and yes, one of those big games was without everyone else on the Spurs playing. Still, if Leonard is going to play this kind of role in the offense, his price is going to continue to climb. Seems like a safe play.
An upside play: Mike Dunleavy! High 20s minutes, and a reasonable match-up. And total basement prices.
Opponent - CHI
FD Proj. Pts - 27.7 DK Proj. Pts - 28.64
There's something really special about watching a guy with a pedigree like Parker's inherit the role he was destined to play. Parker is averaging more than 20 shots per game in his last 4 games, and his minutes look as secure as anyone in the game. And he's still $6,000 on FanDuel! He's got upside for 8x points per dollar on these prices, and looks like a high floor play even in a tougher match-up with Gibson and the Bulls.
Opponent - MIL
FD Proj. Pts - 26.88 DK Proj. Pts - 27.32
Speak of the devil! Gibson played 38 somewhat uninspiring minutes in his first game back from injury, but the good news here is that it looks like it will be Bobby Portis, and not Gibson, that's losing minutes with Mirotic back in the picture. His ceiling is higher than he's shown recently, but you're really grabbing him here for the hustle stats and the high floor that comes with tons of minutes. The Bucks have also allowed the 5th most fantasy points per game to opposing power forwards this season, which certainly helps matters.
Opponent - LAC
FD Proj. Pts - 25.31 DK Proj. Pts - 25.67
Price and opportunity mismatch alert! Lee put up an 18/12 in 25 minutes against the Nuggets, and while the Clips are definitely a tougher match-up, they're not starting any all-world guys at the power forward positions at the moment. Can a guy at 25 minutes ever be safe? Probably not. But the upside is clearly huge here.
Also considered: LaMarcus Aldridge.
Opponent - NOP
FD Proj. Pts - 51.47 DK Proj. Pts - 52.09
Same story with LeBron - huge points per dollar play at a huge salary. I'm honestly not sure how the system will handle this - there's a chance it's going to try and force us to play both. Cousins has been one of the most reliable big money guys all season, and he gains both safety and upside in a match-up where A) the Kings are blessedly unlikely to get blown out, and B) they're facing a team with awful interior defense. The Pelicans have allowed the 2nd most fantasy points to opposing centers this season. Boogie might be the must play of the day.
Opponent - CHA
FD Proj. Pts - 42.09 DK Proj. Pts - 42.82
Mr. Upside. Karl-Anthony Towns has performances all over the map, like a lot of young players, and he's been playing a lot better against terrible players. Duh. But for real - his big games recently have come against Brooklyn, the Celtics, and the Pelicans - all bottom 7 teams against the position. The Hornets aren't as bad, but the combination of Al-Jeff and Zeller doesn't scare me. This could be another huge one.
Also considered: Pau Gasol.
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View Comments
Just wanted to say, this is one of the sites I check daily before locking my lineups in on DK. Tonight I happened to take down the $3 Sharpshooter on DK for my first GPP win. I've only been playing NBA dfs since the start of this season, not trying to brag, but stick to your system and sometimes awesome things happen. Keep up the good work, had to give a shout out.
P.S : Emmanuel Mudiay is now my favorite player
KS, That's great on the win! Thanks for the nice words as well. Our only goal is keeping people happy and playing DFS. Glad we could help.
I think it will be interesting to see if some mavs get rested after a OT game and having to fly back to dallas. I could see it happening and would probably make chris paul untouchable. Something to watch out for.
I'm wondering about this well and wrote about it some in our Updates article. They've played so many OT games this season. It's nuts.
Lots of expensive plays today... Prioritizing where to spend up will be the key.
Agree. But I'm only Lebron at a slight discount from that top tier.
totally agree with that was thinking same thing
Good point Peter. I'm stacking up on the SAC vs NO game. Looks to be a high scoring game
Yup. Agree that is the game to target. Especially with Jrue looking at tons of possible run tonight.
How do I score 408 points in a tournament and only win 50 bucks? Damn man, I won a tourney in January with 393 and that was only my 4th highest score last night! Crazy high scoring fantasy totals last night!
Hey man you think u can give me some advice on how to win some drafts? I'm wanting to learn
i'd be ecstatic if won 50 bucks lol
Scores are through the roof this season I think in large part because the information gap is narrowing for the haves and have nots. The upside is more folks can stay competitive with the pro types. The downside is the scores are so so high.
I'm new to this I'm trying to get it right but just can't seem to get it I need a tip some type of edge
Have you tried out a free trial to our base membership? Get to see our numbers. Pro package pumps out optimal lineups.
Kinda stunned that Jrue Holiday isn't at the very top of your recommendations...between the quality matchup and usage rate sans Eric Gordon and potentially Norris Cole, he's got a high floor and a tremendous ceiling.
For that matter, I think Brow is a great play as well. I'm with the guy above that SAC/NO is a great game to target.
Yeah he could have been there. With context around the injuries for Pels too he's showing up in optimal lineups. I wrote him up in Updates article.
The brow probably will be a great play but I see most of the other high priced guys going off for more points per $ IMO, and yes it's nice to place at 161st and win 50 bucks I'm not complaining about that but it's the first time I ever scored over 400 and you'd figure you'd get a tourney win with that! Although I shouldn't complain since I've got 1 under my belt this year.
I won last night $100 in my gpp tourney, I realized to stack players that you the game is going to be close with high scoring. Tonight I'm stacking sac vs no, lac vs Dallas and bucks vs Bulls. I do like walker tonight though
Yup. GPP stacking is great especially if you can get a game to OT.