The crowd cheers after Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) scored during the first half of Game 2 in a second-round NBA playoff basketball series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Tuesday, May 5, 2015, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
With lineups locking an hour earlier than normal tonight, DFSR is taking a look at all of the latest injury news coming down the pike. The Warriors are in a bad way, and it doesn't stop there. With six games on the schedule, we've got everything you need to know before setting those lineups.
Start out with our top plays at each position broken down by our own James Davis right here.
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And that's just the tip of the Golden State injury iceberg. In addition to Steph suffering the MCL sprain in his first game back against Atlanta on Friday, the Warriors remain depleted with Klay Thompson (sixth game/thumb), Kevin Durant (fifth game/ribs), and Draymond Green (second game/illness) all out of commission. Quinn Cook, Nick Young, Patrick McCaw, Andre Iguodala, and Jordan Bell will all step up for Golden State as they host the Jazz tonight. Iggy, in particular, sees a 9% usage bump with the big four off the court, and even with the elevated price tag Quinn Cook has been a solid option filling in for Curry recently. Utah has been the top defense in the NBA since the All-Star break, so tread with caution here, but Bell should be a solid play while Iguodala and Cook are in the conversation for GPP's.
This is an easy one. Paul has missed two in a row, with Eric Gordon starting at the point in his absence, and James Harden stepping up his already monster play making both solid cash options. Both were highly owned last night and will likely be once again this evening as Houston hosts the Hawks.
Morris seems to have tweaked his ankle Friday during his 34 minutes against the Blazers and will be held out of the opening night of Boston's back to back set as a precaution. He will join Marcus Smart and Kyrie Irving on the inactive list both having recently undergone surgery, opening the gates for the likes of Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown to pick up increased minutes.
Z-Bo was ruled out of Thursday's game against Atlanta with an illness, allowing Skal Labassiere the chance to start in his place. As I was typing him up as being a GTD for tonight, word came through that he will be held out once again this evening as the Kings host Boston. Look for Skal, who played 30 minutes Thursday to start once again for Sacramento.
Schroder was a late scratch on Thursday night with an ankle injury. He returned the next night against the Warriors for 28 minutres going 16/3/7/0/1 but the ankle seems to still be causing discomfort. The Hawks will likely try him out during shotaround to see how he feels before making a call on this one. We will continue to monitor, but word may not come until after tonight's early lock time.
Nurkic is dealing with a sore lower back. Though it seems likely he will be able to suit up tonight, he may not be at his best. He only scored 11 points paired with seven rebounds for 24 fantasy points against the Celtics on Friday. With plenty of other solid options at the five, Nurkic may be best left untouched until he fully recovers.
Opponent - WAS
Proj Pts FD - 27.67 DK - 28.23
Daily fantasy basketball is all about finding the right opportunity for the price. As soon as word broke that Trey Burke would start at the point for the Knicks in Washington tonight, Burke instantly shot into the top lineups generated by our NBA lineup optimizer. Burke has seen extended run in recent weeks, averaging 28 minutes in his last two games off the bench. In 25 minutes against Miami Burke posted 16/7/2/0/0, and then went 15/2/9/0/2 in 31 two nights later against the Wolves. Priced below $5K on both sites, Burke only needs to net us 25 fantasy points to be cash game viable and will most likely be so highly owned, it won't hurt us if he does happen to fall short. I dislike the term "must play" but tonight, I feel Burke is a play you absolutely must have in your cash game lines, and maybe even consider for GPP's as well.
Opponent - UTA
Proj Pts FD - 30.94 DK - 28.73
Riding that price and opportunity theme, we have Jordan Bell of the Warriors. Golden State will be without their four big guns tonight as Curry, Durant, Thompson, and Green all deal with assorted issues. Bell saw 27 minutes against the Hawks on Friday night starting in place of Dray and ended the night with 12 points, seven boards, and four assists paying over 6X points per dollar on these prices. With their slower pace of play, and top ten DvP the Jazz could limit the upside appeal of Bell, but as a cash game play pairing him with Burke will allow you to easily spend up where it counts.
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