FanDuel DFS NBA Strategy Advice: Friday (9/11)

Today’s slate features a two-game slate between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Denver Nuggets and a game 7 showdown between the Toronto Raptors and the Boston Celtics. The playoffs are beginning to wind down now, with the Eastern Conference moving onto the Eastern Conference Finals post-tonight. Ensure you’re up-to-date with injury statuses and lineup news. The Nuggets and Clippers contest leads the way in implied total by a large margin, with the Clippers leading the entire slate.

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Point Guard Value Plays

 
Pat Bev still has yet to recover his full workload as he works his way back from injury. With that being the case, he’s listed as a risky option tonight, but his reduced price tag also mitigates a lot of the potential downside to his lack of minutes. With that being said, Bev hasn’t performed tremendously well throughout this series as he’s reached value only once in four games. Lou Williams continues to play a solid number of minutes off the bench and has routinely hovered in the 20-point range, totaling a series-high 33.3 FanDuel points two games ago. The sixth-man extraordinaire is a very safe option with his scoring ability and low cost.

Shooting Guard

 
Marcus Smart has had an absolutely outstanding series in place of the injured Gordon Hayward. Smart is coming off an illustrious 52.2-point performance in his last contest, but that game did reach double overtime as the Raps and Celtics struggled to separate themselves. Gary Harris looks fully removed from the injury issues that plagued him throughout the bubble as he’s registered 35 and 23 minutes of playing time in his last two games and has totaled 31.2 and 22.3 FanDuel points in either game.

Small Forward

 
OG has been a consistent and steady performer throughout this series as his lowest point-total throughout has been 22.1 and his highest hasn’t eclipsed 39.5 FanDuel points. Anunoby is getting a ton of run for a Raptors team looking for a spark and has proven to be a reliable 3-and-D player and slasher. Jaylen Brown isn’t exactly a cheap option on tonight’s slate, but he’s a great source of value. Brown has totaled 42.2 and 56.2 FanDuel points in his last two games and that comes after already totaling 44.4 and 39.6 earlier this series. You’re getting a star player at a reduced cost in Brown.

Power Forward

 
If Serge Ibaka is healthy and ready for all the run he can handle, he provides one of the higher floors and safer options on an interesting DFS slate today. The issue is he tweaked his ankle and played through it, but only played 21 minutes and was nowhere to be found down the stretch for the Raptors in the last contest. Daniel Theis has quietly strung together two incredibly solid performances in his last two games, totaling 31.1 and 32.4 FanDuel points. Theis is playing a ton of minutes as one of the only bigs for the Celtics in this series.

Center

 
Ivica Zubac might be the best bang for your buck on today’s slate as his price remains quite low even with his strong performances throughout this series. The return of Montrezl Harrell has limited Zubac’s ceiling, but the Croatian big is still producing near value in almost every contest. Robert Williams hasn’t eclipsed more than eight minutes of playing time in either of the last two games and that is why he’s listed as a high-risk option for tonight. The positive is he’s been outstanding as a per-minute producer and is dirt cheap.

5 Studs Worth Their Salary

• Kyle Lowry, TOR ($8,900): I have no idea how you could possibly justify not playing Lowry at this point in time, particularly coming off a 59.6-point performance. Lowry has topped 50-plus in three games in this contest and has clearly put the team on his back in lieu of Kawhi Leonard.
• Kawhi Leonard, LAC ($11,000): Kawhi wasn’t able to reach his peak in this series for the most part, until the last game in which he erupted to the tune of 73.7 FanDuel points. I wouldn’t bench him, and neither should you. The man totaled six steals and blocks in the last game!
• Jaylen Brown, BOS ($7,800): Brown was listed above as a value play and will now once again be listed down here in the “worth their salary” section. He’s simply too cheap and too important for the Celtics to dwindle away in the most important game of the season.
• Nikola Jokic, DEN ($9,900): Jokic is coming off somewhat of a down performance, but has otherwise been very solid in four of his last five games in the playoffs. Jokic is a dangerously inconsistent player but has true tournament-winning upside.
• Jayson Tatum, BOS ($9,600): Tatum’s price feels a bit high for his recent performances, but he is coming off a tremendous 65.3-point performance in which he totaled 29 real-life points. Tatum is simply too important for the Celtics’ offense. He’s going to get as much run and opportunities as he can possibly handle tonight.

5 Notable Players to Fade

• Kemba Walker, BOS ($7,600): Walker has been insanely inconsistent in this series, and has only reached value once or twice in six games. Kemba is coming off a miserable 17.3-point performance in 51 minutes of playing time and has taken a clear backseat to Tatum and Brown in this series.
• Paul George, LAC ($7,700): PG13 really began to turn his playoff performances around as he strung together two 40-plus point performances consecutively, only to put up an absolute stinker in the last contest.
• Pascal Siakam, TOR ($8,000): Siakam has struggled throughout the entirety of the NBA playoffs. Even though he received 54 minutes of playing time in the last game, he couldn’t reach value and essentially choked down the stretch with multiple misses and key turnovers. Avoid him until he proves otherwise.
• Marc Gasol, TOR ($4,400): There may not be a player struggling more than Gasol right now. The vet has hit 20-plus points once in his last seven games and is struggling to return value at his dirt-cheap price tag.
• Jamal Murray. DEN ($8,200): Jamal Murray has come back to life in this incredibly tough series as he’s reached value only once in four attempts. The defensive ability of the Clippers at the guard spot is tough for any offensive player to handle and has proved true thus far into the series.

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Sosa Kremenjas is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Sosa, check out his archive and follow him @QBsMVP.