Week 6 of the NBA Schedule has Chris Paul drooling

On Saturday, we try to help you sort through all of the injury news and rotation updates in the NBA and determine what the impact on your fantasy team is. Included this week was some analysis on the returns of Chauncey Billups, Derek Fisher and Mikael Pietrus.

Today, we will preview Week 6 of the NBA schedule, highlight the fantasy friendly  slates, some notable games and suggest some players who are owned in more than 50% of leagues to sit and some players who are owned in less than 50% of leagues to start.
 

Week 6 Schedule

Team	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN
			DEN		WAS	@MEM
		OKC			GSW		MIL
			MIN		@PHI	PHI
	POR		NYK		@MIL	SAS
		IND	@CLE		@DET	NYK
	@DET		CHI		@MIN	DET
			@LAC	@PHO		@HOU
	TOR		@ATL		@IND		@NYK
	CLE		GSW		CHI	@CLE
	ORL		@DET		@BKN	@WAS
		LAL			@SAS	DAL
		@CHI	POR		DEN		@OKC
	@UTA		DAL			PHO	TOR
		@HOU	@NOR		@OKC		UTA
		PHO			@NOR	ATL
		@WAS		NYK		NOR
	@NOR		@SAS		CHA		@BKN
		@PHI	@BOS		CLE
	MIL		LAL		MEM	@MIA
			@CHA	@MIA		@CHI	DEN
		@BKN			LAL		IND
	@GSW		@UTA		@SAC		@PHO
		MIN			BOS	@BOS
		@MEM		DAL		@LAC	ORL
	@CHA		@IND			SAC
			TOR		ORL	@POR
			MIL		HOU	@CHA
	@DEN		@SAC		@UTA		@LAC
	LAC		ORL		TOR		@LAL
		MIA			@ATL	GSW

 

In a more balanced schedule, every team has either 3 or 4 games this week. Dallas has only 3 games for Rick Carlisle to mess with his players and fantasy owners heads this week and all are on the road. All three games are in a four night stretch against teams that play significantly better at home. Two other teams are also without home dates this week. Orlando and Toronto are a combined 2-14 on the road so far this year and face a similar stretch of 4 games on alternating nights with Toronto getting the slightly tougher slate including @DEN and @LAC.

Brooklyn is the only team that doesn’t have to travel with 3 home games but it is not against the kindest of foes. Oklahoma City is back to playing at an elite level after a bit of a slow start. I am officially jumping on the Golden State bandwagon as they are playing extremely well despite their injuries problems. And, who knows which Milwaukee club will show up on any night.

The Clippers are back with another easy schedule this week against four teams that are progressively getting worse (@UTA, DAL, PHO & TOR) and whose coaches/managements are really reaching for solutions and probably making things worse. Chris Paul is having sweet dreams of all the ways he is going to carve up these unorganized defences. New Orleans also three at home but it is against a murders row including LAL, MEM and @MIA. If Anthony Davis misses the week then an 0 for 4 with a greater than 10 point differential is the most likely outcome.

Some games of note include:

IND @ CHI on Tuesday. Division rivals with matching .500 records, both should be fired up especially since the road team is gradually adjusting to its new configuration whereas the home team is starting to struggle. The real intrigue here is that both teams are offensively challenged without their leading scorer from last season yet very strong defensively; 3 and 4 in points allowed. Neither team may break 75.

HOU @ LAL on Tuesday. Whereas will you want to avoid the first game in fantasy, you will want to load up on this one as two of the league’ fastest paced teams meet. In particular, it should be raining 3’s. The Lakers are finally adjusting to Mike D’Antoni’s system and hit 17 three-pointers on Friday night, whereas Houston is second in the NBA at 9.2 per game.

NYK @ MIA on Thursday. Like HOU @ LAL on Tuesday, this game will feature the 3 point line prominently. Both teams are also the rare birds that play at a high pace yet still manage to play above average defence. The Lebron James versus Carmelo Anthony match-up is always a great one, as will be the jump shooting of J.R. Smith versus the slashing of Dwyane Wade and the power of Tyson Chandler against the stretch game of Chris Bosh.

CLE @ DET on Saturday: I know, theses two teams don’t usually promise exciting basketball but Cavs tend to surprise and the Pistons have turned things around once they started Kyle Singler. Cavs allow more points per game than any in Eastern Conference and the Pistons score the fewest points in the whole NBA, so something has to give. In particular the rookie on rookie match-ups of Dion Waiters on Singler and Andre Drummond on Tyler Zeller, are classic raw talent versus basketball IQ battles.