An incredibly busy night in the NBA is behind us. Portland was in tough against the Wolves and as I expected, Kevin Love/MIN dominated the game and the Wolves won handily despite Damian Lillard’s/POR tremendous performance. The Heat rallied at home and beat the Pacers to avenge an earlier defeat. The Raptors blew another game, this time to the Bobcats, while the Knicks won in overtime over the Bucks. The Pistons overcame an early deficit to nip the Celtics, while the full strength Nets couldn’t quite handle the Wizards. Anthony Davis/NOP made a surprise return, but the Pelicans were no match for the Clippers. That’s just a sampling of what occurred last night. By contrast, there are only two games scheduled tonight. Here is today’s Fantasy Spin.
Top performers
1) Kevin Love/MIN. I tipped him to have a great game and he did just that. 10 of 18 FGA, 5 of 6 FTA, 15 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 4 TO, 29 points.
2) Damian Lillard/POR. Another of my value plays.
3) DeAndre Jordan/LAC
4) Al Horford/ATL.
5) Trey Burke/UTA.
Honorable mention: LeBron James/MIA, Brandon Jennings/DET.
Top Sleepers
1) Beno Udrih/NYK. We knew he would get the start. Helped by OT, he exceeded expectations. 8 of 12 FGA, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 TO, 21 points.
2) Brandon Knight/MIL. Played almost 50 minutes.
3) Paul Pierce/BKN. He’s settled into the sixth man role. One of his best games this season.
4) Tyreke Evans/NOP. Had lost out to Al-Farouq Aminu/NOP in recent games.
5) D.J. Augustin/CHI. Filled in for Kirk Hinrich/CHI.
Biggest Busts
1) Roy Hibbert/IND. Foul trouble resulted in less than 23 minutes of playing time. 2 of 3 FGA, 2 of 2 FTA, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 TO, 6 points.
2) Alan Anderson/BKN.
3) Al-Farouq Aminu/NOP. The surprise return of Anthony Davis/NOP severly curtailed his minutes.
4) Victor Oladipo/ORL. Struggling with consistency when he plays alongside Jameer Nelson/ORL.
5) Bismack Biyombo/CHA.
Thursday NBA contests at DraftStreet
In less than a week, after a day off on December 24th, ten NBA teams will take the floor on Christmas Day. It will also be your chance to turn $11 into $25,000 by finishing first in a mammoth $100,000 GPP DraftStreet is offering that day. DraftStreet will also be running qualifiers to the $100,000 Christmas Day; unfortunately today’s $2 qualifier filled quickly, so be ready to pounce on upcoming ones. As always, all you have to do is set your lineup before the deadline and watch your players accumulate points.
Our weekly freeroll gives you another chance to enter the big contest. The top 100 finishers will earn an automatic entry into the Christmas Day 100K contest, worth $11. Click on any DraftStreet text link, register and choose your players before the Friday evening deadline. It’s a chance to win vouchers to enter the big DraftStreet Christmas Day contest with no risk to you.
Parker-less Spurs Visit Warriors
A look at tonight’s action from a daily fantasy perspective. An asterisk (*) indicates a team playing the second of back-to-back games:
Chicago Bulls* at Oklahoma City Thunder (8:00 pm EST), Over/Under 193; Thunder -13.
It appears as though Kirk Hinrich/CHI will miss tonight’s game. The offensively challenged Bulls were already in tough on the road against the top team in the league, but the serious lack of Bulls’ depth makes this game an excellent blowout candidate. There aren’t a lot of options tonight, so despite my blowout concerns Kevin Durant/OKC, Russell Westbrook/OKC, Serge Ibaka/OKC and Reggie Jackson/OKC are all good value plays. D.J. Augustin/CHI remains a great bargain play if Hinrich can’t play.
San Antonio Spurs* at Golden State Warriors (10:30 pm EST), Over/Under 202.5; Warriors -3.
The Spurs had a difficult game last night against the Suns and must face the Warriors bolstered by the return of Andre Iguodala/GSW. Stephen Curry/GSW is a reliable lineup anchor, but David Lee/GSW is a touch overpriced against the vaunted Spurs frontcourt. I would avoid Iguodala until he proves he can handle a full slate of minutes. Tim Duncan/SAS is a shaky play due to this being his second of back-to-back games. Cory Joseph/SAS is a risky speculative play: even if he starts he may not get a lot of minutes. Look for Manu Ginobili/SAS to be productive off the bench.
Injuries Relevant for Tonight’s Games
Bulls: Kirk Hinrich (Q) ; Thunder: none.
Spurs: Tony Parker (OUT), Festus Ezeli (OUT) ; Warriors: Jermaine O’Neal (OUT).
key: (P) Probable, (Q) Questionable, (D) Doubtful, (GT) Game time decision, (OUT) Out, of course.
My Lineup
My recommended plays in the $11/$2,000 GPP at DraftStreet ($99,986 salary spent of $100,000 max):
Stars Worth Starting: Kevin Durant/OKC, Russell Westbrook/OKC, Serge Ibaka/OKC
Bargain Plays: Thabo Sefolosha/OKC, Steven Adams/OKC, Reggie Jackson/OKC
Speculative Plays: Carlos Boozer/CHI, Manu Ginobili/SAS
Estimated DraftStreet points: 200 (+/- 45.00)
The Fantasy Spin is here every day, around 1 PM EST. Follow me @robdudek for breaking news and pre-game thoughts relevant to NBA daily fantasy.
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an very long comment but
after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr…
well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted
to say excellent blog!