Fantasy Spin May 26, 2015

Turns out we hadn’t seen everything yet. The Rockets played nearly perfect basketball in a record 45-point first quarter and held on to stay alive in the West. In a postseason memorable mostly for injuries, it sure looked as if Stephen Curry $10400 was the latest victim after a terrifying fall.

Remarkably, the MVP — who had vaulted Trevor Ariza $6900 and crashed awkwardly on his head and right shoulder — passed concussion tests and was able to return to the game. While the wisdom of the team doctor and trainer remains debatable, he did not seem to do any further damage.

James Harden $10900 was brilliant (45 PTS, 9 REB, 5 AST, 2 BLK, 2 STL) as Houston won for the fourth straight time in a do-or-die scenario. All his teammates contributed, especially Ariza and Josh Smith $5900, who was 7-for-8 from the floor. Whether they can duplicate that effort in Oakland tomorrow night remains to be seen, but the Warriors came out flat and will undoubtedly be sharper at home.

DraftKings matches your first deposit 100% (up to $600) with bonus funds that convert to cash, plus you get a FREE entry in the $45K Sharpshooter — the top score earns $4,000 and 3,525 of 17,240 teams will get paid. Odds are even better in the $30K Crossover, normally a $27 buy-in. That one has 250 guaranteed prizes ($3,500 for first) and only 1,267 teams.

As we said yesterday, DK has tweaked the salaries of the most important role players, making it difficult to use all three superstars. I guessed completely wrong and left Harden out last night, and this time will sit Curry. When it looked like he was seriously hurt, Klay Thompson $7100 and Draymond Green $8300 sparked a comeback. Andre Iguodala $4600 and seldom-used Leandro Barbosa $2400 were sharp off the bench. Between the possibility that Steph is less than 100% and the depth of his supporting cast, he might not need to score 40.

The fate of Dwight Howard $8800 is in the hands of the NBA. He was assessed a Flagrant 1 for an elbow to the head of Andrew Bogut $5000 and if the league upgrades that to a Flagrant 2, he’ll be suspended. Stay tuned.

Tuesday-Wednesday contests close at 8:30 Eastern with the Cavaliers looking to sweep. If Atlanta can come out with the kind of intensity the Rockets showed, they could extend the series. Al Horford $7500 will be especially motivated to atone for his Game Three ejection, and with Kyle Korver (ankle) out, three inexpensive Hawks must assume larger roles.

Kent Bazemore $3500 is the new starting SG, Shelvin Mack $2100 has apparently replaced Dennis Schroder $4800 as the third guard and Mike Scott $2700 is averaging 29 minutes in the last two games as the backup big man.

Though he missed his first ten shots and was in obvious pain from cramps and injuries during overtime, LeBron James $11700 put up spectacular numbers on Sunday. Kyrie Irving $6500 (knee) remains questionable and both will benefit from more than a week off if Cleveland can prevail tonight. Failure to seal the deal will mean at least one more game (if not two) and shorten their much-needed recovery time.

My sample lineup starts with LBJ and Harden. It’s a choice between Jeff Teague $7400 and punting at PG, since two of the four remaining starters — Matthew Dellavedova $3900 and Jason Terry $3600 — are inexplicably still not eligible at the only position they play. I’m committed to Horford (call it a strong hunch) and like the price on the underrated Bazemore. That leaves just $6000 to fill the last two spots; Scott is the only F piece that fits and I’ll try various lineups using James Jones $2300, Barbosa, Festus Ezeli $2500 or Shaun Livingston $3000 at Util, hoping one of them pays off.

Pos	Premium	Midrange	Bargain
PG	Stephen Curry $10400	Jeff Teague $7400	Shelvin Mack $2100
SG	James Harden $10900	Klay Thompson $7100	Kent Bazemore $3500
SF	LeBron James $11700	Trevor Ariza $6900	Josh Smith $5900
PF	Draymond Green $8300	Paul Millsap $7600	Mike Scott $2700
C	Dwight Howard $8800	Al Horford $7500	Festus Ezeli $2500