I’m back guys! I took a little bit of a hiatus as the NBA season wound down because it became nearly impossible to write an article the night before the games when I had no idea who was even going to play the next day. There wasn’t any NBA DFS content up for yesterday either, and I apologize for that, but as some of you may know, I write for FantasyPros.com on Saturday. Writing an article and doing my NBA Playoff preview podcast left no time to write anything on my site for yesterday.
I will do my best to have some NBA DFS stuff up for the rest of the playoffs, which speaking of, I’m going to be changing the format somewhat. With a max of four teams playing every night, there just isn’t a large enough pool of players to make my article in the old format very interesting. So going forward, I’m going to be giving you my cash game lineup and a narrative as to why I like them. Now keep in mind, I write this the night before the games and sometimes there are games being played as I write it, so some things may change, so if you have any questions about changes made to my lineup you can reach me in a number of ways; 1) simply by commenting on this article at the bottom, 2) follow and message me on twitter @geofflambert77, and 3) follow and message me on Instagram @dfs_goingfor2. I will try my best to respond to you.
Okay, let’s get to it…
NBA FanDuel Cash Game Lineup for 4/17/16
PG Chris Paul vs POR $9,500
Paul is averaging 46.5 FanDuel points against the Blazers this year, including a 53 point gem in January. Blake Griffin is back in the fold for the Clippers  which may take away some Paul’s scoring, but his assist numbers will more than make up for it. This game has the highest over/under of any game on the slate which is why you’ll notice I’m stacking it.
PG Reggie Jackson @ CLE $6,500
Currently listed as GTD, I fully expect Jackson to play in this one. Kyrie Irving is not a great defender and the Pistons will need Jackson to outperform him if they have any shot at winning this series, so I expect Jackson to be very aggressive in this one. He put up a 42 Fanduel point game on them earlier in the season in a 104-99 Pistons’ victory, and that is the type of production he’ll have to have all series.
SG C.J. McCollum @ LAC $7,400
McCollum has struggled somewhat against the Clippers, but he is more than capable of putting up a huge game. When playing NBA playoff DFS there are two things you really want to look at — Usage and Playing Time (UPT). McCollum has the ninth highest usage rate of any player on today’s slate and ranks seventh in minutes played. At $7,400 he is a steal.
SG Kentavious Caldwell-Pope @ CLE $5,200
Shooting guard is the shallowest position on this slate and because I’m paying up at other positions, KCP became my best option at the second shooting guard spot. His UPT leaves a little to be desired in the “usage” column but he averages more minutes per game than every player on this slate. Let me say that again. KCP averages more minutes per game on the year than every player on this slate. That alone makes him a worthy punt play.
SF LeBron James vs DET $10,500
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James has heard all the naysayers, “Cavs have chemistry issues”, “Kyrie wants out of Cleveland”, “Kevin Love doesn’t fit with this team”. The only way he can silence those people is to win. He will be super aggressive in Games 1 and 2 at home because if Detroit is able to steal a game in Cleveland, those naysayers will be out in full force — and Lebron knows it. James is my top play for today’s games.
SF Maurice Harkless @ LAC $5,500
Hark’s usage rate isn’t great for the year, but it was much higher down the stretch run for the Blazers after he was inserted into the starting lineup. His minutes have also jumped up to 25-30 per game, including the 30 minutes he logged in late March against this Clippers team. Sub-6k guys with 30-point upside will be hard to find in the playoffs, but Harkless is one of those players.
PF Marvin Williams @ MIA $5,600
This is a pretty tough slate and my cash lineup has a few more “risks” than I would normally like, but with ownership being so high across the board, if one of these sub-6k guys don’t hit value, it won’t kill you. I really wanted to fit in Luol Deng over Morris, but I just couldn’t make it work. Morris is capable of putting up big numbers and as long as he gets 30-plus minutes he has a pretty high floor, but he comes with risk.
PF Ed Davis @ LAC $4,000
Davis, in four games this year against the Clippers, has not scored fewer than 28 FanDuel points. He is the Blazers utility player, and does a little bit of everything. He will hustle his ass off for whatever amount of minutes he gets, and he is probably the best value in terms of points per dollar on tonight’s slate — and he should be low-owned to boot.
C Mason Plumlee @ LAC $5,600
Wrapping up this lineup with the fifth player taken from this game is Plumlee. When Plumlee was moved into the starting lineup, after the Meyers Leonard injury, he has been a pretty popular value play at the center position. He played the Clippers four times this year, and in the two games in which he logged over 25 minutes he scored 34 or more FanDuel points in each. As long as he can stay out of foul trouble, I think he should have 25-30 minutes and will have 30-plus FanDuel points.
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