The NBA Playoff’s are finally here! So what does this mean for the Fanduel world? Well, no more last-minute line-up changes due to “rest” or the mysterious “illness”. Now we, more or less, know who is playing and how many minutes. Obviously there may be injuries as the Playoffs progress, but that’s easier to deal with.
Before we get to the meat of things, I just wanted to point out a few additions to the site for those that haven’t visited since the regular season ended.
First off, I have 2 new co-authors on-board for the site now. Brendan is writing Fanduel MLB content, and doing an awesome job of it so far. Give him a follow on twitter @fantasyram. He will be giving daily advice and posting a lineup, so check his posts.
My other author is doing something completely different and totally unrelated to DFS. He will be contributing to a blog column called “Why I Hate..”. It’s a sports column dedicated to “trolling”. I really can’t think of a better way to describe it. For those familiar with the deadspin articles “Why your team will suck”, its similar in concept. The Author, Josh McCain, will pick a sports related theme, player, or team, and write a column of why he hates it. It’s pretty entertaining. Check out his first post here “Ten Reason Why I Hate the NBA Playoffs” You can follow him on twitter @JoMac006
And finally, you’ll begin to notice some design improvements soon, so please bear with me through that. There may be some hiccups along the way, but all the content will still be available as I upgrade the interface.
Now we can get to the reason you’re here. Some NBA Fanduel advice. I’ll be changing the format for the playoffs since writing a Top Ten, as well as my Dunks, Passes, and Punts, will be difficult with only 3 or 4 games a night. So what I’m going to do instead is break down each position, and give 2 or 3 good plays from each, regardless of price. A good play could be someone listed at $3500, if I think they have a chance to exceed their value, and allow you to pay-up somewhere else. So let’s get started…
Point Guard
Point guard is the deepest position tonight, so I’m going to list 4 guys that will be in all my line-ups in some form or fashion. These are in no particular order.
Steph Curry $10,000 Ok, so it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to tell you that Curry is a good play tonight, but I think his price is low enough that it can be exploited. Due to rest games, taking 4th quarters off, and just general cruising down the stretch, his price is as low as it will be for the playoffs. After a few games, I expect it to climb near 11K. Use him at this price while you can.
John Wall $9500 I promise I’m not just going to pick the top guys, and tell you they are good plays, it just happens to work out that way for point guard. John Wall has come out publicly and said he knows the Wizards will only go as far as he can take them. I’m looking for him to be ulta-agressive in this game to make a statement. The Raptors are not a very good defensive team, but they are good offensively, so the Wizards are going to have to score, and Wall will be at the center of it.
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Michael Carter-Williams $7400 The Bulls have gotten better over the last few weeks at guarding the point guard position, and by better I mean they are only bad instead awful. Excluding the last game of the season when he played limited minutes, MCW has scored 30 or more Fanduel points over his last 7 games, while going over 40 twice. I’m expecting him to push for 40 tonight.
Derrick Rose $6200 This one is a little risky because of injury history, but he is as healthy as he is going to get for the playoffs. This is game 1, after a few days of rest. It’s only downhill from here, so use him now. $6200 is a good price for a guy with 50 point, take over a game, upside.
Shooting Guards
James Harden $11000 Obviously.
Lou Williams $5200 The Wizards defense is pretty good, but Lou Williams is a starter for most teams, and he comes off the bench for the Raptors. Going against the Wizards second unit, he should be able to exploit them. In his last 2 meetings with them he has had 30+ in both, and in those games, Lowry and DeRozan did play, in case you were wondering.
OJ Mayo $4600 He is my wild-card. He is at a really good price tag, and playing with the second unit, he will avoid match-ups with Butler, for the most part. Whoever Butler guards, either Alphabet or Middleton, will struggle to score, leaving the Bucks to find offense elsewhere. They will find it in OJ Mayo.
Small Forwards
Paul Pierce $4200 Small forward is a wasteland. I don’t really feel comfortable paying up for any of the top guys, so I’m going value here all the way. The Playoffs is why Pierce was brought here. He wasn’t here to help them out in the regular season, he was brought here solely for the playoffs. There will be no rest days, no minute limit, just a full dose of The Truth, though admittedly he is a little more Little White Lie now than The Truth, but he can still exceed his value tonight.
Corey Brewer $4500 He is a tourney play only, but when he is on, he is on. Unfortunately, when he is off, he is off. Here’s to hoping he is on.
Power Forwards
No need to mention Anthony Davis and Pau Gasol. (though, by saying that, I guess I mentioned them)
Ersan Ilyasova $5200 He is pretty much the best value at power forward tonight. He has played well versus the Bulls in his last 2 games, scoring 28 and 35 Fanduel points. At $5200, he is a steal.
Center
Another position of uncertainties. I don’t feel comfortable with either of the top 2 guys, though both are good tourney plays.
Andrew Bogut $5400 In the 2 games versus the Pels in which he got 28+ minutes, he has averaged 34 Fanduel points. At $5400, you’ll take that any day of the week.
Tyson Chandler $6000 His price is right, and should easily reach value tonight. There will be a lot of shots put up, and a lot of rebounds to be had. Tyson should end up with a low-end double double.
I’m going to also post my cash line-up for the Playoffs as well. I know some of you didn’t want me to stop posting my line-ups before, but I always felt that the second best part of playing DFS was building a line-up. This is just to give you an idea of what I’m running, I wouldn’t suggest blindly plugging this in.
This is also strictly cash games. You can play it in a GPP(tourney) if you want, but it’s constructed for Double Ups and 50/50’s.
Tonight’s Starting 9
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