NBA Grind Down: Saturday, December 20th - Page Two
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Indiana at Denver
- Vegas Line – Denver -4, 200.5 Over/Under
- Indiana Proj. Starters – Watson-Stuckey-Hill-West-Hibbert
- Denver Proj. Starters – Lawson-Afflalo-Chandler-Faried-Mozgov
| Indiana | Denver | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Total | 200 |  | Vegas Total | 200 | |||||||
| Vegas Sprd | 4.0 | Vegas Sprd | -4.0 | |||||||||
| Team Proj. | 98.25 | Team Proj. | 102.25 | |||||||||
| Team Pace | 94.83 | Team Pace | 98.66 | |||||||||
| Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks and Projected Starters | Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks and Projected Starters | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proj Starter | C.J. Watson | Rodney Stuckey | Solomon Hill | David West | Roy Hibbert | Proj Starter | Ty Lawson | Arron Afflalo | Wilson Chandler | Kenneth Faried | Timofey Mozgov | |
| Opp. Season | 12 | 12 | 19 | 24 | 27 | Opp. Season | 27 | 20 | 1 | 6 | 28 | |
| Opp. Last 7 | 6 | 27 | 16 | 22 | 22 | Opp. Last 7 | 12 | 13 | 2 | 21 | 21 | |
Indiana
Losers of nine of their last ten games — their only win in that streak coming against the Lakers — the Pacers are on the road tonight against Denver. The Nuggets are ranked 4th in pace, so Indiana is a good team to target. C.J. Watson is probable to play with a sinus infection and George Hill is nearing a return.
Elite Plays
None
Secondary Plays
Rodney Stuckey — Stuckey is still the only real play-maker that the Pacers have. He has shown incredible upside for his price with double-doubles in two of his last three games. Stuckey leads Indiana with a usage rate of 25.3 and he is also leading the team in scoring with 13.2 points per game despite only playing 25.3 minutes per game.
David West — Denver has struggled against post players all year, and while West isn’t exciting, he makes for a solid cash game play with limited upside.
Denver
This is Denver’s third game in four days and there isn’t a whole lot to like about them from a fantasy perspective right now. The one guy that you’d want to regularly target — Ty Lawson — has been too expensive to reasonably expect him to pay off his salary. The Nuggets are playing down in pace and we can expect the starters to see a slight decrease in minutes.
Elite Plays
None
Secondary Plays
Danilo Gallinari — I’ve got Danilo listed here for consideration as a GPP punt play. He has been getting minutes since coming back from injury and he’s playing well with those minutes. On FanDuel for $3,800 he frees up a lot of space and fills a position that is thin and will likely see a lot of overlap in tournaments.
Milwaukee at L.A. Clippers
- Vegas Line – L.A. Clippers -10.5, 211 Over/Under
- Milwaukee Proj. Starters – Knight-Mayo-Dudley-Antetokounmpo-Sanders
- L.A. Clippers Proj. Starters – Paul-Redick-Barnes-Griffin-Jordan
| Milwaukee | L.A. Clippers | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Total | 211 |  | Vegas Total | 211 | |||||||
| Vegas Sprd | 10.50 | Vegas Sprd | -10.50 | |||||||||
| Team Proj. | 100.25 | Team Proj. | 110.75 | |||||||||
| Team Pace | 96.37 | Team Pace | 96.14 | |||||||||
| Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks and Projected Starters | Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks and Projected Starters | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proj Starter | Brandon Knight | O.J. Mayo | Jared Dudley | Giannis Antetokounmpo | Larry Sanders | Proj Starter | Chris Paul | J.J. Redick | Matt Barnes | Blake Griffin | DeAndre Jordan | |
| Opp. Season | 2 | 17 | 10 | 16 | 19 | Opp. Season | 20 | 15 | 28 | 7 | 25 | |
| Opp. Last 7 | 5 | 19 | 6 | 20 | 18 | Opp. Last 7 | 17 | 6 | 12 | 14 | 16 | |
Milwaukee
The Bucks recently lost Jabari Parker for the season and the last couple of games have seen Khris Middleton and Jared Dudley swap production back and forth in his place. John Henson is questionable to play, Giannis Antetokounmpo has been playing through an ankle injury and Larry Sanders is returning from a one game suspension.
Elite Plays
Brandon Knight — Knight is one of those guys whose point-per-game average is right at his 5x salary mark, making him one of the first guys you should take a look at. He normally has 50 fantasy point upside, but in a tough matchup against Chris Paul his upside takes a slight dip. The high minutes and usage that he sees ensure a high floor.
Secondary Plays
Jared Dudley — Dudley is not a very talented basketball player, but this is a game against his former team that he will look to be aggressive in. Dudley played 33 minutes and ended up taking ten shots off the bench against Sacramento in his last game and that’s going to be closer to what we can expect from him tonight rather than the 27 minute, 1-7 performance that he had against the Blazers.
L.A. Clippers
The Clippers lost to the Bucks a week ago in Milwaukee in a game that saw Matt Barnes lead the team in scoring. The Big Three (Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan) played poorly in that game but played very well together in a loss at Denver last night.
Elite Plays
Chris Paul — This is a game that I expect Chris Paul to take charge of. He has put up back-to-back 50 fantasy point games on DraftKings and he is priced down from some of the other elite options out there like Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis and James Harden. Some will be scared away by the matchup, but Paul is one of the most matchup-proof players in the NBA.
Secondary Plays
None