FanDuel NBA Single-Game Strategy: Trail Blazers/Warriors DFS Preview
Hello Grinders. FanDuel is running some solid single-game contests for tonight’s Golden State Warriors vs Portland Trail Blazers game. Let’s quickly look at some of the game factors and touch on some possible roster construction options for our daily fantasy basketball lineups.
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The Spread
The Blazers open as heavy 9.5 point favorites in a game that features a 219.5 over/under. When these two teams met back on November 4th, the Blazers won 127-118 in a game that featured 245 total points. Interestingly enough, the Warriors were without both D’Angelo Russell and Draymond Green in that game, yet were able to keep it respectfully close. I’m a little surprised the over/under isn’t a bit higher, but the bottom line is that Vegas expects the Blazers to win here on their home court by a healthy margin. I don’t ever want to predict blowouts, but it’s hard not to have it in the back of our minds when building lineups.
The Injuries
For the Blazers, Mario Hezonja is questionable but is averaging just 12.3 minutes per game this month and has been squeezed out of the rotation lately with Carmelo Anthony playing well, so this doesn’t have too much of an impact. Nassir Little is also probable with his back spasms, which makes things even tougher for Hezonja as they are fighting for minutes.
On the Warriors side, Eric Paschall will return from his hip injury, while the Warriors will remain without Ky Bowman as he stays in the G-League.
News and Notes
It’s worth noting that Alec Burks was moved to the bench in their last game, with Damion Lee starting in his place. Lee ended up dropping a 13/5/5/1 line in 35 minutes, while Burks responded with a 11/3/2/2 line in his 23 minutes. It’s unclear if this was a one-time move for matchups or a move that’s going to stick, but it makes Lee one of the more interesting options on this slate priced at $7,500 while Burks remains priced up at $11,500, which is hard to justify if he’s not going to get starter minutes.
The Warriors’ big man situation is also a bit of a hot mess. With Eric Paschall back, that throws another wrinkle into the rotations. Marquese Chriss had been on fire, but he played just 11 minutes last game in a blowout loss to the Kings. Willie Cauley-Stein started and played 30 minutes (albeit in a revenge game, so perhaps that’s why he got some extra run as that was the most playing time he’s seen all season) while Kevon Looney played 15 minutes and Omari Spellman played 18. Looney is averaging just 11.4 minutes per game this season and I expected the Warriors to slowly ramp up his minutes, but that hasn’t been the case so far. It’s possible one of these players stands out tonight, but this is a timeshare that’s going to give us a headache trying to figure out. I’d lean WCS and Chriss of this group, but we’re really throwing darts here and it may be best to just avoid it completely.
The Options
Hassan Whiteside – It’s hard for me not to love Whiteside in this spot against some combination of Cauley-Stein / Chriss / Spellman / Looney. This is a spot he should feast on and the scoring format benefits Whiteside greatly, as FanDuel heavily weighs blocks and steals. Whiteside has at least three blocks in four straight games and his 2.5 blocks per game average is good for 3rd in the league. The Warriors allow the 10th most fantasy points to opposing centers, and I have no problem if you wanted to fire up Whiteside in your MVP spot.
Damian Lillard – Lillard and Russell are priced within $1,000 of each other, and for me, I’m siding with Lillard if paying up. I personally have no problem pairing Whiteside and Lillard, and soaking up a ton of the Blazers production. Lillard’s stat line from his last game isn’t pretty, but he got into early foul trouble against the Suns and never got into a rhythm. With the Blazers heavy favorites and projected to score more points, I’d much rather take shots on the Lillard side than any high-priced option on the Warriors side.
Carmelo Anthony – Yuck, I can’t believe I’m writing up Melo in the year 2019, but here we are. We saw C.J. McCollum finally explode last game, but I find myself gravitating towards Anthony for $1,500 cheaper as he just continues to get all the minutes he can handle. While Anthony has typically been scoring dependent, he’s actually been racking up a ton of peripheral stats lately, nabbing at least two steals in five straight games and swatting a total of six blocks of his last three games. It’s an impressive performance for someone who was out of the league just a few weeks ago, but the minutes are there (31.8 minutes per game) with Rodney Hood out.
Damion Lee – I find myself trying to jam in as many Blazers as I can, but we’ll need to find some value somewhere. As mentioned above, Lee recently joined the starting lineup and given the fact he’s cheap at $7,500 and played 34 minutes last game, there may be a decent floor we can chase here. He’s now finished with 24+ FD points in back-to-back games and if the Warriors are going to develop him during their lost season, maybe he’s someone we can bank on for 30+ minutes and just hope he can find a way to not burn our lineups.
Thanks for reading, and good luck tonight. May variance be on your side.