NBA Advanced Matchups Preview: Sunday, April 12th
Welcome to the NBA Advanced Matchups, presented by Ohnjz. I’ll be taking you deep into the depths of NBA advanced stats to uncover the top plays in each NBA slate (with four or more games). We’ll consider a broad spectrum of metrics here, including SPORTSVU player and shot tracking, play type data, individual defensive metrics, and my personal favorite, Ohnjz’ bad-jokes-and-snarky-comments-per-article. As always, this work is meant as a guide to help you hone in on what advanced stats would suggest are some of the top plays – but it’s ultimately up to you to decide how to build your lineups.
MINDFULNESS
Before we dig into the Advanced Matchups, we’ll take note of the team and game situations that can impact our decision-making each day.
BLOWOUT CONCERNS
| ROAD TEAM | HOME TEAM | FAVORITE |
| SUNS | SPURS | SPURS -15.5 |
FATIGUE CONCERNS
There are no serious fatigue worries today.
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
PELICANS PF ANTHONY DAVIS
This is an ugly NBA slate, friends. However, it does feature both the Pelicans and the Thunder, who are battling each other for a single playoff spot. That means we can pretty much be guaranteed that the stars on each team will be playing as minutes as possible. This includes PF Anthony Davis, who looks good to go tonight despite dealing with a throat injury that limited him to just 23 minutes vs the Suns on Friday. Davis faces a Rockets squad that should have Dwight Howard available. While that theoretically dampens Davis’ potential, it didn’t prevent him from racking up 65+ FPTS against the Rockers earlier this season; Davis went for 30 points and 14 rebounds in that game. Even with Howard, the Rockets still won’t be able to contain Davis’s midrange game, and have struggled horribly vs PFs this season (28th in PF DVP).
LAKERS PG JORDAN CLARKSON
Clarkson is arguably the most attractive option at an uninspiring PG position tonight. Clarkson has been a revelation for the Lakers, emerging as their primary scorer down the stretch and becoming a more consistent PG option than players like Tony Parker and Rajon Rondo. With the Lakers playing for nothing but ping pong balls, they’ve been able to set Clarkson loose offensively, giving him heavy minutes (34+ minutes in four of his last five games) and the green light to shoot (17+ shots in four of his last five). The matchup with Rajon Rondo and Monta Ellis is not an intimidating one, and in a game with the second-highest total of any on this slate, Clarkson is a good bet to extend his streak of 40+ FPT performances tonight.
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Each day when there are four or more late-slate games, Ohnjz will bring FanDuel & DraftKings Incentives members Advanced Matchup breakdowns for that day’s NBA games. These data-driven breakdowns will provide you insight & analysis you can’t find anywhere else. Enjoy!
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