NBA Daily Grind Down: Thursday 3/28
The RotoGrinders NBA Grind Down article will give you an in-depth analysis into the NBA schedule each night. This article will break down the defense vs. position rankings for every single game and give you analysis on where you can exploit these matchups.
While matchups are a major factor in daily fantasy basketball, there are plenty of other factors to consider such as injuries, minutes, and salaries. The analysis should point you in the right direction, but it is still up to you to decipher the information and make your own selections.
Thursdays in the NBA are the worst. As a highly addicted grinder, I have no choice but to enter at least a couple of leagues, but with only 3 games on the schedule, it is extremely tough to find an edge. That being said, there are some great matchups to take advantage of tonight, so let’s break them down:
NOTES:
1) Defense vs. Position rankings are how well a team defends against a certain position. The ranking is for the team that it is listed under, NOT the opponent.
2) Rankings are as follows: 30 is the worst defense against a position, 1 is the best.
3) Last 10 Game Data is collected at the start of each week. It will be updated each Sunday for the upcoming week.
L.A.Lakers @ Milwaukee – 8:00 pm EDT
| L.A.Lakers D-Rank | Last 10 | Season | Milwaukee D-Rank | Last 10 | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Guard | 30 | 30 | Point Guard | 2 | 8 |
| Shooting Guard | 23 | 23 | Shooting Guard | 29 | 16 |
| Small Forward | 11 | 22 | Small Forward | 20 | 16 |
| Power Forward | 14 | 19 | Power Forward | 29 | 18 |
| Center | 8 | 21 | Center | 20 | 30 |
- When you see the Lakers on the schedule, you get to take your pick as far as matchups go. The only players on the Bucks I would stay away from is Larry Sanders. He will be guarded by Dwight, could easily get in foul trouble, and is always a risk to get thrown out. The rest of the Bucks are all in play though. Monta Ellis is cheaper than he has been and should be in your lineups. Brandon Jennings is extremely frustrating but you have to love his matchup against Nash. And finally Ersan Ilyasova has become a double-double machine and should continue that tonight.
- The Bucks make it pretty simple for us as well, they give up a good amount of fantasy point to every position with the exception of PG. Dwight Howard is a must play tonight against the 30th ranked defense against Centers, Pau Gasol finally had a big game last night and is a good value play today, and Kobe Bryant should have a huge advantage over Monta on the offensive end.
Indiana @ Dallas – 8:30 pm EDT
| Indiana D-Rank | Last 10 | Season | Dallas D-Rank | Last 10 | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Guard | 3 | 6 | Point Guard | 8 | 16 |
| Shooting Guard | 13 | 15 | Shooting Guard | 12 | 30 |
| Small Forward | 8 | 1 | Small Forward | 13 | 23 |
| Power Forward | 10 | 1 | Power Forward | 24 | 24 |
| Center | 25 | 12 | Center | 24 | 17 |
- Taking players against Indiana is tough because they do such a good job of containing their opponents best players. Indiana ranks in the top 15 against every position for the season and the Mavs aren’t a team that consistently has good fantasy players anyway. Picking any of the Mavs is risky, but if you have to take one, I think Dirk Nowitzki should put up 25+ fantasy points.
- Dallas ranks in the bottom half of the league against every position for the season, but they have been pretty good against PG’s over the last 10 games, most likely thanks to Mike James getting more playing time. It looks like the Pacers will get David West and Danny Granger back tonight so the Psycho-T fantasy train is officially stopped. The Pacers are an extremely deep team that spreads out the fantasy value between a lot of players. I like Paul George and Roy Hibbert in this one, but don’t expect huge games from either of them.
Sacramento @ Phoenix – 10:00 pm EDT
| Sacramento D-Rank | Last 10 | Season | Phoenix D-Rank | Last 10 | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Guard | 10 | 29 | Point Guard | 17 | 12 |
| Shooting Guard | 27 | 27 | Shooting Guard | 19 | 10 |
| Small Forward | 22 | 24 | Small Forward | 26 | 18 |
| Power Forward | 13 | 27 | Power Forward | 17 | 29 |
| Center | 19 | 25 | Center | 23 | 24 |
- The Kings are everyone’s favorite team on the schedule, well maybe 2nd favorite to the Bobcats. They rank in the bottom 6 against every single position. This is great news for the Suns fantasy value, especially considering the fact that Goran Dragic will be out again tonight. Kendall Marshall is a must play on all sites, no question. But I also think that Wesley Johnson, Markieff Morris, and Luis Scola are all playable. And they are all playable together. Taking 4 players from a team is risky, but tonight it should pay off.
- If you look at the Suns last 10 game rankings, they just keep getting worse and worse defensively. A lot of that has to do with injuries and they have plenty of them tonight as well. It’s easy to say take DeMarcus Cousins in this one, but unless you play on a site that requires two centers, I might stay away from Cousins. He has only topped 30 minutes once in the last seven games which is extremely frustrating and confusing. He could be a guy to fade tonight even though the matchup is a good one. I like Tyreke Evans and Jason Thompson if you can get him for cheap.