NBA Daily Grind Down: Tuesday 3/5
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.
We have an awfully quiet Tuesday night in the NBA with only 3 games on tap. While this amount of games is too low for some Grinders to play, there are other Grinders like myself that just can’t help but get into some leagues. For those of you like myself that are in leagues tonight, here is a breakdown of each game for that should hopefully give you an edge:
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.
Boston @ Philadelphia – 7:00 pm EST
| Boston D-Rank | Last 10 | Season | Philadelphia D-Rank | Last 10 | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Guard | 5 | 6 | Point Guard | 27 | 20 |
| Shooting Guard | 11 | 10 | Shooting Guard | 8 | 3 |
| Small Forward | 22 | 8 | Small Forward | 12 | 19 |
| Power Forward | 19 | 19 | Power Forward | 5 | 5 |
| Center | 9 | 15 | Center | 29 | 27 |
- With a small number of games today, we are going to have to dig a little deeper than usual. Looking at Boston’s defensive rankings, there aren’t any glaring weaknesses. Avery Bradley is a top defender and taking Jrue Holiday against him might not be the best idea. However, Boston ranks 19th against PF’s and I can see Thaddeus Young having a solid performance. You will also want to keep an eye on Nick Young injury, it is looking like he will be out again which is good news for Evan Turner, Royal Ivey, and Dorell Wright. All three of them get a boost in minutes and production with Young out.
- The Sixers make my job a little bit easier. Their rankings show that we should target PG’s, SF’s, and Centers. While Avery Bradley can have some good games, he isn’t a traditional PG and could get caught up expending his energy on the defensive side of the floor. I do like both Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett though. Garnett should have a big advantage over Hawes and Allen and Pierce has been playing some great basketball lately.
L.A.Lakers @ Oklahoma City – 9:30 pm EST
| L.A.Lakers D-Rank | Last 10 | Season | Oklahoma City D-Rank | Last 10 | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Guard | 23 | 29 | Point Guard | 9 | 4 |
| Shooting Guard | 25 | 22 | Shooting Guard | 18 | 21 |
| Small Forward | 17 | 23 | Small Forward | 25 | 12 |
| Power Forward | 28 | 18 | Power Forward | 3 | 10 |
| Center | 15 | 23 | Center | 21 | 16 |
- The Lakers defense has plenty of matchups to exploit, look at all of those green rankings. Both Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant should be in for big nights and it will be interesting to see if Serge Ibaka is going to get suspended for cup checking Blake Griffin last game. If Ibaka does get suspended, that makes Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison both worthy options.
- This is a big game for the Lakers, they have beaten the bad teams, but are something like 2-15 against the top 7 teams in the NBA. I expect them to fall short tonight, but I think they put a solid effort together. Kobe Bryant is going to be Kobe and has the best matchup of all the Lakers. It’s tough to say how Dwight Howard will play, I have been wrong about him all year and Perkins usually defends him well. I’m going the opposite of what I think and I am going to take a chance on the big man tonight.
Denver @ Sacramento – 10:00 pm EST
| Denver D-Rank | Last 10 | Season | Sacramento D-Rank | Last 10 | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Guard | 29 | 23 | Point Guard | 28 | 30 |
| Shooting Guard | 7 | 12 | Shooting Guard | 29 | 26 |
| Small Forward | 30 | 27 | Small Forward | 28 | 24 |
| Power Forward | 4 | 12 | Power Forward | 21 | 29 |
| Center | 11 | 29 | Center | 28 | 25 |
- This is the game that you really want to target tonight. Vegas has the Over/Under at a whopping 223. Denver certainly isn’t known for it’s defense and this is a night where I would consider taking 2-3 Kings which is highly unusual. The first selection is Isaiah Thomas. He has had a few down games, but he is still their number one PG and he has a great matchup against Lawson. Finally someone that is the same height as he is. Next we have DeMarcus Cousins, while he is always a risk to get in foul trouble or to get kicked out of the game, his matchup is too good to pass on tonight. Last but not least is Marcus Thornton, he has had at least 24 fantasy points in each of his last 4 games and he could top that again tonight.
- Now to the Nuggets who get to face a defense that is even worse than their own. I love Ty Lawson going up against the league’s worst defense at defending PG’s. The rest of the team is a little more tricky to predict. Gallinari has been playing awful, but will likely turn it around any day now. Iguodala has been hot, but a lot of that has been from the absence and bad play of Gallinari. Neither Center can be relied upon. And Faried’s minutes are as inconsistent as anyone in the NBA. My advice is to take Lawson and do what you want with the rest of the team.