NBA Daily Plays: January 11th, 2014
First things first, big congrats to one of RotoGrinders’ founders Cameron, as while most of you are building lineups tonight he’ll be saying “I do” at his wedding ceremony. It’s a big day for Cam and a big day for daily fantasy basketball as you try and bounce back or keep a hot streak alive coming out of the 12-game Friday night slate. Here are some options to start your research around.
Point Guards
- Ty Lawson vs. ORL – No point guard playing today is hotter than Ty Lawson, who has been a 40 fantasy point machine over his last 5 games. Over his last eight games, he had between 30-40 in his first 4, followed by 40-50 in his next three, then went over 50 in his last game. It’s another good matchup for the red hot Lawson as well.
- Raymond Felton vs. PHI – Felton can be had for a good bargain on nearly every DFS site tonight, which is great news for a guy who just hung a 40 fantasy point game up on Miami and now gets to face a Philadelphia defense that has been one of the league’s worst at defending everything all season.
- Brandon Jennings vs. PHO – There’s a lot to be frustrated with Jennings for, after he failed to really light it up against a horrible Sixers defense on Friday night. With that said, he still managed to go over 30 fantasy points and came on strong towards the end of that game. He’s been inconsistent all year, but has another good matchup on Saturday and makes for a high risk/high reward tournament play.
Shooting Guards
- Joe Johnson vs. TOR – Without Deron Williams, Joe Johnson has been an absolute animal. In the last 3 games without D-Will, he’s gone over 30 fantasy points in each contest and exploded last night for 40+ FPs against MIA. At $5.6K on FD and $4.9K on DK he’s still an extreme value.
- Iman Shumpert vs. PHI – Shumpert is the biggest beneficiary to the news that JR Smith will no longer be part of the Knicks rotation. He had a couple of monster games early last week, then cooled off a bit over his last 3-4 contests but looked great against Miami on Thursday night and should be a lock for 35-40 minutes against one of the league’s worst defenses.
- Brian Roberts vs. DAL – Roberts struggled against this same Dallas team on Friday, but that should scare enough people off him that you can get a min-priced shooting guard on most sites, who is a lock to play 30+ minutes, at a much lower percentage owned than you saw on Friday. He got into foul trouble early but did fine, fantasy wise, when on the court so you can expect him to bounce back tonight.
Small Forwards
- Carmelo Anthony vs. PHI – This one doesn’t need much explanation, but Melo has been playing out of his mind and now draws a 76ers defense that just let Josh Smith post a 60 fantasy point game on Friday. The only reason you’d avoid Melo is if you see a blowout here, but the Knicks haven’t blown anyone out in awhile.
- Jeff Green vs. POR – Green has quietly been coming on strong over the Celtics long road trip, posting 25+ FP in three straight games before last night. Last night, he blew up with 24 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists. Portland is allowing the 4th most FPPG to Small Forwards over the last 15 days, and Green is still middle of the pack priced across all sites.
- Trevor Ariza vs. HOU – Ariza could be an intriguing GPP option tonight, as he’s been fairly inconsistent of late but gets to face a Houston defense that ranks 6th worst against the SF position on the year and 8th worst over the last 15 days. He can stuff the stat sheet and should be locked into 30+ minutes as well.
Power Forwards
- Anthony Davis vs. DAL – Davis shouldered the Pelicans workload late in Friday night’s game against Dallas and wound up over the 50 fantasy point marker. He has to continue to post huge numbers while Jrue Holiday and Ryan Anderson work towards getting back on the court. As a whole, Davis has been significantly better fantasy wise with Anderson out this season.
- Glen Davis vs. DEN – Davis has 25+ fantasy points in six consecutive games and without Vucevic he’s had to be stellar inside for the Magic. On Saturday, he gets a Denver interior defense that is 27th worst vs. Centers over the last 15 days and 22nd against power forwards in that span. No matter what position he starts at, his matchup looks good.
- Kenneth Faried vs. ORL – Speaking of good matchups, since Vucevic went down about 2 weeks back the Magic are 2nd worst in the NBA in fantasy points allowed to power forwards. Faried on the other hand has fantasy outputs of 42, 38 and 28 in his last three games. He seems to finally have found his stride and could be in for another monster double double on Saturday.
Centers
- Joakim Noah vs. CHA – Charlotte has allowed the 7th most FPPG to opposing Centers in the last 15 days and their defense vs. position ratings have plummeted over the last month. Al Jefferson is a horrible defender and below average rebounder inside, and he’s traditionally struggled with guys willing to hustle similar to Noah’s style.
- Marcin Gortat vs. HOU – I don’t love a ton of players at the Center position tonight, but Gortat could be a sneaky pick for tournaments. The Rockets haven’t been great against Centers in the last two weeks, ranking 20th in that span. Gortat also contributed 36 and 43 fantasy point efforts earlier this week before struggling against a strong Indiana interior on Friday night.