Hittin' The Nuts with Squirrelpatrol - Thursday, February 1st
Want to hit the nuts and take down 1st place in these massive contests posted by FanDuel and DraftKings? Who better to walk you through their favorite NBA DFS picks than Squirrelpatrol! Undoubtedly one of the best DFS players in the game today, Squirrelpatrol has accumulated 90+ Live Final seats, won the FanDuel 2021 World Fantasy Basketball Championship for $500,000, and most recently, took down the NFL Milly Maker in Week 2.
Thursday night brings us a 4-game slate tipping off at 7:30 PM ET featuring some of the most injured teams in the NBA. What could have been a slate featuring LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, Julius Randle, and Ja Morant will now be featuring D’Angelo Russell, Tobias Harris, and Donte DiVincenzo.
Two of the four games tip off at the 7:30 PM ET lock, with Indiana visiting the Knicks (Knicks -2.5, 236 total) and the Lakers in Boston (Celtics -14.5, 239.5 total). The Pacers have listed seven players as questionable, most notably Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin, while the Knicks have O.G. Anunoby and Quentin Grimes listed as questionable. The Celtics have Luke Kornet listed as questionable, but the big injury news is on the other side, where LeBron James and Anthony Davis are out.
The next game tips off at 8:00 PM ET, with the Cavaliers in Memphis (Cavs -8, 215 total). Santi Aldama and John Konchar are listed as questionable for the Grizzlies, while Evan Mobley is out for Cleveland.
The final game doesn’t tip off for another two hours after that, as the 76ers are in Utah (Jazz -4.5, 238 total) without Joel Embiid. Philadelphia also has Tyrese Maxey listed as questionable, which creates a bit of a jam, as there are no other games to swap to.
The good news is that with two of the games tipping off when the slate locks, we should get additional news as starting lineups are announced leading up to 7:30 PM ET. Let’s sort through the slate with the news we have now and figure out what to do with our DFS lineups.
NBA DFS Lineup Advice: Squirrelpatrol’s ‘Hittin’ The Nuts’ (February 1st)
High Flyers
Who are the players I’m picking first for my squad? These guys are the first selections for both my cash game and tournament lineups, and I’ll sacrifice elsewhere, if need be, to ensure I get them in:
DAngelo Russell
FanDuel: $7,600
DraftKings: $7,300
Russell had a disappointing game two nights ago against Atlanta, but he is still averaging 25.2 points and 6.1 assists per game in the past 10 games since being reinserted into the starting lineup. Tonight, both Anthony Davis and LeBron James are out, and Russell has seen a 7.9% usage bump and averages 1.5 DK points per minute with AD and LeBron off the court this season. The Lakers have played at the fastest pace in the NBA since Russell went back into the starting lineup (compared to 6th for the overall season), and this game has the highest total on the night.
Tobias Harris
FanDuel: $7,700
DraftKings: $7,000
The spacing of the games is a bit of a mess if we don’t get clarity on the status of Tyrese Maxey before lock, with Philadelphia’s game tipping off two hours after the next-latest game on the slate. We get a bit of a break, however, with Harris shaping up as a top play regardless of the status of Maxey. Harris averages 0.97 DK points per minute on the season, and with Embiid off the court, his average increases to 1.09 DK points per minute.
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