NBA Grind Down: Friday, April 11th - Page 3
All stat chart buttons below open in an in-screen popup window and include stat tables for all games on the given page of the Grind Down Article
Phoenix at San Antonio
- Vegas Line – San Antonio -3, 207 Over/Under
- Phoenix Proj. Starters – Dragic-Bledsoe-Tucker-Frye-Plumlee
- San Antonio Proj. Starters – Mills-Green-Leonard-Duncan-Splitter
Phoenix
Phoenix gets to follow up Dallas in the ‘try to beat the Spurs to stay in the playoff chase’ game on Friday night. Dallas lost their matchup on Thursday and if the Spurs starters played I’d expect Phoenix to drop one as well. The problem is that both Parker and Duncan are doubtful tonight so the Suns can definitely hang tight here. Without those two, the Spurs are a drastically different team and I expect guys like Bledsoe and Dragic to put up some good numbers.
- Eric Bledsoe – Love Bledsoe tonight against either Mills, Joseph, Danny Green or Belinelli. There are some concerns that Kawhi might slide down and cover him at times but I think they’ll use Bledsoe on the ball more, leaving Dragic in the tougher matchup.
San Antonio
The Spurs have Duncan and Parker listed as doubtful tonight which opens up some big opportunities for their bench and role players. The problem is guessing what Popovich is thinking, as showcased last night when he decided to shove Mills into the starting lineup just seconds before tip-off and Joseph played only 8 minutes. Who knows what he’s thinking tonight, so rolling any Spurs is a GPP gamble.
- Kawhi Leonard – If you’re looking for safety on the Spurs, Leonard is likely the closest thing to it and he should see an uptick in production with Duncan/Parker out.
- Boris Diaw – Diaw has a nice matchup as the Suns rank 22nd against PFs over the last 15 days and has been extremely productive when Big Time Timmy Jim has sat out this season.
- Patty Mills – Another GPP play only, Mills was terrific on Thursday and sits at a very reasonable price point across the industry.
Portland at Utah
- Vegas Line – Portland -9, 199 Over/Under
- Portland Proj. Starters – Lillard-Matthews-Batum-Aldridge-Lopez
- Utah Proj. Starters – Burke-Hayward-Jefferson-Favors-Kanter
Portland
This game has me all sorts of confused because the 199 O/U is much lower than I would have expected for Portland facing a below-average defense. The spread is about right but I don’t know what to make of that O/U. Anyways, Utah ranks in the bottom half of the NBA over the last 15 days against the PG, SG and SF positions so that’s probably a good starting point if you’re looking to target Blazers.
Utah
Utah is the worst team in the West and will look to finish their season by scooping a few extra ping pong balls in the final games. Injury-wise, they’re relatively healthy but Marvin Williams is doubtful tonight and that returns Enes Kanter to both big minutes and a starting role. He’s been terrific as a starter and has a nice price point so I wouldn’t shy away from that option against the piss poor defense of Robin Lopez.
- Trey Burke – Burke has a great matchup and huge upside, but I’m mentioning him here because of the price error on DraftStreet tonight where he wound up costing just $4K. Take advantage of that Grinders.
- Enes Kanter – In the starting lineup he should see about 36 minutes which makes it relatively easy for him to pay off a middle-of-the-pack price point on most sites.
Golden State at L.A.Lakers
- Vegas Line – Golden State -9.5, 220 Over/Under
- Golden State Proj. Starters – Curry-Thompson-Iguodala-Green-Bogut
- L.A.Lakers Proj. Starters – Marshall-Meeks-Johnson-Hill-Sacre
Golden State
The final game of the night involves the Lakers so you know there will be plenty of daily fantasy relevancy. David Lee is expected to sit out again and that means more big minutes for Draymond Green, as well as production boosts for Bogut, Curry and Klay. All four guys are viable options tonight against a team allowing 114.3 points per game over the last 10 games.
- Stephen Curry – No one on LA is going to slow him down and regardless of how bad the Lakers suck, Curry will still want to put on a show at the Staples Center. He’s the top PG of the night
- Draymond Green – He’s not really a value punt play anymore but he’s still cheap enough on most sites that he’s worth using against the Lakers.
- Andrew Bogut – Check on his status because of the back to back but if he plays he should be extremely productive against this horrible interior defense.
L.A.Lakers
Oh the Lakers. As a Celtics fan I can’t hide that giddy feeling I have looking at the turmoil they’ve created in their organization. I mean why should they let Kobe have a say on Mike D’Antoni’s status as the coach? He’s only the franchise player and D’Antoni has certainly proven he deserves to stay…said no one. Anyways, I don’t want to bore you by making fun of the Lakers for too long, all I will say is that they’ve been terrific for DFS purposes this year.
- Jordan Farmar – Fresh off a 45 fantasy point effort, Farmar should be in for good minutes again tonight and is a terrific punt option in tournaments.
- Wesley Johnson – Johnson is still intriguing to me despite a subpar game on Wednesday because of his ability to stuff the stat sheet.
- Jordan Hill – The Warriors are 24th against PFs over the last 15 days, for the most part with David Lee out of the lineup. Lee’s out again tonight so Hill should be able to put together a good game.