NBA Grind Down: Friday, February 2nd

by Allan Lem (fathalpert) Last Updated 2018-02-02 20:50:21

Jump to Page 1 2

Welcome to the RotoGrinders NBA Grind Down. In this all-encompassing preview of today’s NBA action, every game will be broken down statistically, with several key elements highlighted in our charts.

Vegas lines are broken down to show projected Implied Team Totals, to give you an idea of who is favored to win, and often more importantly, how many points they’re expected to score. We also provide pace numbers, so you can spot a game that might have a few extra possessions and more opportunities for fantasy points.

We also provide position-by-position matchup rankings for every team, to give you an idea of the players who will be in better situations to succeed. Using Defense versus Position data, every projected starter is listed along with his opponent’s rank in points allowed to players of his position. These color-coded charts will help you spot the best matchups of the night at a glance.

If you want to try a new DFS site, be sure to click through a RotoGrinders link and use promo code “GRINDERS” to receive the best perks in the industry.

Legend & FAQ

Indiana Pacers at Charlotte Hornets – 7:00 PM ET

Indiana Pacers							Charlotte Hornets
			Vegas Total		210.0					Vegas Total		210.0
			Vegas Spread		3.0					Vegas Spread		-3.0
			Implied Team Total		103.5					Implied Team Total		106.5
			Pace Projection +/-		1.2					Pace Projection +/-		-0.9
Projected Starters	Darren Collison	Victor Oladipo	Bojan Bogdanovic	Thaddeus Young	Myles Turner		Projected Starters	Kemba Walker	Nicolas Batum	Michael Kidd-Gilchrist	Frank Kaminsky	Dwight Howard
Opponent Rank	PG	SG	SF	PF	C		Opponent Rank	PG	SG	SF	PF	C
DvP	15	4	27	17	10		DvP	10	9	12	15	28
DRPM Rat.	10	7	8	30	4		DRPM Rat.	17	1	28	9	16

Indiana Pacers

Notable Injuries

Myles Turner (Questionable)

Hello Grinders. We have a big nine-game slate this Friday night. If you want to buy yourself some extra time for injury news and lineups, FantasyDraft is giving you an extra 30 minutes and starting their main slate with the 7:30pm EST games. Notorious is still on vacation but will be back on Monday. As a result, there won’t be a Grind Down video update today, but I’ll do my best to keep this Grind Down updated as news trickles in. Let’s dive in!

You have to feel a little bad for Myles Turner. After missing nine games with an elbow injury, Turner returned to the starting lineup on Wednesday and had a fantastic game against the Grizzlies. He’s now popped back on the injury list, however, and is questionable with a sore right knee. Even if he plays through the knee soreness, it’s not a fantasy-friendly matchup against Dwight Howard. Howard and the Hornets are ranked 10th in DvP against centers and are about to get Cody Zeller back. If Turner is out, we’ll likely see Domantas Sabonis slide back into the starting lineup. He filled in admirably during Turner’s absence but his price didn’t come down with his recent demotion. As such, he’s more of a secondary play.

Victor Oladipo draws a tough matchup against Nicolas Batum defense and hasn’t impressed as of late. Both DraftKings and FanDuel slashed his price to reflect his recent performance (-$700 on DraftKings and -$1,100 on FanDuel). If you want to take advantage of this Amazon-like price reduction, I’d prefer to do it in tournaments. He still has massive upside within him, but I’d rather spend my precious fantasy dollars in better spots.

Darren Collison, Bojan Bogdanovic and Thaddeus Young are cheap enough across the industry and have decent matchups. Bogdanovic has the easiest matchup on paper but we saw him post a dud just two games ago against this Hornets team. I’d much rather play Thaddeus Young, especially if Myles Turner is out as they will need his size. Frank Kaminsky also rates as a much poorer defender than Marvin Williams, which makes this a better matchup for Young than the DvP numbers would indicate. Collison has been playing well as of late and faces an exploitable matchup against Kemba Walker defense. There’s nothing special about this matchup that makes me want to jam him into my lineups, but he’s a fine mid-tier option.

Indiana Pacers Offense

Points Per Game: 106.5 (11 of 30)
Implied Implied Team Total: 103.5 (12 of 16)
Projected Point Differential: -3.0 ( of 16)

Matchup vs. Charlotte Hornets

Points Allowed Per Game: 105.5 (14 of 30)
Defensive Efficiency: 104.5 (9 of 30)
Rebounding Differential: + 2.8 (4 of 30)
Pace of Play: 100.6 (10 of 30)

Elite Plays – None

Secondary Plays – Bojan Bogdanovic, Darren Collison, Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis (if Myles Turner is out), Thaddeus Young

Charlotte Hornets

Notable Injuries

Frank Kaminsky (Probable), Cody Zeller (Probable), Marvin Williams (Out)

I love this spot for Dwight Howard, who gets to face a Pacers team that ranks 28th in DvP against centers. The problem is his price. He’s $9,200 on DraftKings and $10,000 on FanDuel. To put this pricing into context, he’s been over $10,000 twice this season on FanDuel, once against these Indiana Pacers and once in a #revengegame against the Atlanta Hawks. In those two games, he posted FanDuel scores of 38.2 and 36.4, respectively. But to his credit, he has been priced in the $9K range six times this season on FanDuel and posted fantasy scores of over 50 in four of those games. So my point is not that because he dudded in this type of spot twice already he will dud a third time, but moreso that his range of outcomes may be larger than we want to admit. I’m going to call him an elite play given the matchup, but the price is what gives me hesitation.

Kemba Walker is in the same boat as Dwight. I love him and this isn’t a matchup I’m particularly scared about, but his price is at the point where you can’t afford his floor games. Think about it this way: on DraftKings, would you rather have Kemba Walker for $8,800 or Donovan Mitchell for $7,800? What if I told you that you could save $1,000 and get Mitchell in a game against the woeful Phoenix Suns and their 29th ranked defense? That’s how I’m approaching this slate, and when I put Kemba in comparison with a player like Mitchell, I’m hesitant about having much exposure to him.

Nicolas Batum is fresh off a triple-double but now having to face Victor Oladipo defense, I don’t think I want to chase that performance. He’s strictly a tournament play for me on this slate. Frank Kaminsky is also expected to draw another start for the injured Marvin Williams but Frank the Tank hasn’t been the same dominant force that we saw last season. His usage, rebounding percentage and assist percentage are all down compared to last year, and I wonder if just playing alongside Dwight Howard has decreased his ability to reach a ceiling game. He played 30 minutes in his last game so I still don’t hate him for tournaments, but the return of Cody Zeller and the realization The Tank may be a different player in a Dwight-led offense is making me lower my expectations for him.

Charlotte Hornets Offense

Points Per Game: 105.4 (14 of 30)
Implied Implied Team Total: 106.5 (7 of 16)
Projected Point Differential: 1.1 ( of 16)

Matchup vs. Indiana Pacers

Points Allowed Per Game: 105.4 (12 of 30)
Defensive Efficiency: 106.2 (15 of 30)
Rebounding Differential: -1.1 (21 of 30)
Pace of Play: 98.5 (18 of 30)

Elite Plays – Dwight Howard (but don’t love the price)

Secondary Plays – Nicolas Batum (GPP), Frank Kaminsky, Kemba Walker

Portland Trail Blazers at Toronto Raptors – 7:30 PM ET

Portland Trail Blazers							Toronto Raptors
			Vegas Total		216.0					Vegas Total		216.0
			Vegas Spread		4.5					Vegas Spread		-4.5
			Implied Team Total		105.8					Implied Team Total		110.3
			Pace Projection +/-		1.2					Pace Projection +/-		-0.7
Projected Starters	Damian Lillard	C.J. McCollum	Evan Turner	Al-Farouq Aminu	Jusuf Nurkic		Projected Starters	Kyle Lowry	DeMar DeRozan	OG Anunoby	Serge Ibaka	Jonas Valanciunas
Opponent Rank	PG	SG	SF	PF	C		Opponent Rank	PG	SG	SF	PF	C
DvP	6	11	10	12	18		DvP	2	16	18	11	2
DRPM Rat.	3	24	4	14	14		DRPM Rat.	18	23	16	10	5

Portland Trail Blazers

Notable Injuries

Maurice Harkless (Questionable), Meyers Leonard (Probable), Jusuf Nurkic (Probable)

The Trail Blazers enter Friday’s game a bit banged up, with Harkless questionable and both Leonard and Nurkic probable. Ed Davis has been sneakily good lately, scoring 24 or more fantasy points in five of his last six games. If Nurkic should suffer a setback on Friday, Ed Davis would become a nice punt play. If Nurkic does play as expected, he makes for a fantastic tournament play at his price. He has upside in this matchup but his minutes are all over the place and Terry Stotts comes from the University of Scott Skiles where he majored in “I’ll do whatever I feel like.”

On paper, this is not a good spot for the rest of the starters as the Raptors rank 3rd overall in defensive efficiency and own a top-12 rank in DvP in every position outside of center. Evan Turner is a fringe play on this slate and Al-Farouq Aminu is a secondary play who may be relied upon more if Mo Harkless is ruled out.

The two most interesting plays are Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. Recency bias may play a role here if you’re debating between the two. McCollum just dropped 50 real life points in 29 minutes and as you can imagine, that took away fantasy goodness and usage away from Lillard. In reality this is not a great spot for either guy, but it’s possible Lillard’s last dud lowers his ownership for Friday’s slate. Both profile as tournament-only plays as I’m not a huge fan of targeting the Raptors’ defense, but we did just see the Wizards drop 122 points on the Raptors on Thursday night so it’s not crazy to think Lillard has a bounceback performance at low ownership.

Portland Trail Blazers Offense

Points Per Game: 104.6 (20 of 30)
Implied Implied Team Total: 105.8 (10 of 16)
Projected Point Differential: 1.2 ( of 16)

Matchup vs. Toronto Raptors

Points Allowed Per Game: 103.8 (10 of 30)
Defensive Efficiency: 102.9 (3 of 30)
Rebounding Differential: + 1.1 (10 of 30)
Pace of Play: 100.6 (10 of 30)

Elite Plays – Damian Lillard (GPP)

Secondary Plays – Al-Farouq Aminu, Ed Davis, C.J. McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic (GPP)

Toronto Raptors

Notable Injuries

C.J. Miles (Questionable), Fred VanVleet (Questionable)

On the Raptors side, there’s not a ton that excites me. Kyle Lowry has a difficult matchup as the Blazers rank 2nd in DvP against point guards. We finally saw Lowry break out on Thursday with a 29-5-5 line, and his price didn’t increase across the industry. If you want to chase Lowry’s performance, I understand it. Game theory for tournaments suggests it may be better to pivot to the lower-owned guy who has a better matchup, and that’s DeMar DeRozan. The Blazers are 16th in DvP against shooting guards so this could be a bounce back game for DeRozan.

I don’t have much interest in playing Serge Ibaka against Al-Farouq Aminu defense on a nine-game slate, and I view him as merely a secondary play. I said this last night and I’ll say it again – Jonas Valanciunas is GPP-worthy on every slate he’s on for the rest of his life. The guy mashes at random times but he rarely sees over 30 minutes, so he has to be uber efficient with his time on the court.

I want to apologize for even mentioning the name Delon Wright as a GPP play last night. The guy was Delon Wrong. He only played 13 minutes despite C.J. Miles and Fred VanVleet being out. If both are out once again, do we hop back on the Delon Wright train? My wallet says no, but game theory says…maybe? On Thursday, Lorenzo Brown entered the rotation and played 11 minutes. Meanwhile, Wright turned the ball over a team-high four times in his 13 minutes, so it seems the low minutes were performance-based. I’m not going to list him as a secondary GPP play but if you enjoy the scent of American dollars going up in flames, you’re free to play him.

Toronto Raptors Offense

Points Per Game: 111.1 (3 of 30)
Implied Implied Team Total: 110.3 (3 of 16)
Projected Point Differential: -0.8 ( of 16)

Matchup vs. Portland Trail Blazers

Points Allowed Per Game: 103.0 (7 of 30)
Defensive Efficiency: 104.2 (7 of 30)
Rebounding Differential: + 2.4 (6 of 30)
Pace of Play: 98.7 (16 of 30)

Elite Plays – DeMar DeRozan (DK), Kyle Lowry (GPP)

Secondary Plays – Serge Ibaka, Jonas Valanciunas (GPP)

Los Angeles Lakers at Brooklyn Nets – 7:30 PM ET

Los Angeles Lakers							Brooklyn Nets
			Vegas Total		217.5					Vegas Total		217.5
			Vegas Spread		1.5					Vegas Spread		-1.5
			Implied Team Total		108.0					Implied Team Total		109.5
			Pace Projection +/-		2.2					Pace Projection +/-		3.8
Projected Starters	Tyler Ennis	Kentavious Caldwell-Pope	Brandon Ingram	Julius Randle	Brook Lopez		Projected Starters	Spencer Dinwiddie	Allen Crabbe	DeMarre Carroll	Quincy Acy	Jarrett Allen
Opponent Rank	PG	SG	SF	PF	C		Opponent Rank	PG	SG	SF	PF	C
DvP	24	17	13	25	30		DvP	22	24	26	27	15
DRPM Rat.	6	15	2	14	25		DRPM Rat.	14	7	26	16	20

Los Angeles Lakers

Notable Injuries

Lonzo Ball (Out)

When you put two of the top five teams in pace together, you should get a lot of fantasy goodness. With Lonzo Ball still out for the Lakers, we’ve seen a three-headed monster of Jordan Clarkson, Tyler Ennis and Alex Caruso fill the void. Clarkson is intriguing as a tournament play given the pace and matchup. After four consecutive games of seeing 30+ minutes, Clarkson has now played just 22 and 24 minutes in his last two games. The minutes are a genuine concern, but if Luke Walton surprises us and gives him 30+ minutes in this spot, he could smash his salary.

This feels like a sneaky Kentavious Caldwell-Pope spot. After dealing with an Achilles injury in January, KCP has now seen back-to-back games of 32+ minutes. On FanDuel where you’re forced to choose one of KCP or Clarkson, I’d lean KCP in cash games and Clarkson in tournaments.

Brandon Ingram has the toughest matchup of the starters against DeMarre Carroll. His price is rising quickly on DraftKings so I much prefer his salary over at FanDuel.

Brook Lopez, Kyle Kuzma and Larry Nance are eating into each other’s minutes. It’s a situation I don’t love but if you’re into narratives, this is a #revengegame for Lopez. Lopez went bonkers for 34 points and 10 rebounds over 30 minutes against the Nets early in the season, but that was just the Lakers’ ninth game of the season, so a lot has changed since then. He’s fairly cheap and is coming off a game where he played just 9 minutes, so I doubt he’ll be popular if you want to YOLO.

I’ll just focus my attention on Julius Randle. Randle is in a fantastic spot against a poor Nets front court. The issue with Randle is that he suffers from Jonas Valanciunas-itis where it’s anyone’s guess as to how many minutes he’s going to get. Because of this I’d reserve him for tournaments only, but in theory this should be a spot he succeeds in if given adequate time on the court.

Los Angeles Lakers Offense

Points Per Game: 106.7 (10 of 30)
Implied Implied Team Total: 108.0 (6 of 16)
Projected Point Differential: 1.3 ( of 16)

Matchup vs. Brooklyn Nets

Points Allowed Per Game: 108.8 (24 of 30)
Defensive Efficiency: 106.8 (20 of 30)
Rebounding Differential: -0.4 (15 of 30)
Pace of Play: 101.6 (5 of 30)

Elite Plays – Julius Randle (GPP)

Secondary Plays – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jordan Clarkson (GPP), Brandon Ingram (FD), Brook Lopez (GPP)

Brooklyn Nets

Notable Injuries

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (Out), Caris LeVert (Probable)

The Nets feature several intriguing players on Friday’s slate. Jarrett Allen has supplanted Tyler Zeller as the team’s starting center. Allen underwhelmed in his starting debut with 16 DraftKings points but rebounded nicely in his last game, finishing with 39 DraftKings points against Joel Embiid and the 76ers. The Lakers allow the 5th most rebounds and 2nd most blocks per game to opponents, so this sets up as a plus-matchup for him. I don’t think Allen is as bad as his first game as a starter and I’m not sure he’s as good as his last game against the 76ers. He’s someone I’ll have tournament exposure to hoping he can exploit this poor Lakers front court.

Quincy Acy drew the start at power forward in the Nets’ last game with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson out. RHJ is out again so it’s possible we see another Acy start. The last time I played Acy on Chalk Acy Night ended as you would expect when you roster Quincy Acy. I’d much rather pay the extra salary for DeMarre Carroll, who should see upwards of 30 minutes.

With Caris LeVert probable and this being a #revengegame for D’Angelo Russell, I have a hard time wanting to play any pieces of this back court. Dinwiddie and Russell would be my main targets, while Allen Crabbe is merely a secondary play. Russell is still working his way back from his knee injury and hasn’t played more than 21 minutes in a game since his return, but he recently played a back-to-back so he’s trending in the right direction. He posted an absurd 37.25 DraftKings points in just 16 minutes against a 76ers team that’s been good against point guards. I hate to say it, but Russell has some tournament appeal even at his fairly high price despite the fact he’s not going to get very many minutes. You know he’ll want to show up against his former team, so I don’t hate him as a tournament dart-throw.

Brooklyn Nets Offense

Points Per Game: 105.0 (18 of 30)
Implied Implied Team Total: 109.5 (4 of 16)
Projected Point Differential: 4.5 ( of 16)

Matchup vs. Los Angeles Lakers

Points Allowed Per Game: 110.0 (27 of 30)
Defensive Efficiency: 105.0 (11 of 30)
Rebounding Differential: + 0.7 (11 of 30)
Pace of Play: 103.2 (1 of 30)

Elite Plays – Jarrett Allen (GPP)

Secondary Plays – DeMarre Carroll, Allen Crabbe, Spencer Dinwiddie, D’Angelo Russell (GPP)

Atlanta Hawks at Boston Celtics – 7:30 PM ET

Atlanta Hawks							Boston Celtics
			Vegas Total		203.5					Vegas Total		203.5
			Vegas Spread		9.0					Vegas Spread		-9.0
			Implied Team Total		97.3					Implied Team Total		106.3
			Pace Projection +/-		-1.3					Pace Projection +/-		0.3
Projected Starters	Dennis Schroder	Kent Bazemore	Taurean Prince	Ersan Ilyasova	Miles Plumlee		Projected Starters	Kyrie Irving	Jaylen Brown	Jayson Tatum	Al Horford	Aron Baynes
Opponent Rank	PG	SG	SF	PF	C		Opponent Rank	PG	SG	SF	PF	C
DvP	1	2	8	5	11		DvP	21	18	30	21	29
DRPM Rat.	20	1	2	3	1		DRPM Rat.	30	2	15	23	9

Atlanta Hawks

Notable Injuries

Dennis Schroder (Questionable)

Update 3:47pm EST – Dennis Schroder is trending towards playing.

I’m writing this very early on Friday morning so there’s currently no line on this game. Both Dennis Schroder and Kyrie Irving are questionable, and their availability will have a big impact on both this game and the slate in terms of who we want to attack. Given these factors, I’m not going to spend much time on these teams and will give a few high-level thoughts. Once we get more clarity I can come back and provide an update.

This game features a Hawks team ranked 26th in defensive efficiency versus a team ranked 1st in defensive efficiency. Even without Kyrie, the Celtics have four of the five top players in the league based on defensive win shares (although Marcus Smart is out for this game). If Dennis Schroder is out for this game, I have a hard time seeing how the Hawks can keep this game competitive.

I would probably limit my exposure to players like Kent Bazemore, Malcolm Delaney, Marco Belinelli and John Collins with the hope they see extra run in garbage time. Even if Schroder plays, I still have concerns about a competitive game.

Atlanta Hawks Offense

Points Per Game: 103.5 (21 of 30)
Implied Implied Team Total: 97.3 (18 of 18)
Projected Point Differential: -6.3 (18 of 18)

Matchup vs. Boston Celtics

Points Allowed Per Game: 98.8 (2 of 30)
Defensive Efficiency: 100.2 (1 of 30)
Rebounding Differential: + 0.1 (14 of 30)
Pace of Play: 98.1 (22 of 30)

Elite Plays – None

Secondary Plays – Kent Bazemore (GPP), Marco Belinelli (GPP), John Collins (GPP), Malcolm Delaney (GPP only if Dennis Schroder is out), Dennis Schroder (GPP if he plays)

Boston Celtics

Notable Injuries

Kyrie Irving (Questionable), Shane Larkin (Questionable), Marcus Morris (Questionable), Marcus Smart (Out)

Update 3:38pm EST – Kyrie, Larking and Morris are OUT. This bumps Rozier, Tatum and Horford as elite plays in my eyes. Rozier is going to be chalky but his price rose to the point where you could consider a fade in tournaments. I haven’t decided which way I’m going yet in tournaments as I haven’t built my teams yet and I’m still waiting for news out of Milwaukee to help guide my lineup construction.

Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris are both questionable, so we’ll need to take a wait-and-see approach on the Celtics. Shane Larkin surprisingly sat in the last game, leaving Rozier with all the point guard duties. It’s a bit unclear why Larkin sat and it sounds injury related, so I’m considering him questionable at this point. Terry Rozier morphed into the second coming of Magic Johnson, posting a triple-double in his first career start. The sites caught onto this and jacked up Rozier’s price to the point where he’s only worth playing if Kyrie is out again. To make matters even more complicated, the Hawks are awful at defending the point guard position. Actually, the Hawks are not good at defending any position, as they rank among the bottom half of the league in DvP for every position.

Here’s how I’m approaching this situation. If Kyrie plays, he’s a GPP play and I’m off Rozier. If both Kyrie and Shane Larkin are out, Rozier becomes an elite play. Jayson Tatum has a nut matchup against Taurean Prince, whose defense recently made Michael Kidd-Gilchrist look unstoppable. The one knock on Tatum is that he generally only sees around 30 minutes, so while the matchup is fantastic, the minutes are not. Al Horford is a great play in a #revengegame and if Kryrie sits, he leads the team in usage. If Morris also sits along with Kryie, Horford’s usage jumps even higher to 34.7%.

If you really want to dig deep for value, Aron Baynes and Daniel Theis are somewhat interesting. I don’t think we need to go there on this slate but both have some upside in this matchup.

That’s a lot of words that may not even matter once we get an injury update in the morning. But for now, those are my thoughts.

Boston Celtics Offense

Points Per Game: 103.1 (23 of 30)
Implied Implied Team Total: 106.3 (9 of 18)
Projected Point Differential: 3.2 (5 of 18)

Matchup vs. Atlanta Hawks

Points Allowed Per Game: 108.0 (23 of 30)
Defensive Efficiency: 108.1 (26 of 30)
Rebounding Differential: -2.5 (26 of 30)
Pace of Play: 99.7 (14 of 30)

Elite Plays – Al Horford, Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum

Secondary Plays – Jaylen Brown

Miami Heat at Philadelphia 76ers – 8:00 PM ET

Miami Heat							Philadelphia 76ers
			Vegas Total		202.0					Vegas Total		202.0
			Vegas Spread		4.0					Vegas Spread		-4.0
			Implied Team Total		99.0					Implied Team Total		103.0
			Pace Projection +/-		2.7					Pace Projection +/-		-2.7
Projected Starters	Goran Dragic	Tyler Johnson	Josh Richardson	James Johnson	Hassan Whiteside		Projected Starters	Ben Simmons	J.J. Redick	Robert Covington	Dario Saric	Joel Embiid
Opponent Rank	PG	SG	SF	PF	C		Opponent Rank	PG	SG	SF	PF	C
DvP	12	22	23	16	12		DvP	3	12	6	4	7
DRPM Rat.	1	26	1	23	2		DRPM Rat.	22	20	7	6	1

Miami Heat

Notable Injuries

None

On a large slate such as this one, sometimes it pays to narrow your player pool and eliminate a game. This game honestly feels like one of them. We have two defensive-minded teams that are implied to score totals below their season averages.

With the Miami Heat at full health, there’s not much value to attack here. I have a general rule not to play point guards against the 76ers, and Goran Dragic isn’t priced at a point where I feel like I must play him. Tyler Johnson and Josh Richardson have decent matchups on paper but with all three guards playing at the same time, they limit each other’s upside. This doesn’t feel like a James Johnson spot, who hasn’t played well lately and I wonder if there’s something behind his recent subpar performances. Lastly, Hassan Whiteside has been losing 4th quarter minutes to Bam Adebayo lately and is only averaging 25 minutes per game this season. He’s a tournament dart-throw that you’re playing simply to get someone with upside at low ownership, but I probably won’t go there myself.

Miami Heat Offense

Points Per Game: 100.4 (28 of 30)
Implied Implied Team Total: 99.0 (16 of 16)
Projected Point Differential: -1.4 ( of 16)

Matchup vs. Philadelphia 76ers

Points Allowed Per Game: 106.7 (20 of 30)
Defensive Efficiency: 103.1 (4 of 30)
Rebounding Differential: + 5.2 (1 of 30)
Pace of Play: 102.1 (4 of 30)

Elite Plays – None

Secondary Plays – Hassan Whiteside (GPP)

Philadelphia 76ers

Notable Injuries

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (Questionable)

Update 3:49pm EST – Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot popped up on the injury report with an illness and is now questionable.

What I just wrote about for the Miami Heat is how I feel about the 76ers. Nobody has a great matchup as the Heat rank among the top 12 in DvP in every position. Joel Embiid feels like the closest thing to a solid play on this team but given his matchup and price, it’s not a play I feel strongly about. If I were going to pay this much for a center, I would probably just take the savings with Dwight Howard in a better matchup. As I mentioned above, Whiteside has only been seeing 25 minutes per game and has been losing time to Bam Adebayo in the 4th quarter, so it’s not as if Embiid will be seeing Whiteside for the entire game. If you think Embiid is worth taking a chance on in tournaments at low ownership, it’s not a crazy play.

Philadelphia 76ers Offense

Points Per Game: 107.9 (7 of 30)
Implied Implied Team Total: 103.0 (13 of 16)
Projected Point Differential: -4.9 ( of 16)

Matchup vs. Miami Heat

Points Allowed Per Game: 101.1 (3 of 30)
Defensive Efficiency: 104.2 (7 of 30)
Rebounding Differential: + 0.3 (13 of 30)
Pace of Play: 96.7 (28 of 30)

Elite Plays – None

Secondary Plays – Joel Embiid (GPP)

Jump to Page 1 2