NBA Grind Down: Monday, December 16th - Page 2
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Washington at New York
- Vegas Line – New York -1.5, 190.5 Over/Under
- Washington Proj. Starters – Wall-Webster-Ariza-Booker-Gortat
- New York Proj. Starters – Prigioni-Shumpert-Anthony-Bargnani-Martin
Washington
Tonight’s game between the Wizards and Knicks is an interesting one. Both of these teams have been disappointing this season based on the talent that they have. Vegas expects this one to be fairly low scoring, but it is expected to be close. The Knicks have been very solid defending down low as they rank in the top 5 against both PF’s and Centers. That said, keep your eye on the status of Nene Hilario tonight, if he can’t go, keep using Trevor Booker. He should easily cover his value. Bradley Beal is also questionable for tonight’s game, if he ends up playing, downgrade both Martell Webster and Trevor Ariza.
- John Wall – If you are paying for a superstar tonight, you should be considering Wall. He has been playing fantastic of late and the Knicks don’t have anyone that can stay in front of Wall. Neither Prigioni or Udrih will be able to defend him. Not only that, but the Knicks don’t have any shot blockers at the rim if Martin can’t play.
New York
The Knicks are actually in a pretty decent spot tonight. Pablo Prigioni has filled in nicely as the starting PG. He has averaged over 20 FP’s per game since in his starts and makes a decent value play tonight if you want to punt the PG position. I’m not trusting either J.R. Smith or Iman Shumpert here, they are both a little too inconsistent for me.
- Carmelo Anthony – Melo continues to consistently put up 40+ FP’s. He’s been a beast on the boards lately and should play well in this game tonight. The Wizards are ranked 25th against SF’s this season.
- Andrea Bargnani – Even though the Wizards have defended Centers well this season, Bargnani isn’t your typical Center. He gets almost all of his points away from the paint and I think Gortat is going to have a hard time defending him on the perimeter.
Orlando at Chicago
- Vegas Line – Chicago -7, 185 Over/Under
- Orlando Proj. Starters – Nelson-Oladipo-Afflalo-Davis-Vucevic
- Chicago Proj. Starters – Hinrich-Dunleavy-Deng-Boozer-Noah
Orlando
The Magic are finally fully healthy. They have their entire lineup now. While this is great for the Magic, it’s not so great for their individual fantasy values. The Bulls are one of the slowest paced teams in the league which hurts the Magic player’s fantasy value as well. This game has by far the lowest total of the night. I think Victor Oladipo is the only guy in play here.
Chicago
The Bulls are starting to get healthy too. They have Butler, Deng, and Noah all back in their lineup. That ends the run for Gibson, Dunleavy, and Snell as value plays. Although, I better not say they are fully healthy, Kirk Hinrich is questionable for tonight’s game. If he can’t play, look to Marquis Teague for a good value play.
- Carlos Boozer – Even though I hate how inconsistent he is, I really like his matchup tonight against the Magic who are ranked 27th against opposing PF’s this season. Boozer is one of the few players in his price range that can put up 35+ fantasy points on any given night.
San Antonio at L.A.Clippers
- Vegas Line – San Antonio -3, 203 Over/Under
- San Antonio Proj. Starters – Parker-Green-Leonard-Duncan-Splitter
- L.A.Clippers Proj. Starters – Paul-Crawford-Dudley-Griffin-Jordan
San Antonio
This should be an extremely good game. The one thing to note here is that the Spurs will be playing their 5th game in 7 nights. While it hasn’t affected any of the starters minutes yet, it is a bit risky to take any Spurs players due to the late lock of this one. Assuming all of the starters play, I like both Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard. Both make good cash game plays.
L.A.Clippers
The Clippers have a tough matchup tonight, but Vegas expects this to be a fairly high scoring game. Chris Paul is always one of my favorite plays when he is in a tough matchup and I expect another monster performance out of him tonight. I recommended him the other night against the Wizards and I’m recommending him again tonight. Other than Paul, the rest of the Clippers have below average matchups.