NBA Grind Down: Sunday, January 26th
Welcome to the RotoGrinders NBA Grind Down Article. Each day, we’ll break down all of the matchups with a focus on defense vs. position stats. The Grind Down shows you Vegas lines, defense stats and projected starting lineups for each and every game.
The analysis should point you in the right direction, but it is still up to you to decipher the information and make your own selections. Use this article to help you gain a better understanding of the matchups for the coming week and build from there. We have everything you could possibly need on our Daily Research console for you to be a successful daily fantasy player!
Note: Any Fantasy Point Average Listed Uses FanDuel Scoring. For more info on FanDuel’s NFL Scoring System, check out the scoring systems section of our FanDuel Review
Click ‘Stat Chart’ Buttons Below for Pop-Ups of Essential Game-Specific Statistics including Defense vs. Position and Pace
San Antonio at Miami
- Vegas Line – Miami -4, 203.5 Over/Under
- San Antonio Proj. Starters – Parker-Belinelli-Ginobili-Diaw-Duncan
- Miami Proj. Starters – Chalmers-Wade-James-Battier-Bosh
San Antonio
The games tip off early Sunday with a special slate of afternoon games. The Spurs travel to Miami to take on the Heat in a remmatch of last year’s incredible finals. The Spurs will be without both Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green though, so they won’t exactly be at full strength. The Heat have been very solid defensively this season, but I do like Tim Duncan against this weak interior defense.
- Tim Duncan – Duncan will likely start at the four today, but will play a lot of Center as well because the Heat often force teams to go small to match up with them. That means that either Chris Bosh or Shane Battier will be defending him in the post. I like his chances in either of those matchups.
Miami
The Heat are hoping to have Dwyane Wade back for today’s game after he has sat out the last three. The Heat are such a different team when he is in the lineup. There should be an injury update on Wade in the next hour so be sure to look for an update on his status. If Wade can’t go today, give a small boost to Ray Allen, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh. If Wade ends up playing, I think he makes a pretty solid play. He will be matched up with either Manu or Belinelli.
L.A.Lakers at New York
- Vegas Line – New York -5.5, 207 Over/Under
- L.A.Lakers Proj. Starters – Marshall-Meeks-Young-Kelly-Gasol
- New York Proj. Starters – Felton-Prigioni-Shumpert-Anthony-Chandler
L.A.Lakers
These two teams play very contrasting styles of basketball, but I expect the Lakers pace of play to be more prevalent than the Knicks. The Knicks don’t mind getting into a track meet every once in a while. The total for this game is set at 207 points which is one of the higher totals of the night. Pau Gasol will be in a tough matchup against Chandler, but he has topped 40 FP’s in 6 of his last 7 games and makes a nice play if his price is affordable.
- Jodie Meeks – Meeks often flies under the fantasy radar, but he has been an extremely consistent fantasy player ever since Farmar went down with his injury. He has topped 20 FP’s in each of his last 6 games and has averaged over 25 FP’s per game over that stretch. The Knicks have struggled to defend SG’s (ranked 25th) and Meeks should be in for a nice game.
New York
The Carmel-icks have a great matchup tonight. Melo is coming off of a career high 62 points and now he gets an even better matchup today against the Lakers. This game is on national TV and Melo is going to want to put on a show. I certainly don’t think you can expect a repeat performance, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him top 40 actual points in this one. He’s one of my favorite plays on the board. In addition to Melo, the rest of the Knicks’ starting five all have favorable matchups as well.
- J.R. Smith – There aren’t many days when I recommend taking the loose cannon J.R. Smith, but things are looking up in New York, even if it’s just in the short term. Smith has played at least 31 minutes in each of his last 4 games and has averaged close to 25 FP’s over that stretch. I love his matchup tonight and also love the fact that he will get run even if this game turns into a blowout. In fact, a blowout may help his fantasy value.
Orlando at New Orleans
- Vegas Line – New Orleans -6.5, 199 Over/Under
- Orlando Proj. Starters – Nelson-Oladipo-Afflalo-Harris-Davis
- New Orleans Proj. Starters – Roberts-Gordon-Aminu-Davis-Withey
Orlando
The Magic are 6.5 point underdogs tonight against the Pelicans, but that line may be a bit low. The Magic have lost their last 7 road games by an average of more than 15 points per game. I’d like to think that they can keep this game competitive, but without Vucevic, this team has really taken a nose dive.
If you are going to target any of the Magic players though, stick to the bigs. The Pelicans have really struggled to defend the paint this season. Tobias Harris is probably the only viable cash game option and I suppose Victor Oladipo could make a nice GPP play thanks to his upside.
New Orleans
The Pelicans have a favorable matchup against the Magic. The Magic have not defended any position particularly well this season and have really struggled to defend the paint without Vucevic in the lineup. Keep your eye on the status of Tyreke Evans in this one, he sat out Friday’s game due to an illness and there hasn’t been an update since. If he sits out again, give a nice fantasy boost to both Brian Roberts and Eric Gordon.
- Anthony Davis – Davis is going to be defended by the combo of Harris and Davis. He not only has a major height advantage over them both, but he will have an even bigger length advantage. This could be one of those games where Davis posts 5 blocks and 3 steals. He should own the glass as well. Sometimes everything lines up for a great fantasy performance and that’s the case with Davis today.
Phoenix at Cleveland
- Vegas Line – Cleveland -1, 204 Over/Under
- Phoenix Proj. Starters – Dragic-Green-Tucker-Frye-Plumlee
- Cleveland Proj. Starters – Irving-Miles-Deng-Thompson-Varejao
Phoenix
The Suns travel to Cleveland to take on the Cavs in what is expected to be a high scoring game. Both of these teams average at least 96 possessions per game so this will be a great game to target in DFS. It’s always hard to trust any of the Suns bigs, they are very inconsistent with both their production and their minutes. I like the matchup for Gerald Green, but Barbosa’s presence has really affected his production.
- Goran Dragic – Dragic has a nice matchup tonight against Irving and the Cavs who have given up the 2nd most fantasy points to PG’s this season. That’s pretty hard to do considering how bad the Lakers and Sixers defenses are. Use Dragic heavily in your lineups tonight.
Cleveland
The Cavs are in a favorable spot tonight, the Suns love to push the tempo and the Cavs have been very good offensively at home this season. The Suns have defended SG’s well, but have been below average at defending the other four positions on the floor. Tristan Thompson makes a solid cash game play tonight, but my top two picks are Irving and Varejao.
- Kyrie Irving – Irving has some of the glaring home/road split differences in the league. He is averaging close to 40 FP’s at home this season and only 30 FP’s on the road. Luckily for us, this game is in Cleveland. Irving has a favorable matchup and great upside.
- Anderson Varejao – Varejao continues to be a fantasy All-Star. He has scored over 28 FP’s in each of his last 9 games and has topped 40 FP’s 4 times over that stretch. He should play well tonight against Plumlee.
Brooklyn at Boston
- Vegas Line – Brooklyn -4, 191.5 Over/Under
- Brooklyn Proj. Starters – Livingston-Anderson-Johnson-Pierce-Garnett
- Boston Proj. Starters – Rondo-Green-Wallace-Sullinger-Humphries
Brooklyn
The Nets are 4 point favorites to the Celtics tonight. The Nets are a tough team to predict these days because now that they are at full strength, they don’t need any single player or two to take over offensively. They have 7 legitimate fantasy options on their team. Even though the Nets have a solid matchup, there are too many players fighting over fantasy production.
Boston
The Celtics have a tough matchup against the new look Nets. By new look, I mean they actually look like a team. They have really picked up their defensive pressure and are ranked in the top 12 against every position on the floor over the last 15 days. The Celtics may have Jerryd Bayless back for this game, if he does play, that hurts the value of both Gerald Wallace and Chris Johnson.
- Jeff Green – Green is the one play that makes sense here. He is playing major minutes right now due to all of the injuries to the C’s. We all know that he has great upside, his biggest problem has been consistency.