NBA Grind Down: Sunday, November 17th
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
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Portland at Toronto
Portland
Players to Target
- Nicolas Batum – Batum has been a much more consistent fantasy player this season. He’s only scored under 25 FP’s once this season and has actually averaged more on the road than he has at home. He draws a favorable matchup against the Raptors Rudy Gay who hasn’t been nearly as focused on defense this season. Batum is an affordable mid-priced option that has great upside.
Toronto
- Jonas Valanciunas – Big Val looks like a great play today against Robin Lopez. The Blazers rank 25th against opposing Centers and Big Val should get plenty of minutes against this big lineup. He often gets lost in uptempo games, but both of these teams play at a slow pace so that shouldn’t be a concern today. He is in a good spot to top 25 FP’s.
- Amir Johnson – I like both of the bigs for the Raptors tonight. Even though the Blazers have been better at defending PF’s, Johnson plays some of his minutes at Center. Johnson is averaging over 30 minutes per game and has already posted 3 double-doubles this season. Look for him to post some nice numbers tonight and be a solid play for his price.
Players to Target
Memphis at Sacramento
Memphis
- Mike Conley – The Grizzlies showed in their last game of play that they are going to establish their tempo regardless of who they play. They had a great matchup against the Lakers defense and still ended up scoring only 89 points. While that hurts their fantasy value, the matchup lines up well for Conley, the Kings are ranked 25 against opposing PG’s this season.
- Zach Randolph – The Kings are also ranked 25th against opposing PF’s and Randolph is coming off of one of his best games of the season. He took over in that 4th quarter against the Lakers and had all of his shots falling. He should be able to carry that over into tonight’s game against the Kings.
Sacramento
- Isaiah Thomas – The Grizzlies defense is very stout and even with only 3 games on the schedule, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to avoid the Kings players completely. I do think Thomas provides decent value though. He continues to see 30+ minutes off the bench and seems to produce every single night.
Detroit at L.A.Lakers
Detroit
- Brandon Jennings – This is the game that you should be targeting the most tonight. It should be a fairly close, high scoring game. Jennings has been up and down this season, but should play well in a matchup against the Lakers who are ranked 29th against opposing PG’s. The Pistons will likely get caught up in and up and down game and he should get close to 20 shot attempts.
- Greg Monroe – This is a great time to buy low on Monroe. He is coming off of two bad games in a row so his price has been creeping down. The Lakers have really struggled to defense PF’s this season and Monroe is one of the few fantasy players on the board tonight that can top 40 FP’s.
L.A.Lakers
- Pau Gasol – Pau is finally playing like I expected him to at the start of the season. He has scored over 30 FP’s in three straight games and the Pistons have struggled against Centers this season. The most promising stat in his game log is that he’s played 33 minutes in back to back games. As long as his minutes stay up, he will put up good numbers.
- Steve Blake – The Lakers haven’t missed a beat with Nash out of the lineup, in fact they are getting more production from Blake than they did from Nash. Blake has scored over 35 FP’s in 3 of his last 4 games and if you don’t believe me, check the game logs. He’s had three straight games with 10+ assists.
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