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NBA Grind Down: Tuesday, April 25th

by Bryan Pauquette (bryanpauquette) Last Updated 2017-04-26 16:37:17

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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 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.

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Legend & FAQ

Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets – 7:00 PM ET

Oklahoma City Thunder Houston Rockets
Article Image Vegas Total 223.0 Article Image Vegas Total 223.0
Vegas Spread 7.5 Vegas Spread -7.5
Team Total 107.8 Team Total 115.3
Pace +/- 3.8 Pace +/- 1.8
Proj. Starter Russell Westbrook Victor Oladipo Andre Roberson Taj Gibson Steven Adams Proj. Starter Patrick Beverley James Harden Trevor Ariza Ryan Anderson Clint Capela
Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C
Adj. DvP 25 26 23 27 26 Adj. DvP 4 19 16 10 11
DRPM 1.89 -1.81 1.54 -0.16 1.25 DRPM -0.59 1.64 2.47 2.10 1.42

Oklahoma City Thunder

The first game of the night is the most exciting from a fantasy perspective. It’s playing at a pace of 101.3 while the other two feature average paces of 91.2 and 89.58. The total of 223.0 points is 26.5 points greater than the second-highest game. As a result, the Thunder have the second-highest team total of 107.8, which is 1.2 points above their average. With the season on the line, there’s little doubt Russell Westbrook will continue to push his usage to the max. He’s put together three straight triple-doubles and it would be surprising if he didn’t pull off another one of tonight. There’s always some merit to fading him in GPPs when he’s so expensive and expected to be so popular, but it feels more dangerous than usual tonight.

Outside of him, all of the starters are in play. Steven Adams finally had the game we’ve been waiting for, but it took him 37 minutes to do it. This may have been a bit lucky as Taj Gibson picked up two fouls quickly in the first quarter and went to the bench early. Adams got hot, he finished 8-for-10 from the field, and he may have stolen some time from the power forward who’s been used as a stretch five many times this series. With coach Billy Donovan letting Adams get an extended run, Gibson receded to 22 minutes and he flopped. Many fantasy players noticed his uptick in minutes in Game 3 and he ended up with very high ownership. It’s possible that declines today, but he could potentially move back up towards the 30-minute mark, which keeps him in play for tournaments. As for Adams, we’ve expected him to play like this all along against a Rockets team that gives up a lot of rebounds and points down low, but he’s struggled to produce at times and he’s been around 27 minutes most nights. While it’s refreshing to see him put together a nice game, his ownership will likely shoot through the roof even though his minutes may go back down. Donovan is famous for his postseason experimentation, he loves trying every combination imaginable in the first couple of games, so his Game 3 rotations usually stick, more or less. If that’s the case, we’ll see Adams drop and Gibson rise, but it’s fairly unpredictable and he could go with the hot hand or the guy who’s playing the best defense.

Based on Games 3/4, we can expect Doug McDermott, Jerami Grant, and Alex Abrines to pick up the most time off the bench, likely somewhere between 15-20 minutes for each of them. It’s not really enough for them to become strong fantasy targets, but Abrines is $1,600 on FanDuel, which makes him interesting. He’s certainly not the most exciting target and doesn’t have the upside of a Gerald Green or Norman Powell, both of whom have crushed similar salaries in the past week, but he did score 13.1 FD points in Game 3 across 18 minutes.

We also have starters Andre Roberson and Victor Oladipo. Roberson has been playing some excellent defense in this series, he’s now accumulated 14 blocks and eight steals over four games. He’s going to keep receiving a heavy workload each night (well, at least tonight), and he’s been semi-consistent with his time this series. In all four games, he’s contributed exactly two steals, blocked at least three shots, scored between 12-18 points, and pulled down between 4-8 rebounds. Oladipo’s ceiling is capped by Russell Westbrook’s increased minutes and usage, so he hasn’t had any big games yet. In 36.8 minutes, he’s averaged 11.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. It’ll be hard for him to produce a ton of fantasy points in an elimination game with a Westbrook takeover looming.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
Russell Westbrook $14,700 $14,200 1.69 34.6 -2.3 58.6 -3.1 45.9% 0.3% 25 1.89
Victor Oladipo $6,000 $5,600 0.79 33.2 -1.6 26.2 -3.7 21.7% 1.2% 26 -1.81
Andre Roberson $5,800 $5,700 0.60 30.1 -14.9 18.0 -13.5 10.2% -4.6% 23 1.54
Taj Gibson $3,900 $4,000 0.82 25.5 -5.0 20.9 -3.0 18.4% 5.6% 27 -0.16
Steven Adams $5,300 $4,900 0.82 29.9 -2.8 24.6 -1.7 16.1% 0.2% 26 1.25
Enes Kanter $4,300 $3,200 1.12 21.3 -2.1 23.8 -4.1 26.5% 4.7% 27 N/A

Elite Plays – Russell Westbrook

Secondary Plays – Victor Oladipo, Andre Roberson, Steven Adams, Taj Gibson, Alex Abrines (FD GPP)

Houston Rockets

James Harden only scored 16 points but the Rockets still won. Unlike OKC, Houston has an awesome group of bench guys in Eric Gordon, Lou Williams, and Nene. All three guys had at least 18 points and seven rebounds. Nene was the story of the night though, hitting all 12 of his shots on his way to 28 points. It was a ridiculous performance and everything broke just right; at one point he and Westbrook were battling for a rebound, Westbrook hit the ball into the Rockets’ basket and Nene got credit for a rebound (he finished with ten, so this made it a double-double) and two points. He ended up playing 25 minutes while Clint Capela was held to 18. They’ll likely go back to their normal division of time, so we should expect Capela to play 23-25 minutes and Nene will probably be back to his normal 20. Plenty of fantasy players will chase Nene based on last game, but with his price rising above $5k on FanDuel, it doesn’t seem like the best idea. On DraftKings, he’s $4,400, which makes it easier to take another shot on him, but he’ll likely come with high ownership.

Williams and Gordon do appear to be worth targeting though. Williams has received at least 30 minutes in consecutive games and he’s been asked to run point at times. He earned more playing time than Patrick Beverley for the second game in a row and it appears to be a trend that will continue. He’s scored at least 18 points in three consecutive outings. Gordon has also earned some extra playing time, he’s hit 36 the past two games. Over the course of the season, he carried a 23.4% usage rate and maintained a per-36 pace of 30.62 DK points, so he looks like a great deal if he can continue getting the same workload. For both Williams and Gordon to continue in that manner, it would mean Beverley would have to be restricted to the mid-20s and Ryan Anderson would likely have to surrender some time as well. Anderson dropped all the way to 20 minutes in Game 4. He hasn’t been good all series outside of one game, so that’s possible considering how hot Williams and Gordon have been. Beverley is used more for his defense, but in the past two games, coach Mike D’Antoni has been emphasizing scoring through Williams and Gordon over Beverley’s D (although Beverley was also in foul trouble in Game 3). Either way, Williams and Gordon should play at least 25 minutes each with Gordon earning likely earning more time than Williams. Beverley will probably be somewhere in the mid-20s, which makes him a risky bet at point guard. He’s a very inconsistent fantasy player because his scoring is quite sporadic. During the season, he averaged 0.89 DK ppm with a 15.5% usage rate. We saw his upside in the opener, but that was a rare performance from him.

After coming alive in Game 3, Anderson had another quiet outing, scoring 9 points while grabbing three boards. He’s nothing but a dart throw. Same goes for Trevor Ariza. He hasn’t taken more than nine shots in a game this series and he’s pulled down five boards or less in each game. Although he picked up some of the slack in Game 4 with Harden underperforming, he doesn’t look promising going forward, assuming Harden will pick it back up. Harden is dealing with a slight ankle injury, but he claims it’s no big deal. He should start scoring again tonight and in bunches, but he probably won’t be able to pick his peripherals up as OKC is a very good rebounding team and they limit opponent assists. He has a great price on DK and his salary is reasonable on FanDuel now that they brought it back down to $12.5K.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
Patrick Beverley $5,900 $5,000 0.82 30.7 0.2 25.2 3.5 16.3% -1.2% 4 -0.59
James Harden $12,500 $10,600 1.48 36.4 -2.1 53.9 1.1 38.6% 0.1% 19 1.64
Trevor Ariza $5,700 $5,100 0.72 34.7 2.1 25.1 -1.0 14.4% 1.6% 16 2.47
Ryan Anderson $4,900 $4,300 0.71 29.4 -7.4 20.9 0.2 17.2% 3.2% 10 2.10
Clint Capela $6,000 $4,600 1.08 23.9 1.9 25.9 6.2 19.1% 1.1% 11 1.42
Eric Gordon $5,400 $4,900 0.77 31.0 -1.1 23.8 -4.0 22.0% -0.2% 19 N/A
Lou Williams $4,900 $5,200 1.03 24.6 2.4 25.4 -5.6 28.9% -4.2% 19 N/A
Nene Hilario $5,200 $4,400 0.97 17.9 0.1 17.3 1.7 19.3% 1.8% 11 N/A

Elite Plays – James Harden

Secondary Plays – Lou Williams, Eric Gordon, Patrick Beverley, Ryan Anderson, Trevor Ariza, Nene

Memphis Grizzlies at San Antonio Spurs – 8:00 PM ET

Memphis Grizzlies San Antonio Spurs
Article Image Vegas Total 186.5 Article Image Vegas Total 186.5
Vegas Spread 10.0 Vegas Spread -10.0
Team Total 88.3 Team Total 98.3
Pace +/- -2.3 Pace +/- -4.0
Proj. Starter Mike Conley James Ennis Vince Carter Zach Randolph Marc Gasol Proj. Starter Tony Parker Danny Green Kawhi Leonard LaMarcus Aldridge Dewayne Dedmon
Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C
Adj. DvP 8 12 2 2 2 Adj. DvP 6 10 6 3 1
DRPM -0.79 2.10 0.85 1.25 4.86 DRPM -0.50 1.40 0.23 -1.06 0.84

Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies are heading back to San Antonio after taking both games at home, including a thrilling buzzer-beating overtime victory. Mike Conley gave us some data to show why he’s worth all that money. He came close to a triple-double with 35 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists. Conley now boasts an assist rate of 46.0%, the fourth-highest rate in the postseason and an increase of 11.5% above his regular season production. He’s fifth in assists per game though with a 7.8 average while the three players ahead of him are in double-digits and LeBron James with his 37.4% rate is turning in 9.0 per game. This is a result of a slow pace – this series is the slowest of them all with a pace of 89.58 – and poor team shooting. Overall, Memphis is 11th in field goals attempted and 15th in field goals made. Vegas isn’t expecting much better tonight as the Grizzlies have an implied total of 88.3 points, 12.3 below their average. This is an ominous sign for Conley, Marc Gasol, and Zach Randolph, who have collectively taken 58.1% of the team’s shots in the playoffs.

Conley has accounted for 68 FGAs on his own, which leads the team. He launched 23 times in Game 4, leaving Gasol and Randolph with 12 shots apiece. On the series, Gasol is averaging 14.8 FGAs per game, 0.9 below his average despite playing an extra 4.3 minutes per game. Although moving Randolph to the starting lineup is good for the team, it may have a negative impact on Gasol’s bottom line. Randolph is also taking 14.8 shots a night and now he’s doing it with the first team as opposed to the second unit. They’re also competing for rebounds and Randolph is better in that regard as seen with Randolph’s higher rebounding percentage (15.9% to 11.7%). All in all, Randolph has a usage rate of 27.5% in this series, placing him ahead of Gasol (26.1%).

In Game 4, Randolph was bothered by double teams in the post and only had four points at halftime. He finished 4-for-12, but still managed a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. The result isn’t terribly surprising as 57.1% of Randolph’s attempts are coming from within eight feet of the basket in this series and San Antonio held opponents to the lowest field goal percentage in that area this season (52.5%). Randolph has found some success overall, as he’s completed 62.5% of his attempts there, but he’s now had two games where he shot 33.3% or worse out of four in this series.

Most of the fantasy points are going to be concentrated on those three guys. Vince Carter is the only other player averaging above 25 minutes a game – he plays 32.6 a night – but he doesn’t have much upside in this lineup; he’s averaging 8.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.3 steals. Their fifth starter, James Ennis, earned 32 minutes in the overtime game and was only able to turn in 11.0 FD points after he went 2-of-10 from the field and collected five rebounds. He received 20 in the game prior. He’ll likely be back in the 20s again tonight. During the season, he shared the court with Gasol, Conley, and Randolph for 134.5 minutes and in that time he produced 0.45 FD points on a usage rate of 11.4%.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
Mike Conley $8,500 $8,000 1.06 33.2 -6.4 35.1 -5.7 29.7% 2.7% 8 -0.79
James Ennis $3,300 $3,600 0.60 23.4 -5.2 14.1 -3.5 13.0% -3.0% 12 2.10
Vince Carter $3,700 $3,700 0.66 24.7 0.2 16.3 -2.2 15.5% -2.1% 2 0.85
Zach Randolph $6,400 $6,600 1.07 24.5 -0.5 26.3 0.1 28.7% 3.3% 2 1.25
Marc Gasol $7,900 $7,100 1.06 34.2 -5.0 36.2 -2.9 27.9% -0.4% 2 4.86
Jamychal Green $3,300 $3,300 0.73 27.3 -5.9 19.9 -8.2 14.4% -0.2% 2 N/A

Elite Plays – Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph

Secondary Plays – None

San Antonio Spurs

Kawhi Leonard put on a show in Game 4. He scored the final 16 points for the Spurs as they rallied back from a 10-point hole with 7:38 remaining in the fourth. He was just unstoppable at the end of the game and he finished with 43 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and six (!) steals. Leonard has now scored 130 points on 69 shots in this series. He’s currently hitting 70% of his shots from the mid-range on a team that held opponents to the second-lowest field goal percentage in that zone during the season (37.8%). Overall, he’s averaging 32.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.3. assists and 2.0 steals while commanding a 33.1% usage rate. One has to wonder what his numbers would look like if Tony Allen weren’t injured.

The only other player averaging more than 25.8 minutes per game is LaMarcus Aldridge (36.1). He’s been a pretty big disappointment so far. His usage rate is down 6.2% to 20.4% and his fantasy production has slipped to 0.71 FD ppm from 0.96. His rebounding rate is down to a paltry 10.1% and he’s been oddly unaggressive on offense. Although he’s shooting a solid 48.9% from the field, he’s only taken 11.3 attempts per game. That’s 3.3 below his average despite earning an extra 3.7 minutes per game. In Game 4 he took a total of four shots by halftime. Surprisingly, this subpar production may be a side effect of poor team basketball from a Greg Popovich squad. During the regular season, San Antonio averaged 23.8 assists per game, the seventh-highest mark in the league. That number as fallen to 15.5 in the postseason, which is dead last. While a portion of the decline can be blamed on pace, that doesn’t account for all of it. LA isn’t a guy who creates a ton of shots for himself, 59.4% of his baskets were assisted during the season. Throughout this series, just 18.2% of his made field goals have been assisted. This could mean his teammates have been looking to create their own shots as opposed to finding him and others. The change in their dynamic can be seen in their team passing; they’re averaging 274.3 passes per game and have an assist to pass percentage of 5.7, which is a sizable decline from the 317.0 passes they made during the regular season (seventh in the NBA) and their 7.6% assist to pass rate (11th). It doubtful Pop will let this continue. The Big Fundamental (Tim Duncan) even showed up at Spurs practice ahead of Game 5 to get them in line. If the Spurs can get back to solid team ball complete with efficient passing, Aldridge should see his numbers improve.

With Dewayne Dedmon back, he’ll get back into the starting lineup and play his 12 minutes for defensive purposes. That will send David Lee back to the bench. Lee received 33 minutes in Dedmon’s absence and finished with eight points and five rebounds. Prior to Game 4, he was playing about 15 minutes per game, which seems to be what we can expect when Dedmon is playing. Pau Gasol had one of his best games, he scored eight and hauled in 11 boards, but he only played 21 minutes even though Dedmon was out. He hasn’t been getting enough time to be a great fantasy target.

Tony Parker is a person of interest here, he bounced back from a scoreless Game 3 by dropping 22 points in 37 minutes. He hadn’t topped 24 minutes in the previous three games though, so it’s possible he drops back down tonight. It’s his third game of the series with at least 15 points, so he’s on the tournament radar, but his salary is rising and he may not get enough time on the court to keep up his scoring pace.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
Tony Parker $5,000 $4,500 0.74 25.2 -5.1 18.6 -2.4 23.1% 2.5% 6 -0.50
Danny Green $4,200 $3,800 0.62 26.6 -6.7 16.5 -1.7 13.8% 0.7% 10 1.40
Kawhi Leonard $10,400 $9,600 1.22 33.4 -8.6 40.6 -13.7 30.9% -1.6% 6 0.23
LaMarcus Aldridge $7,000 $6,200 0.96 32.4 -6.3 31.1 -7.3 24.0% -0.7% 3 -1.06
Dewayne Dedmon $2,300 $2,500 0.89 17.5 1.3 15.6 1.1 12.0% 3.1% 1 0.84
Pau Gasol $5,300 $4,800 1.06 25.4 -3.9 26.9 -2.4 21.5% 4.2% 1 N/A

Elite Plays – Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge

Secondary Plays – Tony Parker (GPP)

Utah Jazz at Los Angeles Clippers – 10:30 PM ET

Utah Jazz Los Angeles Clippers
Article Image Vegas Total 196.5 Article Image Vegas Total 196.5
Vegas Spread 3.5 Vegas Spread -3.5
Team Total 96.5 Team Total 100.0
Pace +/- -0.5 Pace +/- -5.1
Proj. Starter George Hill Joe Ingles Gordon Hayward Boris Diaw Rudy Gobert Proj. Starter Chris Paul J.J. Redick Luc Richard Mbah a Moute Marreese Speights DeAndre Jordan
Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C
Adj. DvP 7 5 22 20 9 Adj. DvP 1 2 1 1 3
DRPM 2.71 -1.80 2.19 0.54 3.57 DRPM 0.60 0.04 0.13 -1.03 6.03

Utah Jazz

The Jazz got Rudy Gobert back and he looked excellent, scoring 15 points and adding 13 rebounds in 24 minutes. Although they never said anything officially, it seems pretty clear he was on a minutes restriction last game. It’s possible that’s eased tonight, but he’s a risky option because we just don’t know at this point. In the two games he played against the Clippers and received at least 36 minutes this season, he averaged 12 rebounds and 18.5 points. While those aren’t huge numbers, it was definitely a positive sign that he was in the same ballpark in just 24 minutes last night.

Gobert’s return was good timing as they lost Gordon Hayward to food poisoning. He played nine ineffective minutes before calling it a night. He should be fine now and he wasn’t on Utah’s injury report today. A bigger concern for his fantasy production is Gobert’s return. When the center is off the floor, Hayward’s usage increases by 4.2% and his per-36 pace increases by 7.33 FD points to 43.08. When Gobert is on, his per-36 pace decreases another 1.19 FD points below his average, bringing it to 34.56. It’s still not bad for his price, especially considering he could push towards 40 minutes if his illness has fully subsided.

Over at point guard, George Hill should benefit from the big man’s return. With Gobert off the floor, he has a usage rate of 22.8% and a per-36 pace of 29.35 FD points; when Gobert is on, those numbers rise to 25.6% and 32.93 FD points, respectively. His minutes seem more secure than fellow mid-range option Patrick Beverley and he tends to be more consistent.

When Hayward exited Game 4 early, more minutes were allotted to Joe Ingles, Joe Johnson, and Rodney Hood, all of whom had big fantasy nights. The Joes should go back down towards the low-30s tonight. With Hayward and Gobert on the court, they both average 24 FD points per 36 minutes, so they aren’t particularly appealing. Joe Johnson has more upside as he’s capable of scoring a bunch of points; he’s topped 20 twice this series. However, his recently increased usage rate and average FGAs will likely decrease with the two stars on the court. Hood will also have a diminished value with Hayward back. He played 35 minutes after being held around 20 for most of the series and he finished with 18 points, but he’ll likely return to his normal workload.

Derrick Favors moved to the bench with Gobert starting and he picked up 24 minutes. He was very effective with his time, scoring 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting while adding six boards. He’s been struggling all series though, and he may struggle to replicate last night’s success off the bench.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
George Hill $5,700 $5,900 0.89 31.5 -11.3 28.0 0.8 24.7% 0.1% 7 2.71
Joe Ingles $5,100 $5,300 0.68 24.1 7.5 16.3 2.3 15.4% 0.1% 5 -1.80
Gordon Hayward $7,700 $7,400 1.00 34.5 -2.8 34.3 1.5 27.6% 1.7% 22 2.19
Boris Diaw $4,200 $3,100 0.57 17.6 0.5 10.1 3.8 17.6% -3.7% 20 0.54
Rudy Gobert $9,700 $7,900 1.05 33.9 -2.8 35.8 -1.6 16.2% 1.5% 9 3.57
Joe Johnson $5,700 $5,500 0.68 23.6 1.7 16.1 5.8 18.7% 3.4% 22 N/A
Derrick Favors $6,100 $5,400 0.87 23.7 -6.6 20.7 -3.3 19.8% 5.8% 20 N/A

Elite Plays – Gordon Hayward

Secondary Plays – George Hill, Rudy Gobert (GPP), Joe Johnson, Joe Ingles, Derrick Favors

Los Angeles Clippers

Austin Rivers is returning tonight for the Clippers. He’ll be on a minutes limit, likely restricting him to the low 20s. When Rivers is on and Blake Griffin off, Chris Paul has a usage rate of 26.5% and he produces 50.81 FD points every 36 minutes, on average. Paul has scored at least 21 points and contributed 10 or more assists in all four games of this series so far. He currently has an insane assist rate of 59.3%; in Game 4, he assisted on a whopping 74.0% of his teammates’ field goals when he was on the court. In each of the past two games, he’s taken 21 or more shots and hauled in at least seven rebounds. There’s little doubt he’s going to continue to put the team on his back.

In this scenario (with Rivers and without Griffin), DeAndre Jordan earns an extra 2.5 FD points every 36 minutes, bringing his total to 41.02. Although that sounds great and he’s had three successful games, his fantasy outlook takes a big hit in Game 5 with Gobert back and ready to battle on the glass. For the series, Jordan has a 24.2% rebounding rate, but that dropped substantially to 17.8% in Game 4 with Gobert playing just 24 minutes. And after scoring 17+ in consecutive games, he was back down to 12 points in Game 4. He should definitely do better this time around, even in a tough spot, but his ceiling is capped by Gobert’s presence in addition to the slow pace.

The rest of the squad is full of risky value options. Marreese Speights sticks out as he can do big things in a hurry, but when he’s only getting 21 minutes against the Jazz, he’ll have his work cut out for him. Still, he’s worth a look given the dearth of power forwards on the slate. In 11 games with at least 20 minutes this season, Speights scored over 23 FD points in nine, and he exceeded 36 on three occasions. He could potentially pick up more minutes if the Clippers decide to go big to compete with Utah’s Gobert lineups. They decided to stay small last game though, giving J.J. Redick 42 minutes, Jamal Crawford 31, and Raymond Felton 22. Rivers will take a bunch of time from Felton while Redick and Crawford could see reduced workloads as well. Even in 42 minutes, Redick only scored 8 FD points. He continues to look overmatched by this defense. Crawford popped off a bunch of shots again (13), he’s taken at least ten in all four games. He finally started to connect in Game 4, finishing 9-of-13 overall and 5-of-7 from three on his way to 25 points. Prior to this game, he was 0-for-11 from deep, so he’s a risky bet, but he seems like a better option than Redick in this matchup. Small forward Luc Mbah a Moute is in play due to the overall weakness of his position on tonight’s slate. He’s getting a ton of minutes each night and he’s scored at least 17.5 FD points in three games so far, including a really solid Game 3 in which he returned 27.7 as he scored 15 actual points.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
Chris Paul $10,400 $10,300 1.26 31.5 1.4 39.7 4.2 28.9% 0.2% 1 0.60
J.J. Redick $3,400 $3,900 0.72 28.2 3.7 20.2 4.9 21.0% -1.9% 2 0.04
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute $4,300 $4,000 0.52 22.3 7.8 11.6 4.9 11.0% 0.9% 1 0.13
Marreese Speights $4,300 $4,100 1.03 15.7 -1.2 16.1 -4.8 22.4% -2.2% 1 -1.03
DeAndre Jordan $8,400 $7,800 1.08 31.7 2.1 34.3 4.6 14.6% 0.1% 3 6.03
Jamal Crawford $3,600 $4,000 0.70 26.3 -2.5 18.3 -4.1 22.8% -3.4% 2 N/A

Elite Plays – Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan

Secondary Plays – Marreese Speights, Jamal Crawford, Luc Mbah a Moute, J.J. Redick

About the Author

bryanpauquette
Bryan Pauquette (bryanpauquette)

Bryan Pauquette’s peak in life came in 2002 when he struck out live on the YES network in the New York State Little League championship. Unfortunately, his team lost to a squad that cheated their way to the U.S. Semi-Finals, so he feels forever robbed of a chance to go down swinging on ESPN. As it turns out, he’s much better at fantasy sports than actual ones and he’s been an avid cash game and small-field tournament player since 2015. He joined RotoGrinders in Summer Sixteen as part of their alerts and projections team. Outside of RG, Bryan is a television writer and producer based in the City of Angels (he does not root for any of their teams, but he’s thinking about the Chargers because he’s giving up on the Jets).