NBA Grind Down: Wednesday, April 16th - Page 3

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Toronto at New York

Toronto

The Raptors don’t have any injury news out yet but Derozan sat out on Monday so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him be at least limited again tonight. There’s a lot of uncertainty in how they’ll approach this game so I’d use extreme caution when targeting TOR players tonight. The only guy whose minutes have been consistently high is Kyle Lowry who saw 37 minutes on Monday, but with his recent injury concerns he seems like a decent candidate to be a late scratch victim tonight.

New York

The big news here is that Carmelo is doubtful to play on Wednesday leaving a ton of shots for the rest of the Knicks to consume. Melo sat out on Tuesday night so we have some idea of what to expect from New York tonight. Tim Hardaway Jr. played 36 minutes, Shumpert saw 30 and even Shannon Brown saw 30 minutes. Meanwhile, J.R. Smith was under 24 minutes and it looks like Woodson is hell-bent on rolling the scrubs out for big minutes tonight. Deciding which scrub will be the most efficient is another discussion though, but you can at least keep those three on your radar for tournaments.

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Indiana at Orlando

Indiana

The Pacers are expected to sit Paul George, Lance Stephenson, and David West out of the starting lineup tonight. That means the only two starters expected to play have been their two weakest links all year in Roy Hibbert and George Hill. I think it’s safe to assume neither of these guys will see a ton of minutes, although neither play monstrous minutes to begin with. The big news here is that we’ll probably see a heavy dose of Evan Turner, Chris Copeland and Luis Scola on Wednesday. All three were extremely productive last time the IND starters sat out.

Orlando

The Magic have nothing to play for tonight and Nikola Vucevic has already been ruled out. Jameer Nelson is questionable and his status will have a huge impact on where the value lies in the Orlando offense. I don’t trust any of the ORL bigs since the Pacers are leaving Hibbert in the starting lineup but if Nelson sits there are 30 minutes to be spread around the rest of the Magic backcourt. Even with that said, Jacque Vaughan hasn’t been playing many guys over 25 minutes in that backcourt so I would argue you’re best served to just avoid them entirely.

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L.A.Clippers at Portland

L.A.Clippers

Blake Griffin and J.J. Redick didn’t even make the trip to Portland so you already know just how seriously the Clips are taking this game. I’m assuming CP3 is somewhat limited as well but with Redick out you can at least expect increased minutes for Darren Collison and Jamal Crawford. Blake’s absence should open up minutes and production for DeAndre Jordan, Glen Davis, Hedo Turkoglu and Matt Barnes.

Portland

The Blazers are going to be interesting tonight. Aldridge is currently listed as questionable but as we’ve seen in the past there is no real one guy who benefits greatly when he is out. If he does sit, look for Thomas Robinson and Dorell Wright to split up the minutes but neither can really be trusted for production. I love the O/U in this game and the pace should be fast but I certainly don’t trust Lillard against the stout defense of Chris Paul and the best matchups are likely upfront where, as I mentioned above, the Blazers could be piecing together a balanced rotation.

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Phoenix at Sacramento

Phoenix

The Suns have already announced they’ll be without Goran Dragic tonight and I think you can safely expect to see a deflated team show up in Sac Town. Further, they came out this morning and said that rookies Archie Goodwin and Alex Len will see extended run. That seems to be a pretty good indicator that PHX will limit Bledsoe, Green and some of their bigs (who are hard to predict to begin with). It’s a great matchup with a nice 206.5 O/U, but don’t look for the stars to be anywhere near full-speed tonight.

Sacramento

It’s really too bad that DeMarcus Cousins had to go and get himself suspended for the final game of the year because he probably would have been my #1 overall play tonight. Cousins is out and Rudy Gay is currently listed as doubtful so you should see a heavily watered down version of the Kings tonight with Derrick Williams, Reggie Evans and Jason Thompson picking up extra minutes. IT2 is back which is intriguing and he did play 30 minutes in his first game back on Sunday night, much to the chagrin of anyone who took Ray McCallum.

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Golden State at Denver

Golden State

Alright so injury news first: Bogut, Lee, Curry and Klay are all not expected to play tonight. That leaves a starting lineup of Jordan Crawford, Steve Blake, Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green and Jermaine O’Neal if I were a betting man. Bad news is you can’t target any of the top options on Golden State. Good news is all of these guys are dirt cheap and the Nuggets have been one of the worst defensive teams in all of basketball over the last month.

Denver

The Nuggets certainly hoped their season would end up better than this but as Wednesday marks the final day of the 2013-14 regular season, Denver will be grabbing their golf clubs and joining 13 other teams on the links. Injury-wise, Lawson is doubtful again tonight and Mozgov is currently listed as probable. Matchup-wise, it’s tough to know how the Warriors defense will be tonight when benching 4 typical starters but knowing how Jordan Crawford and Steve Blake usually play D I’d assume their backcourt will be a mess defensively.

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