NBA Grind Down: Wednesday, November 20th
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
With the NBA having a full schedule of 13 games tonight, today’s Grind Down will focus more on the suggested players than the team analysis.
Brooklyn at Charlotte
- Vegas Line – No Lines Set for This Game Yet
- Brooklyn Proj. Starters – Williams-Johnson-Pierce-Garnett-Lopez
- Charlotte Proj. Starters – Walker-Henderson-Kidd-Gilchrist-McRoberts-Biyombo
Brooklyn
The Nets are already in a tail-spin. People are already saying that Kidd can’t coach and that this team will never work together. While it has been a very rough start to the season, the sample size is way too small to make any big decisions. This team will start playing better soon enough and this will all be a mute point in a month or two. The Nets will get Deron Williams back tonight which means Shaun Livingston’s run as a value play comes to an end. However, Brook Lopez is still out which opens some minutes down low.
- Andray Blatche – A lot of people jumped off of the Blatche bandwagon the other night when the news that Evans would start at Center came out. I tried to tell people not to overreact and it looks like that was the right call. Even though he’s not getting the start, he is still the player that gets the biggest boost with Lopez out. He will see between 25-30 minutes and makes a great value play again tonight.
Charlotte
The Bobcats are near the bottom of the league in both pace of play (93) and points scored per game (88). While they do face a struggling Nets team, there just aren’t many viable fantasy options on the Bobcats right now. Al Jefferson has already been ruled out, but I don’t love the prospects of either Josh McRoberts or Bismack Biyombo. However, if you look at the DvP rankings, you will see that the Nets are currently ranked 26th against opposing PG’s.
- Kemba Walker – Kemba has been pretty irrelevant from a fantasy perspective this season, but he does have 5 games over 30 FP’s. I like him tonight thanks to his matchup against the Nets and the fact that he averages over 5 more FP’s at home than he does on the road. I’m not sure if he can be trusted in cash games, but he makes a nice GPP play.
Washington at Cleveland
- Vegas Line – Cleveland -3, 192 Over/Under
- Washington Proj. Starters – Wall-Beal-Webster-Hilario-Gortat
- Cleveland Proj. Starters – Irving-Miles-Clark-Thompson-Varejao
Washington
The Wizards are a lot more talented than their record suggests and are coming off of a big win against the Wolves last night. The backcourt duo of John Wall and Bradley Beal really looks impressive and they are getting great contributions from both Nene Hilario and Marcin Gortat down low. The Wizards have a nice matchup against the Cavs as they rank in the bottom 10 against PG’s, SF’s, and PF’s. Even with a large slate of games, it’s not crazy if you want to take 2-3 Wizards players tonight.
- Martell Webster – Webster is one of the best values on the board tonight. With Ariza out, he has really filled in nicely as the starting SF and is averaging over 30 FP’s per game in his last 3. His price tag is pretty cheap across the board (except for DS) and I think he is a no brainer against the Cavs. Nice upside at a great price.
Cleveland
The Cavs are near the bottom of the league in both pace of play (96) and points scored per game (92). Their fantasy situation is really a mess right now because Andrew Bynum takes away production from both Varejao and Thompson, yet he’s too injury prone to take at this point. Then you have the drama with Dion Waiters that hurts his value as well. It sounds like they are going to start C.J. Miles and bring Waiters off the bench. And finally, Kyrie Irving is seeing less minutes this year thanks to Jarrett Jack playing big minutes off the bench. I think you could make an argument for Kyrie tonight, but the Wizards are ranked 8th against PG’s this season and I think it’s safe to avoid all Cavs unless you find great value somewhere.
Indiana at New York
- Vegas Line – Indiana -5.5, 187 Over/Under
- Indiana Proj. Starters – Hill-Stephenson-George-West-Hibbert
- New York Proj. Starters – Udrih-Shumpert-Anthony-Martin-Bargnani
Indiana
This game is projected as the lowest scoring game of the night which is never a good thing to see if you are trying to target players from this game. However, the line suggests that it should be a pretty close game so that always helps. The Pacers have been a tough team to predict this season because they have so many players that can contribute each night. Paul George and Lance Stephenson have cooled off from their hot starts, George Hill hasn’t been doing much of anything fantasy wise, and Roy Hibbert and David West seem to trade off big nights. However, the Knicks have struggled against wing players and this might be the night to spend on Paul George.
- Paul George – George’s price has come down across the board which makes him a much more attractive fantasy optoin. He has a nice matchup against the Knicks who are ranked 20th against SF’s. Look for George to get plenty of minutes tonight against Carmelo and my gut tell me that he outplays him. I’m expecting big things from George tonight.
New York
The Knicks were without Raymond Felton last night and will likely be without him again tonight. While Beno Udrih will draw the start, he hasn’t done anything all season and Pablo Prigioni is the better play of the two. The Knicks have an extremely tough matchup against the Pacers tonight. If you take a look at the Pacers DvP rankings, they rank in the top 2 against SG’s, PF’s and Centers and rank in the top 17 against the other two positions. If you are going to play any Knicks players tonight, you are going to have to find them at a discount because the matchup does not bode well for their fantasy appeal.
Miami at Orlando
- Vegas Line – Miami -7, 198.5 Over/Under
- Miami Proj. Starters – Chalmers-Wade-James-Haslem-Bosh
- Orlando Proj. Starters – Nelson-Afflalo-Harkless-Nicholson-Vucevic
Miami
The Heat are dominating teams right now thanks to their shut down defense. Lebron James hasn’t even had to play in the last couple of 4th quarters. I think that we could see some decent fantasy options tonight if Dwyane Wade sits out again, but if he plays, there just isn’t much to work with. The Heat are favored by 8 in this one, but they could easily get up big and cruise to another win. My suggestion would be to monitor the injury reports throughout the day. If Wade ends up sitting out, give a bump to Mario Chalmers and Lebron James. If Wade ends up playing, don’t overpay for the any of the Heat players.
Orlando
The Magic haven’t had many bright spots on their team this season, but both Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Afflalo have been playing well of late. It’s hard for me to take a shot on either of them tonight though, because they are facing one of the best defenses in the league and could very easily get blown out. I read that Vucevic is averaging something like 20 and 20 against the Heat in his career, but I will take my chances with another Center tonight and if he burns me, then I will live with it. This Heat team ranks in the top 13 against every single position over the last 15 days and I want nothing to do with that defense.
Toronto at Philadelphia
- Vegas Line – No Lines Set for This Game Yet
- Toronto Proj. Starters – Lowry-DeRozan-Gay-Johnson-Valanciunas
- Philadelphia Proj. Starters – Wroten-Anderson-Turner-Young-Hawes
Toronto
Two contrasting styles face off in this one. The Raptors are one of the slowest paced teams and the Sixers are one of the fastest paced teams. What that typically means is that the slower paced team will see more possessions than they are used to and the faster paced team with see less possessions than they are used to. In daily fantasy, that means give a bump to the Raptors players and downgrade the Sixers players as a whole. The Sixers are giving up 109 points per game so this is a very favorable matchup for the Raptors.
- Kyle Lowry – Lowry faces the defense that gives up more FP’s to PG’s than any other team. Even though he hasn’t been great this season, the matchup more than makes up for that. Lowry is a very affordable option at PG with a huge upside regardless of whether or not MCW plays.
- Jonas Valanciunas – Big Val is very cheap on a few different sites tonight and makes a great value play against this Sixers team who ranks 16th against opposing Centers. Val has scored 25 or more FP’s in four of his last eight games and he should top that again tonight.
Philadelphia
The Sixers are in the top 10 in the league in both pace of play (102) and points scored per game (103), but like I mentioned above, they are facing a team that is one of the slower paced teams in the league which really hurts the Sixers’ value. It sounds like Michael Carter-Williams could be back for tonight’s game. If he does end up playing, give it a game or two before putting him in your lineup. If he ends up sitting out, Tony Wroten would continue to be a strong value play. I don’t love the matchup for anyone else on the Sixers.