NBA Grind Down: Wednesday, November 6th - Page 2
New Orleans at Memphis
| New Orleans | Memphis | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Pts | 187.0 |  | Vegas | 187.0 | |||||||
| Spread | 7.5 | Spread | -7.5 | |||||||||
| Pace | 96.15 | Pace | 96.98 | |||||||||
| Opponent Defense vs. Position | Opponent Defense vs. Position | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 11 | 15 | 29 | 14 | 18 | Season | 20 | 1 | 26 | 7 | 17 | |
| Last10 | 11 | 15 | 29 | 14 | 18 | Last10 | 20 | 1 | 26 | 7 | 17 | |
| Holiday-Gordon-Evans-Davis-Smith | Conley-Allen-Prince-Randolph-Gasol | |||||||||||
New Orleans
The Pelicans have really pushed the tempo this season with Jrue Holiday at point. They are still in the middle of the pack in points scored per game, but that is a major improvement over last season. From a fantasy perspective, I don’t love the backcourt combo of Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, and Tyreke Evans. They all need the ball in their hands in order to be effective and they hurt each other’s fantasy value.
The Pelicans have an extremely tough matchup tonight against the Grizzlies who are one of the best defenses in the NBA. They are also one of the slowest paced teams in the league. That means less possessions for the Pelicans and they are facing a tough defense. That’s usually good enough for me to avoid everyone, but the way the brow is playing, he can’t be ignored.
Players to Target
- Anthony Davis – The brow continues to dominate every opponent that he faces and the fact that he is playing 35+ minutes every night makes him a solid option anytime he takes the floor. I think he could reach double-digit blocks tonight against Randolph and Gasol, both rarely leave the floor when they shoot the ball. I don’t like him as much as love, but he’s a close 2nd in my forward rankings.
Memphis
The Grizzlies have actually picked up their pace a bit this season, but I don’t necessarily think that they will keep it up. Their bread and butter is playing great defense and getting good shots in the half court. Both Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol are more effective in the half court and I expect their pace to slow down as we get a bigger sample size.
The matchup against the Pelicans is a pretty good one, the Pelicans haven’t defended any position that well this season and rank in the bottom half of the league against both SF’s and Centers.
Players to Target
- Marc Gasol – Jason Smith is now the starting center for the Pelicans and he’s actually a worse defender than Stiemsma. Marc is a very consistent option at center that you can count on 30 FP’s from. As long as this game stays close, Marc should put up good numbers.
Cleveland at Milwaukee
| Cleveland | Milwaukee | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Pts | 186.0 |  | Vegas | 186.0 | |||||||
| Spread | -1.5 | Spread | 1.5 | |||||||||
| Pace | 98.43 | Pace | 94.51 | |||||||||
| Opponent Defense vs. Position | Opponent Defense vs. Position | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 1 | 25 | 2 | 25 | 27 | Season | 21 | 8 | 25 | 5 | 8 | |
| Last10 | 1 | 25 | 2 | 25 | 27 | Last10 | 21 | 8 | 25 | 5 | 8 | |
| Irving-Waiters-Clark-Thompson-Varejao | Knight-Mayo-Butler-Ilyasova-Sanders | |||||||||||
Cleveland
The Cavs are in the top half of the league as far as pace of play, yet they have scored the least amount of points per game. Their offense looked much better last game and I think it is just from a slow start by both Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters. Once those two get going, the Cavs should be fine offensively.
I really like the matchup against the Bucks whose DvP rankings make it very easy to decipher who we should be targeting in this one. While the Bucks are good against PG’s, I think think that Kyrie is in play, his price has come down a bit and it’s only a matter of time before he has a breakout game.
Players to Target
- Anderson Varejao – Varejao makes his money by out-hustling everyone on the court. Larry Sanders on the other hand makes his money by using his athleticism. I think Varejao will beat Sanders to a lot of rebounds and loose balls tonight. Andy is coming off of his best game this season and I think he gets his first double-double of the season tonight.
- Dion Waiters – Waiters has been ice cold to start the season and has been losing out minutes to bench players. That said, he is still one of the better pure scorers in this game and he can really get hot quickly. I think he makes a perfect GPP play against the Bucks.
Milwaukee
Other than Zaza Pachulia, no one on the Bucks has played very well this season. Well, let me add Nate Wolters to that list first. But everyone has has really struggled. Larry Sanders and Ersan Ilyasova have been nowhere to be found and O.J. Mayo has yet to figure out that he is supposed to play defense when they don’t have the ball.
I like the matchup against the Cavs, but I just don’t know who I can trust on the Bucks to give us a good fantasy performance. I think they all make good GPP plays, but they are too risky for me to trust in any H2H or 50/50 leagues.
Players to Target
- Nate Wolters – Wolters is playing over 30 minutes per game and is averaging close to 20 FP’s per game. I don’t think he carries the same value as some of these other cheap plays that I’ve mentioned, but he may be worth a shot if you are playing in some GPP’s.
Golden State at Minnesota
| Golden State | Minnesota | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Pts | 208.5 |  | Vegas | 208.5 | |||||||
| Spread | 1.0 | Spread | -1.0 | |||||||||
| Pace | 102.79 | Pace | 100.93 | |||||||||
| Opponent Defense vs. Position | Opponent Defense vs. Position | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 4 | 21 | 18 | 11 | 19 | Season | 28 | 17 | 8 | 20 | 13 | |
| Last10 | 4 | 21 | 18 | 11 | 19 | Last10 | 28 | 17 | 8 | 20 | 13 | |
| Curry-Thompson-Iguodala-Lee-Bogut | Rubio-Martin-Brewer-Love-Pekovic | |||||||||||
Golden State
The Warriors are one of the highest scoring teams in the league and have been for a couple of years. They are always great to see on the schedule because that means that they are going to be plenty of viable fantasy options. The Warriors have yet to have a close game though, they haven’t had one game decided by less than 11 points and their bench has ended up playing most of the 4th quarters.
I think that should change tonight against the Wolves who have played very well this season. Vegas expects this to be a very close, very high scoring game, so target players on both sides of this matchup.
Players to Target
- Stephen Curry – Curry can put up as big of numbers as anyone in the NBA. When he catches fire, there is nothing that can slow him down. I love the matchup against Ricky Rubio even though the DvP rankings currently have the Wolves as 4th best against PG’s. Rubio gets a lot of steals, but he’s not a great on ball defender. Curry should get plenty of open looks tonight and push for 30 points.
- David Lee – Lee is a poor man’s Kevin Love. He just doesn’t rebound quite as well and definitely can’t shoot as well. But he’s still a very good player that averages close to a double-double. I think both Lee and Love will have a hard time stopping each other on the offensive end.
Minnesota
Both of these teams rank in the top 5 in PPG so expect there to be a lot of scoring in tonight’s game. The Wolves have really played well so far and Kevin Love is back to the 2011 form. I can break down this game even more, but at the end of the day, everyone is in play so target quite a few players from this game. I would recommend staying away from Kevin Martin though, Andre Iguodala will be on him and he is one of the best defenders around.
Players to Target
- Kevin Love – Love is my #1 overall option tonight. He is averaging 26 points and 14 rebounds this season and leads the league in touches per game for any position other than PG. Love is getting 85 touches per game which is extremely impressive considering the fact that he doesn’t bring the ball down the floor. He should put up big numbers again tonight.
- Ricky Rubio – Rubio is one of those mid-priced players that has the upside of a top-priced player. He can really fill up the stat sheet and we all know how bad Curry is on defense. Rubio should push the tempo and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him put up 13+ assists.
Phoenix at San Antonio
| Phoenix | San Antonio | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Pts |  | Vegas | |||||||||
| Spread | Spread | |||||||||||
| Pace | 94.98 | Pace | 98.21 | |||||||||
| Opponent Defense vs. Position | Opponent Defense vs. Position | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 25 | 18 | 11 | 4 | 16 | Season | 5 | 7 | 27 | 15 | 1 | |
| Last10 | 25 | 18 | 11 | 4 | 16 | Last10 | 5 | 7 | 27 | 15 | 1 | |
| Bledsoe-Green-Tucker-Plumlee-Frye | Parker-Green-Leonard-Duncan-Splitter | |||||||||||
Phoenix
The Suns are going to be without Goran Dragic again tonight so that means another start for Gerald Green and another start for Eric Bledsoe playing the point. Bledsoe has great upside when he plays point. Miles Plumlee has really come down to earth after his hot start and I think it’s safe to avoid him tonight unless you can get him for minimum salary.
This game does have blowout potential though, Vegas has the Spurs favored by 15 in this game which is never good for fantasy purposes. The fact that the Suns played last night doesn’t help either. If the Suns get down big, the coach will be quick to pull his starters. For me, that makes Eric Bledsoe an easy fade.
Players to Target
- Gerald Green – Even with the potential blowout, I think Green carries value. He should still see between 25-30 minutes regardless of the outcome of the game and his price is so cheap that he should easily cover his value. He’s one of my top value plays tonight.
San Antonio
If you didn’t play daily fantasy NBA last season, then you probably don’t know the term “Pop’ed.” On numerous occasions over the last few years, Popovich has decided last minute to sit his players, especially in back to back situations. Sometimes, he lists an injury and other times he just decides to rest his players. Be careful of this on sites that lock lineups. If your player is rested at the last minute, we call that getting Pop’ed and it’s a terrible feeling.
With the line in this game and the potential for Pop to rest his starters, the Spurs are nowhere on my radar tonight.
Dallas at Oklahoma City
| Dallas | Oklahoma City | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Pts |  | Vegas | |||||||||
| Spread | Spread | |||||||||||
| Pace | 102.51 | Pace | 100.15 | |||||||||
| Opponent Defense vs. Position | Opponent Defense vs. Position | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 12 | 28 | 9 | 27 | 3 | Season | 29 | 13 | 16 | 9 | 25 | |
| Last10 | 12 | 28 | 9 | 27 | 3 | Last10 | 29 | 13 | 16 | 9 | 25 | |
| Calderon-Ellis-Marion-Nowitzki-Dalembert | Westbrook-Sefolosha-Durant-Ibaka-Perkins | |||||||||||
Dallas
The Mavs have turned into an offensive juggernaut this season. They rank 2nd in the league at 114 points per game. A lot of that has to do with Monta Ellis who loves to push the ball. Jose Calderon has also pushed the pace. Vegas is giving the Mavs a chance in this one as they are only 7 point underdogs against the Thunder in OKC.
Players to Target
- Jose Calderon – I like Ellis in this one as well, but Thabo Sefolosha is a very solid defender so I don’t like his matchup as much. Calderon only played 22 minutes in last night’s big win over the Lakers so I expect him to have fresh legs tonight. He is very cheap across the board and is a sneaky play tonight.
Oklahoma City
Russell Westbrook is back a month earlier than anyone predicted. That recovery time is truly incredible and he came out of the gates firing with 21 points and 7 assists in his first start. He is probably priced a bit too high on most sites, but he is a must play over on StarStreet. He is only $8,000 so make sure to get him in your lineup.
The matchup against the Mavericks is a great one. This should be one of the higher scoring games tonight and it could be a good spot to take Durant. That said, he’s not my favorite play on the Thunder.
Players to Target
- Serge Ibaka – Ibaka was not a big part of the offense with Westbrook out of the lineup. With Westbrook attacking the rim, it should really open things up for Ibaka. He should get some more open looks and Westbrook’s ability to draw in defenders should open up some offensive rebound opportunities. Dirk is going to have a hard time keeping him off the glass.