NBA Grind Down: Nuggets at Knicks - Saturday, March 18th

Happy weekend! Eight games on the board on this NBA Saturday, including a two-game early slate. The Knicks will take on the Nuggets in NYC with Jalen Brunson expected to return to the lineup. Denver is a two-point road favorite in this one as they cruise to the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs. As always, be sure to read all the way through the Grind Down for the top NBA DFS picks as well as a free PrizePicks entry from each game.

Click here for the Grind Down Overview!

NBA DFS: Denver Nuggets at New York Knicks

Denver Nuggets New York Knicks
Vegas Total Vegas Total
Vegas Spread #N/A Vegas Spread #N/A
Implied Team Total Implied Team Total
Points +/- -116.9 Points +/- -115.1
Position PG SG SF PF C Position PG SG SF PF C
Projected Starters Jamal Murray Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Michael Porter Aaron Gordon Nikola Jokic Projected Starters Jalen Brunson Quentin Grimes RJ Barrett Julius Randle Mitchell Robinson
D EFF (L10) 5 26 23 6 2 D EFF (L10) 24 4 25 17 15

Denver Nuggets NBA DFS Preview

Zeke Nnaji is expected to be available for Denver today after missing quite a bit of time with a shoulder injury, but there’s a pretty good chance he won’t be in the rotation. The Nuggets are otherwise healthy, and their 116.25 total this afternoon is the second-highest of the early slate.

Saturday NBA DFS Notes

Notable Injuries:

Zeke Nnaji (Probable)

Denver Nuggets Stats:
Pace of Play: 99.0 (20 of 30)
Offensive Rating: 117.5 (2 of 30)
Implied Total: ( of 8)
Rebounding Rate: 51.6% (4 of 30)

NYK Matchup:
Pace of Play: 97.5 (27 of 30)
Defensive Rating: 113.4 (13 of 30)
Rebounding Rate: 51.9% (3 of 30)

Note: The team stats above are from the 2022-23 season.

Jamal Murray (26.6%) and Nikola Jokic (26.9%) are the usage headliners on the Nuggets’ side of things. Murray’s been playing monster minutes lately, and $7,300 on DraftKings is a pretty clear underpay. Jokic is easily the top-projected play of the afternoon docket. You’re going to have to take some risks in order to afford him at his $12,000 salaries, but a guy like this is a very scary fade on such a short slate.

Aaron Gordon (1.07 FP/min) is a bit more productive than Michael Porter Jr. (0.98) despite the latter’s higher usage. Everyone not named Jokic on this team is a little too cheap on DK, while they’re more appropriately priced on FanDuel. Gordon hasn’t been in the best form lately, but I’m happy to take advantage of the depressed price point. Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope both play low-usage roles, but value is hard to come by on this early slate. I’d expect a little more ownership on KCP, which makes Brown interesting as a leverage play.

Nuggets Lineup – DraftKings & FanDuel Salaries

Player DK POS FD POS MIN/G +/- FP/G +/- USG% +/- TS% +/- DK/M +/- FD/M +/- MIN (P) DK (P) DK/$ FD (P) FD/$
Jamal Murray $7,300 PG $8,000 PG 32.9 2.9 36.8 -3.9 26% 1% 56% -12% 1.12 -0.20 1.08 -0.24 34 37.2 5.09 35.6 4.45
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope $4,900 SG $5,400 SG 31.6 0.4 22.9 -0.7 14% -2% 62% 1% 0.72 -0.03 0.74 0.01 30 19.5 3.99 19.8 3.66
Michael Porter $5,500 SF $6,100 PF/SF 28.9 -1.1 28.8 6.2 22% 2% 63% 10% 1.00 0.26 0.97 0.29 28 26.7 4.85 25.5 4.19
Aaron Gordon $6,100 PF $6,600 PF 30.1 0.8 32.5 -7.2 21% -1% 64% -3% 1.08 -0.26 1.08 -0.25 30 28.4 4.65 28.2 4.28
Nikola Jokic $12,000 C $12,100 C 33.9 2.2 59.6 6.1 26% 2% 70% 3% 1.76 0.06 1.67 0.12 34 54.8 4.57 52.7 4.35
Bruce Brown $4,600 SG/SF $5,500 SF/SG 28.2 -2.0 24.3 0.1 17% 0% 57% -8% 0.86 0.07 0.87 0.12 24 21.0 4.56 21.1 3.83
Jeff Green $3,300 PF/C $3,700 PF/SF 19.3 -0.7 14.0 -0.1 17% -4% 57% 8% 0.73 0.02 0.73 0.02 18 12.3 3.72 12.1 3.26
Christian Braun $3,100 SG/SF $4,200 SG 14.5 1.7 9.4 5.1 12% 0% 59% 23% 0.65 0.25 0.66 0.31 18 11.0 3.55 11.0 2.62
Thomas Bryant $3,000 C $4,200 C 19.1 -8.3 20.3 -16.2 18% -2% 69% -45% 1.06 -0.68 1.06 -0.73 12 11.1 3.68 11.1 2.64
Reggie Jackson $4,200 PG/SG $4,300 PG 24.9 -8.0 19.5 -12.5 20% -13% 51% -1% 0.79 -0.37 0.75 -0.37 4 2.8 0.66 2.7 0.63

The +/- columns show the difference between this season’s averages and the last three games.

Top DraftKings & FanDuel Picks

Elite Plays – Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon

Tournament Targets – Michael Porter Jr. (FD)

Viable Punts – Michael Porter Jr. (DK), Bruce Brown, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope


New York Knicks NBA DFS Preview

As mentioned, the Knicks say Jalen Brunson is on track to play today after missing several games with a sore foot. We have him projected for 34 minutes in his return, but knowing Thibs, he’ll probably come out and play 44.

Saturday NBA DFS Notes

Notable Injuries:

Jalen Brunson (Probable)

New York Knicks Stats:
Pace of Play: 97.5 (27 of 30)
Offensive Rating: 116.1 (5 of 30)
Implied Total: ( of 8)
Rebounding Rate: 51.9% (3 of 30)

DEN Matchup:
Pace of Play: 99.0 (20 of 30)
Defensive Rating: 113.6 (16 of 30)
Rebounding Rate: 51.6% (4 of 30)

Note: The team stats above are from the 2022-23 season.

Brunson’s return will send Immanuel Quickley back to Benchville, USA. Quickley’s been great and still has a prominent role for the Knicks even with Brunson healthy, but he’s wildly overpriced for that role now. Brunson (1.14 FP/min) is in the midst of a magical year, but we’re certainly not getting a discount here. Murray is much easier to get to at his salaries, but I’d expect Brunson to be lower-owned as a result. Brunson’s return will also knife into the usage of RJ Barrett, which makes Barrett look like a tough sell in the $7,000 range around the industry.

Quentin Grimes starts, while Josh Hart closes. Grimes isn’t really a good enough per-minute guy to give you much upside in limited minutes, while Hart (0.95 FP/min) has been an excellent fit for this team. He’s also a little pricey, though, which makes him more of a secondary play today. Julius Randle (29.6%) should still lead the Knicks in usage even with Brunson back. We know he has a slate-breaking ceiling, but this is far from an easy spot. I prefer paying up for Jokic and the Clippers’ stars before getting to Randle here.

Mitchell Robinson gets so little usage for this team (10.1%) that he actually took to social media the other night to complain about it. I’m not sure what the Knicks have to gain by giving Robinson a bunch of touches in the post, but he is getting awfully cheap on DK ($4,800). The problem is the matchup with Jokic makes foul trouble a real concern. Isaiah Hartenstein isn’t a bad small-slate flier punt in GPPs in his backup role, especially given Robinson’s foul trouble risk.

Knicks Lineup – DraftKings & FanDuel Salaries

Player DK POS FD POS MIN/G +/- FP/G +/- USG% +/- TS% +/- DK/M +/- FD/M +/- MIN (P) DK (P) DK/$ FD (P) FD/$
Jalen Brunson $8,100 PG $8,700 PG 34.9 39.7 26% 60% 1.14 1.11 34 38.2 4.71 37.2 4.28
Quentin Grimes $3,400 SG/SF $4,300 SG/SF 29.3 -2.8 18.9 -6.7 14% -2% 59% -10% 0.65 -0.18 0.63 -0.18 24 13.9 4.09 13.5 3.15
RJ Barrett $6,700 SF $7,200 SF/SG 34.1 -1.8 31.6 -2.0 26% 3% 53% 2% 0.93 -0.01 0.89 0.02 30 27.4 4.09 26.2 3.63
Julius Randle $9,500 PF $9,700 PF 35.9 -1.2 46.9 -3.8 29% 6% 58% -11% 1.31 -0.06 1.23 -0.05 36 44.2 4.65 41.7 4.29
Mitchell Robinson $4,800 C $6,000 C 27.3 -2.7 25.1 -6.8 10% 0% 67% -29% 0.92 -0.17 0.99 -0.16 27 23.5 4.89 24.8 4.13
Josh Hart $5,800 SG/SF $6,000 SG/SF 32.7 1.3 28.0 3.1 13% 2% 61% 3% 0.86 0.06 0.85 0.04 30 24.9 4.30 24.7 4.11
Immanuel Quickley $7,200 PG/SG $6,900 SG/PG 28.5 7.3 26.4 13.9 19% 3% 57% 8% 0.93 0.20 0.91 0.17 24 23.2 3.22 22.6 3.27
Isaiah Hartenstein $3,400 C $4,700 PF/C 19.6 3.6 17.0 3.7 11% -4% 55% -33% 0.87 0.02 0.92 0.05 21 17.2 5.07 18.0 3.83
Obi Toppin $3,100 PF/C $3,800 PF 14.4 -1.1 12.3 2.1 18% 7% 53% 15% 0.85 0.23 0.83 0.19 12 9.8 3.15 9.5 2.50
Miles McBride $3,200 PG/SG $4,500 PG 12.0 3.6 7.7 11.2 14% 1% 49% 41% 0.64 0.57 0.65 0.67 2 1.1 0.35 1.2 0.26

The +/- columns show the difference between this season’s averages and the last three games.

Top DraftKings & FanDuel Picks

Elite Plays – None

Tournament Targets – Julius Randle, Jalen Brunson

Viable Punts – Josh Hart, Mitchell Robinson

NBA PrizePicks Selection: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope More Than 2.5 Assists

Image Credit: Getty Images

Happy weekend! Eight games on the board on this NBA Saturday, including a two-game early slate. The Knicks will take on the Nuggets in NYC with Jalen Brunson expected to return to the lineup. Denver is a two-point road favorite in this one as they cruise to the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs. As always, be sure to read all the way through the Grind Down for the top NBA DFS picks as well as a free PrizePicks entry from each game.

Click here for the Grind Down Overview!

NBA DFS: Denver Nuggets at New York Knicks

Denver Nuggets New York Knicks
Vegas Total Vegas Total
Vegas Spread #N/A Vegas Spread #N/A
Implied Team Total Implied Team Total
Points +/- -116.9 Points +/- -115.1
Position PG SG SF PF C Position PG SG SF PF C
Projected Starters Jamal Murray Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Michael Porter Aaron Gordon Nikola Jokic Projected Starters Jalen Brunson Quentin Grimes RJ Barrett Julius Randle Mitchell Robinson
D EFF (L10) 5 26 23 6 2 D EFF (L10) 24 4 25 17 15

Denver Nuggets NBA DFS Preview

Zeke Nnaji is expected to be available for Denver today after missing quite a bit of time with a shoulder injury, but there’s a pretty good chance he won’t be in the rotation. The Nuggets are otherwise healthy, and their 116.25 total this afternoon is the second-highest of the early slate.

Saturday NBA DFS Notes

Notable Injuries:

Zeke Nnaji (Probable)

Denver Nuggets Stats:
Pace of Play: 99.0 (20 of 30)
Offensive Rating: 117.5 (2 of 30)
Implied Total: ( of 8)
Rebounding Rate: 51.6% (4 of 30)

NYK Matchup:
Pace of Play: 97.5 (27 of 30)
Defensive Rating: 113.4 (13 of 30)
Rebounding Rate: 51.9% (3 of 30)

Note: The team stats above are from the 2022-23 season.

Jamal Murray (26.6%) and Nikola Jokic (26.9%) are the usage headliners on the Nuggets’ side of things. Murray’s been playing monster minutes lately, and $7,300 on DraftKings is a pretty clear underpay. Jokic is easily the top-projected play of the afternoon docket. You’re going to have to take some risks in order to afford him at his $12,000 salaries, but a guy like this is a very scary fade on such a short slate.

Aaron Gordon (1.07 FP/min) is a bit more productive than Michael Porter Jr. (0.98) despite the latter’s higher usage. Everyone not named Jokic on this team is a little too cheap on DK, while they’re more appropriately priced on FanDuel. Gordon hasn’t been in the best form lately, but I’m happy to take advantage of the depressed price point. Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope both play low-usage roles, but value is hard to come by on this early slate. I’d expect a little more ownership on KCP, which makes Brown interesting as a leverage play.

Nuggets Lineup – DraftKings & FanDuel Salaries

Player DK POS FD POS MIN/G +/- FP/G +/- USG% +/- TS% +/- DK/M +/- FD/M +/- MIN (P) DK (P) DK/$ FD (P) FD/$
Jamal Murray $7,300 PG $8,000 PG 32.9 2.9 36.8 -3.9 26% 1% 56% -12% 1.12 -0.20 1.08 -0.24 34 37.2 5.09 35.6 4.45
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope $4,900 SG $5,400 SG 31.6 0.4 22.9 -0.7 14% -2% 62% 1% 0.72 -0.03 0.74 0.01 30 19.5 3.99 19.8 3.66
Michael Porter $5,500 SF $6,100 PF/SF 28.9 -1.1 28.8 6.2 22% 2% 63% 10% 1.00 0.26 0.97 0.29 28 26.7 4.85 25.5 4.19
Aaron Gordon $6,100 PF $6,600 PF 30.1 0.8 32.5 -7.2 21% -1% 64% -3% 1.08 -0.26 1.08 -0.25 30 28.4 4.65 28.2 4.28
Nikola Jokic $12,000 C $12,100 C 33.9 2.2 59.6 6.1 26% 2% 70% 3% 1.76 0.06 1.67 0.12 34 54.8 4.57 52.7 4.35
Bruce Brown $4,600 SG/SF $5,500 SF/SG 28.2 -2.0 24.3 0.1 17% 0% 57% -8% 0.86 0.07 0.87 0.12 24 21.0 4.56 21.1 3.83
Jeff Green $3,300 PF/C $3,700 PF/SF 19.3 -0.7 14.0 -0.1 17% -4% 57% 8% 0.73 0.02 0.73 0.02 18 12.3 3.72 12.1 3.26
Christian Braun $3,100 SG/SF $4,200 SG 14.5 1.7 9.4 5.1 12% 0% 59% 23% 0.65 0.25 0.66 0.31 18 11.0 3.55 11.0 2.62
Thomas Bryant $3,000 C $4,200 C 19.1 -8.3 20.3 -16.2 18% -2% 69% -45% 1.06 -0.68 1.06 -0.73 12 11.1 3.68 11.1 2.64
Reggie Jackson $4,200 PG/SG $4,300 PG 24.9 -8.0 19.5 -12.5 20% -13% 51% -1% 0.79 -0.37 0.75 -0.37 4 2.8 0.66 2.7 0.63

The +/- columns show the difference between this season’s averages and the last three games.

Top DraftKings & FanDuel Picks

Elite Plays – Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon

Tournament Targets – Michael Porter Jr. (FD)

Viable Punts – Michael Porter Jr. (DK), Bruce Brown, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope


New York Knicks NBA DFS Preview

As mentioned, the Knicks say Jalen Brunson is on track to play today after missing several games with a sore foot. We have him projected for 34 minutes in his return, but knowing Thibs, he’ll probably come out and play 44.

Saturday NBA DFS Notes

Notable Injuries:

Jalen Brunson (Probable)

New York Knicks Stats:
Pace of Play: 97.5 (27 of 30)
Offensive Rating: 116.1 (5 of 30)
Implied Total: ( of 8)
Rebounding Rate: 51.9% (3 of 30)

DEN Matchup:
Pace of Play: 99.0 (20 of 30)
Defensive Rating: 113.6 (16 of 30)
Rebounding Rate: 51.6% (4 of 30)

Note: The team stats above are from the 2022-23 season.

Brunson’s return will send Immanuel Quickley back to Benchville, USA. Quickley’s been great and still has a prominent role for the Knicks even with Brunson healthy, but he’s wildly overpriced for that role now. Brunson (1.14 FP/min) is in the midst of a magical year, but we’re certainly not getting a discount here. Murray is much easier to get to at his salaries, but I’d expect Brunson to be lower-owned as a result. Brunson’s return will also knife into the usage of RJ Barrett, which makes Barrett look like a tough sell in the $7,000 range around the industry.

Quentin Grimes starts, while Josh Hart closes. Grimes isn’t really a good enough per-minute guy to give you much upside in limited minutes, while Hart (0.95 FP/min) has been an excellent fit for this team. He’s also a little pricey, though, which makes him more of a secondary play today. Julius Randle (29.6%) should still lead the Knicks in usage even with Brunson back. We know he has a slate-breaking ceiling, but this is far from an easy spot. I prefer paying up for Jokic and the Clippers’ stars before getting to Randle here.

Mitchell Robinson gets so little usage for this team (10.1%) that he actually took to social media the other night to complain about it. I’m not sure what the Knicks have to gain by giving Robinson a bunch of touches in the post, but he is getting awfully cheap on DK ($4,800). The problem is the matchup with Jokic makes foul trouble a real concern. Isaiah Hartenstein isn’t a bad small-slate flier punt in GPPs in his backup role, especially given Robinson’s foul trouble risk.

Knicks Lineup – DraftKings & FanDuel Salaries

Player DK POS FD POS MIN/G +/- FP/G +/- USG% +/- TS% +/- DK/M +/- FD/M +/- MIN (P) DK (P) DK/$ FD (P) FD/$
Jalen Brunson $8,100 PG $8,700 PG 34.9 39.7 26% 60% 1.14 1.11 34 38.2 4.71 37.2 4.28
Quentin Grimes $3,400 SG/SF $4,300 SG/SF 29.3 -2.8 18.9 -6.7 14% -2% 59% -10% 0.65 -0.18 0.63 -0.18 24 13.9 4.09 13.5 3.15
RJ Barrett $6,700 SF $7,200 SF/SG 34.1 -1.8 31.6 -2.0 26% 3% 53% 2% 0.93 -0.01 0.89 0.02 30 27.4 4.09 26.2 3.63
Julius Randle $9,500 PF $9,700 PF 35.9 -1.2 46.9 -3.8 29% 6% 58% -11% 1.31 -0.06 1.23 -0.05 36 44.2 4.65 41.7 4.29
Mitchell Robinson $4,800 C $6,000 C 27.3 -2.7 25.1 -6.8 10% 0% 67% -29% 0.92 -0.17 0.99 -0.16 27 23.5 4.89 24.8 4.13
Josh Hart $5,800 SG/SF $6,000 SG/SF 32.7 1.3 28.0 3.1 13% 2% 61% 3% 0.86 0.06 0.85 0.04 30 24.9 4.30 24.7 4.11
Immanuel Quickley $7,200 PG/SG $6,900 SG/PG 28.5 7.3 26.4 13.9 19% 3% 57% 8% 0.93 0.20 0.91 0.17 24 23.2 3.22 22.6 3.27
Isaiah Hartenstein $3,400 C $4,700 PF/C 19.6 3.6 17.0 3.7 11% -4% 55% -33% 0.87 0.02 0.92 0.05 21 17.2 5.07 18.0 3.83
Obi Toppin $3,100 PF/C $3,800 PF 14.4 -1.1 12.3 2.1 18% 7% 53% 15% 0.85 0.23 0.83 0.19 12 9.8 3.15 9.5 2.50
Miles McBride $3,200 PG/SG $4,500 PG 12.0 3.6 7.7 11.2 14% 1% 49% 41% 0.64 0.57 0.65 0.67 2 1.1 0.35 1.2 0.26

The +/- columns show the difference between this season’s averages and the last three games.

Top DraftKings & FanDuel Picks

Elite Plays – None

Tournament Targets – Julius Randle, Jalen Brunson

Viable Punts – Josh Hart, Mitchell Robinson

NBA PrizePicks Selection: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope More Than 2.5 Assists

Image Credit: Getty Images
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About the Author

  • Taylor Smith (tcsmith031)

  • Taylor Smith is a native Texan (required by all fellow Texans to report this at all times) and a Southern California-based sports writer. He specializes in MLB and NBA while dabbling in a few other sports like a true degen when the other two are out of season. He has written about DFS in the past at Bang The Book, and you can find some of his previous work on SB Nation and FanRag Sports.

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