Top 5 FanDuel NBA Picks For Your Jan. 28 Lineup
Top five picks for Thursday night’s FanDuel NBA action, as determined by factors like cost, quality of opponent and recent performance are listed here.
TNT’s Thursday doubleheader is complemented by an additional four games to allow for just enough variety to consider GPPs in addition to cash games (which are generally more prudent for the truncated “late” or “express” offerings).
Despite an eight-game docket on Wednesday, only the Denver Nuggets and the Atlanta Hawks will be playing the latter half of a back-to-back series and it will also be the fourth game in six nights for each.
Although the Nuggets have a short jaunt from Boston to D.C. to take on the Washington Wizards, considering their lineup’s recent outbreak of injuries (e.g., Kenneth Faried, Joffrey Lauvergne, Jameer Nelson) the situation bears monitoring over the course of the day.
The Hawks have the longer flight (from Atlanta to Indianapolis), but at least they will have been at home for a couple of days before making the trek to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, and going into their tilt with the L.A. Clippers on Wednesday night they had a cleaner bill of health by comparison.
Having said that, the Dallas Mavericks chose to sit Dirk Nowitzki when they faced the Golden State Warriors Wednesday night under similar circumstances (fourth game in six nights), so the Hawks could also elect to rest key starters (especially since coach Mike Budenholzer is a Gregg Popovich disciple, and “Pop” seems to have been an early adopter of this trend).
Tired teams notwithstanding, the schedule also features a number of marquee players with lingering bumps and bruises whose teams didn’t play Wednesday: the Toronto Raptors’ Kyle Lowry (wrist) is iffy and the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony (knee) made the trip but hasn’t been cleared for their matchup; the New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis (head) is still in the concussion protocol; and if Kobe Bryant (shoulder) can’t get clearance to face Pau Gasol and the Chicago Bulls then he must truly be in bad shape.
Although the aforementioned players could end up playing a prominent role if they are able to suit up, for purposes of this discussion we’ll focus on the cornerstone options who aren’t potential game-time decisions:
(5) Jrue Holiday, New Orleans Pelicans ($6,800) vs. Sacramento Kings: It feels almost contradictory to lead with Holiday after running through a litany of fades due to injury concerns, but with Davis concussed and Tyreke Evans battling a knee problem, it was Holiday who stepped up with a 54.7 fantasy point outing in his team’s heartbreaking loss to the Houston Rockets on Monday night.
Ordinarily paying above-average cost ($6,667) for a bench player can be a dicey proposition, but Norris Cole has been more like a placeholder starter to maintain the integrity of the backcourt rotation.
With Eric Gordon on the shelf and Too Easy dinged up, the seventh-year man from UCLA has a bona fide chance to build upon his last effort since the Kings are sixth-worst overall vs. point guards on FanDuel NBA.
(4) Paul George, Indiana Pacers ($8,900) vs. Atlanta Hawks: George seems to have recovered from his 19.9 fantasy point dud against the Golden State Warriors with 47.0 FPPG over his two subsequent contests.
While Atlanta has been middle of the pack against his position overall, they could be subject to the fatigue factor after a enduring a tough home loss to the Clippers on Wednesday while the Pacers had the night off.
That’s good news for George, who’s been tasked with carrying the team on his back for most of the season, as his player impact estimate (PIE) of 15.3 percent would indicate (to put that in perspective, among small forwards the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony is at 14.3 percent and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James sits at a lofty 18.6 percent).
George laid an egg versus Atlanta in the previous meeting, but that game took place during his funk that lasted for most of December and he seems to be back in early season form again.
That said, his recent history still knocks him down a couple of spots in the rankings, but with the scheduling advantage and his January resurgence PG-13 has a good chance to redeem himself for that clunker from a month ago.
(3) John Wall, Washington Wizards ($9,600) vs. Denver Nuggets: As with Paul George, Wall is another player who could benefit from a tired team coming to town while he enjoys a break between games; but while Atlanta is halfway decent against George’s position the Nuggets are third-worst overall against Wall’s lineup spot.
In two meetings with Denver last season, Optimus Dime earned his moniker with 14.0 assists per game, which was significantly above his 10.0 assists per game for that campaign.
Wall has been just OK lately, averaging just 32.6 FPPG over his last four outings, but of those opponents the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors are the three toughest teams in the league against his position so a lower output in general should be expected from that gauntlet.
Having said that, Wall torched the Celtics for 73.9 fantasy points in their earlier meeting this month, so if he’s capable of running roughshod over them, he should feel unfettered against a Denver team that is likely to be battling fatigue and a rash of injuries.
(2) Pau Gasol, Chicago Bulls ($8,700) @ L.A. Lakers: You could make a case for Jimmy Butler ($8,700) here as well since the Lakers are in the bottom third overall against both 2-guards and centers on FanDuel NBA, but while Butler has floundered in his last couple of outings (28.2 FPPG) it was Gasol who stepped up with 46.2 FPPG against defensive-minded opponents in the Miami Heat and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Thursday night should be much easier by comparison (the Lakers are dead last in defensive rating at 110.5), but the Meal Ticket ought to be fired up for this contest with a chance to stick it to his former team, especially if Kobe somehow manages to suit up.
In two meetings against a similarly bad (if not worse) Lakers team last season, Gasol averaged 21.5 points per game, which was better than his 18.5 points per game overall, so that precedent helps alleviate concerns about whether the game could get out of hand too early for him to be productive.
The TNT crew will probably spend more time reminiscing about Michael Jordan vs. Magic Johnson when the teams met in the 1991 NBA finals, but for fantasy enthusiasts the focus should be on the Bulls’ dynamic duo since they may be pressed into extended action in the absence of Joakim Noah, Nikola Mirotic (appendectomy), and possibly Derrick Rose.
(1) DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings ($11,200) @ New Orleans Pelicans: Until recently, the list of superlatives used to describe Cousins generally had a negative connotation (e.g., angriest, moodiest, most combustible, most likely to stage a drive-by at George Karl‘s house), but it’s almost as if his New Year’s resolution was to channel his inner rage into his stat lines because January has been one of the best, if not the best, month of his career.
Is there any NBA franchise besides Sacramento in which Cousins, Karl, Rudy Gay and Rajon Rondo could coexist on an NBA roster?
If they were all with the Knicks, the city would eat them alive; if they were members of the Boston Celtics, Danny Ainge would probably trade all three players and rebuild with a rookie coach at the helm; and if they played for the Lakers one of them would be serving consecutive life sentences in prison by now.
As for more pressing matters, the game should be high-scoring since New Orleans is 26th in opponents’ PPG (105.1) and Sacramento is dead last (107.8), so even if the Pelicans are short-handed it’s unlikely that the game would get too far out of hand since the Kings can’t really stop anyone.
Cousins has only fallen below the 30-minute mark once all month and that was against a moribund Phoenix Suns team that is 4-20 on the road.
But the Suns are normally one of the better teams in the league at defending opposing centers and the Pelicans are second-worst overall in that regard. To that effect, Cousins had a monster double-double (32 points, 12 boards) in the teams’ last encounter, so more of the same should be on the horizon as long as Boogie continues to hate the game.
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