April 19, 2017

Kevin Luchansky highlights the top FanDuel NBA DFS lineup picks for 4/19/17, as well as a couple of sleepers to keep in mind while building your roster.

Welcome back, my daily fantasy friends. The fifth night of the NBA playoffs is a real beauty on paper. There are three games in this Wednesday slate, starting with the Hawks at Wizards at 7:00 EDT, followed by the Thunder at Rockets 8:00 and the finale, Blazers at Warriors, tips off at 10:30. There's a lot to like about these matchups, both from a watch-ability and daily fantasy perspective.

Before we jump into the player selections, let's take a look at the lines odds-makers in Vegas have blessed us with. The over/unders tonight are monstrous, which is quite the welcome change seeing as yesterday's point totals were very low. The bell of the ball is Thunder - Rockets total, which is at 223, followed by favorable totals for the Blazers - Warriors (220) and Hawks - Wizards (211). In terms of point spreads, we have two favorable lines that make for interesting stacking options, as the spread in Washington and in Houston are less than 7.5 points. The Blazers - Warriors line isn't all to favorable, as Vegas expects this one to be somewhat of a blowout, with the Warriors listed as 13.5 point favorites in game two of this series.

In this article, I will be providing you with daily NBA lineup picks for FanDuel on 4/19/17. The picks will range from some of the elite players, to mid-priced options, and value plays. Shall we dance?

FanDuel DFS Guards

Russell Westbrook - PG, at HOU ($12,500)

If you rostered Russ in his most recent game, you were probably left quite disappointed, as the MVP-hopeful did not come anywhere close to hitting his price implied value. Why is this relevant? For one, in DFS we need to have a short memory and block out the anomaly performances and eliminate recency bias in our player selection. Russ isn't going to have a night like that again. And secondly, perhaps more importantly for tonight's slate, is that his price came down a whopping $1,000. That is a huge drop, and it puts Russ in a greater position to crush value tonight. No one on this slate comes close to his 1.69 fantasy point per minute production, and that alone should warrant your consideration. On top of that, the Rockets operate at a break-neck pace and aren't known for their defensive prowess - both of which bode well for Russ and his teammates.

Also Consider: John Wall - PG, vs ATL ($10,300)

Victor Oladipo - SG, at HOU ($4,900)

The one of the angles I'm approaching today's small slate with is that there is a lot of value to be had on Oklahoma City's roster. Russ is indeed expensive, but his price has dropped - as is the case with many of his teammates, including Victor Oladipo. In honesty, their prices deserved a drop, seeing as their respective performances have been far less than wonderful. Specifically, Oladipo's price drop of $500 puts him in a real ideal price range. He can certainly pass value at this point, and I think the opportunity for him to go three or four times his expected return is a real possibility. He managed 20 Fanduel points in game one of this contest. Not great, but not bad either. The amazing thing about that fantasy point total is that it came on a night where Victor went 1-for-12 from the field. The shot opportunities will be there in this pace-up game, and I'm expecting a much better showing in game two.

Also Consider: James Harden - SG, vs OKC ($12,300)

FanDuel DFS Forwards

Evan Turner - SF, at GSW ($4,600)

I'm a little surprised to see Turner listed at this low, attractive price after such a strong performance in game one, but this sentence is certainly not a complaint. Relative to the rest of the small forward slate - which is somewhat unclear right now thanks to Kevin Durant's questionable health status - I really like Turner to be able to hit and surpass value, much more so than the rest of the options. Turner enters this game two matchup on quite the upswing, seeing as he has hit and surpassed his price implied total in seven of the team's last 10 games - and by an impressive margin in each. This game has the chance of being a blowout, but as we've seen before, Turner still gets his allotment of minutes in those contest, which makes the decision to roster him tonight an easier one for me.

Also Consider: Otto Porter - SF, vs ATL ($5,000)

Draymond Green - PF, vs POR ($7,500)

I made the silly mistake of not putting Draymond on my roster in game one and I'm not going to make that same mistake again. The do-everything defender was a beast, filling the stat sheet in so many ways, en route to a 61.9 point FanDuel performance. He should be just as active in game two, and Kevin Durant's uncertainty actually bodes well for Draymond-backers. If Durant is unable to suit up, Draymond will have a little extra offensive responsibility on his shoulders, which helps to raise his ceiling. From a positional matchup perspective, the numbers really like this one for Draymond (and other bigs on Golden State's roster) since they allow a +/- of over two points above the league average.

Also Consider: Markieff Morris - PF, vs ATL ($6,000)

FanDuel DFS Centers

Marcin Gortat - C, vs ATL ($5,100)

Gortat has been a beast of late, even in games where his minutes have been somewhat restricted, and that's a trend I'm going to ride tonight. Gortat's low price is excellent as it gives us the flexibility to afford the top-tier superstars and it's great at the individual level, seeing as it shouldn't be too difficult for him to surpass his price implied total. In game one of this series, Gortat provided 29 FanDuel points in 31 minutes of action, shooting an impressive 7-for-11 from the field. If he continues to get looks, he could be in for a big night. For the season, he's been efficient with his minutes, too, posting nearly .9 fantasy points per minute.

Also Consider: Steven Adams - C, at HOU ($4,600)

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