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Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we will highlight a few key fantasy basketball takeaways from the games played during last night's slate. These viewpoints can be both positive and negative and will hopefully help to provide insight into different roster moves you should consider making based on trends and statistical nuggets from around the Association.
Fantasy basketball has a lot of moving pieces with all the different scoring settings that are possible to play under, so I will always do my best to spotlight where players gain or lose value in certain game types. For the sake of simplicity and consistency, every time I mention Fantasy Points in these articles I will be using DraftKings' scoring system, which goes as follows: 1*PTS, 0.5*3PM, 1.25*RBD, 1.5*AST, 2*STL, 2*BLK, -0.5*TO. On top of that, bonus points are awarded for Double-Doubles (+1.5) and Triple-Doubles (+3), only one per player at a time.
Without further ado, let's get right into the latest slate of games from the 2021 season and try to figure out how to take advantage of what we saw transpire.
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Friday, May 14
Memphis and Golden State win and gear up for a play-in preview on Saturday; Denver overtakes a Clippers resting squad that loss to Houston
It's all about the West for the home stretch, folks. The Warriors (barely) edged New Orleans in a game that didn't feature any top-three player from any of the two teams, and Memphis did the same to get the W against Sacramento. This means that entering the last game of the season on Sunday, Memphis and GSW will battle for the no. 7 seed, which will go to whoever wins that game. That, in case you have not been paying attention, means that the winner will face the Lakers (LOL) for straight access to the postseason.
Speaking of Los Angeles... what a dud from the Clips on Friday as they lost to the lowly Rockets 122-115. I know, I know, they were missing the bread (Kawhi) and butter (George) of the team, but still... This means Denver is now sitting on the no. 3 seed and facing Portland Sunday. They have the margin to win, lose, or do whatever they please to face their preferred opponent, be it Portland or Dallas, in the first round depending on Sunday's result.
- God bless Jordan Poole and late-season resting days. Both things combined for the former's explosion against the Pels yesterday, as Poole dropped 38 pops on NOLA to go with 4 boards, 6 dimes, and 1 swat to put the cherry on top. Best game of Poole's season, of course, finishing as a top-4 fantasy player with 55 DKFP.
- In the same wave, forgotten players who entered the top-15 realm on Friday: Louis King (SAC), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (NO), Justise Winslow (MEM), Malachi Flynn (TOR), Hamidou Diallo (DET), and Naji Marshall (NO). Here's hoping they can find their place in the league and keep growing!
- Not so surprisingly, Rudy Gobert was a machine and needed just 27 minutes against the Tanking Thunder to put up a nice 16-18-1-1-2 dub-dub. Most importantly, though, was the return of Mike Conley for the Jazz after missing ample time. Conley played 16 minutes but he was quite efficient finishing with a 10-2-3 line on a very bad/rusty shooting performance going 2-of-7 from the floor.
- Philly clinched the no. 1 seed in the East, and JoJo put up a stupid 13-11-2-1-1 stuffed line in just 23 minutes of playing time. It's hard to find a more efficient player out there these days. To wit: Embiid's performance went for 34 "low" FP, but his per-minute mark sat at a great 1.47 FP/min.
- Nice to see a couple of vets in Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins balling for the Clips even in defeat. Rondo put up a 9-3-13-1 line (with a trey!) while DMC was one of the most efficient players on Friday's slate with a 13-5-1-2-1 line in just 17 minutes. Los Angeles better take advantage of every warm body they can put on the floor because having that no. 4 seed won't make things any easier in the postseason.
- Marcus Howard (?) started at the point for Denver, played 34 minutes, and dropped a 20-3-2 line with a block to spare. Great shooting with a 64% success rate from the floor on a healthy 14 FGA. Do these Nuggets ever run out of productive players?
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