Philadelphia 76ers @ Boston Celtics -5; Total - 210.5
The 76ers and Celtics kick off the 2018 NBA season in what could very well be an early look at the Eastern Conference Finals in May. The Celtics last season eliminated the 76ers in the second round of the playoffs, winning the series 4-1. Missing from that series for the Celtics were Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward who will both be on the court tonight for Boston. Hayward was one of the prized off-season acquisitions by Boston last season but tragically his season lasted just five minutes as he suffered a broken ankle on opening night. Irving battled a nagging knee injury which ultimately required surgery to remove an infection and cost him the end of the regular season and all of the playoffs. With those injuries the Celtics saw their young core of Jaylen Brown , Jayson Tatum and Terry Rozier lead the team into the Eastern Conference Finals. With the entire group healthy heading into tonight's game the question becomes who can we trust to put up the fantasy points? Now we already know that Gordon Hayward is going to be limited to around 25 minutes a night so he is likely the odd-man out when it comes to rostering him on this slate. Hayward's limited minutes should give a bump in value to Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum who can both play the small forward position when the Celtics bring in the likes of a Marcus Smart , Terry Rozier and Marcus Morris off the bench. If I had to rank the Celtics players in terms of reliability I am going with Kyrie Irving , Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown tonight against the 76ers. Marcus Smart is somewhat intriguing just because of his ability to rack up defensive stats which you get an extra point for over on FanDuel. Also in the FD GPP 1 lineup I am using Semi Ojeley but only as a punt play with FanDuel now dropping your lowest scoring player. On the 76ers side of things the team is going to be starting Markelle Fultz along side Ben Simmons in the backcourt with JJ Redick coming off the bench. Fultz was the No.1 overall pick in last year's draft but was an utter disaster due to injury and shooting woes. Now healthy he looks to make his mark on the league. Right now Fultz is a real solid price but it remains to be seen just how much he will contribute given the usage monsters that Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid are. Embiid could be the highest owned player on this slate given how shallow the center position is and the fact that he has the upside to be the highest scoring player on any given slate. Dario Saric is somebody I have in the majority of my lineups tonight given his ability to play multiple positions and the news that Mike Muscala has been ruled out for tonight's game. An interesting value play here for the 76ers is backup point guard TJ McConnell who seems to have the Celtics number and is expected to see a bump in playing time tonight with Muscala being ruled out as it appears Philadelphia will utilize the versatility of Ben Simmons and play him in the front court as well with McConnell running point. This game has a nice 210.5 game total and is expected to be close. Of the two games on tonight's slate I think you can make the best cash games lineup of the players in this group as the late game has the potential to be a serious blowout.
Oklahoma City Thunder @ Golden State Warriors - 13.5; Total - 220.5