Boston Celtics & Utah Jazz

Over/Under: 220

Spread: UTA -6

The underdog Boston Celtics take a trip to Utah to face the Jazz in a late-night showdown!

News to Watch:

*Jaylen Brown – Questionable (knee)

*Mike Conley – Out

*Marcus Smart – Out

Player Breakdown

CPT/MVP:

Donovan Mitchell PG/SG (UTA)

With Conley sidelined, targeting Mitchell seems to be the obvious direction to go in tonight. Mitchell’s usage rate for the season is 30.8% and without Conley his role will only increase. It’s hard not to look at what Mitchell did Sunday against the Pacers (27 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds) while taking on the primary ball handling role and expect the same tonight. Well at least minus a few rebounds that is as Mitchell is averaging just 4.4 for the season to go along with his 24 points per game. Aside from the slight offensive upside, what we are really after tonight is that uptick in assists. 

Rudy Gobert C (UTA) 

As far as match-ups to exploit tonight, the most favorable on the slate per DraftKings scoring is Boston’s performance against opposing centers (12th most points). What Gobert may lack in upside he certainly brings when it comes to dependability as he generally doesn’t stray from the 13.3 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks he averages per game. Gobert takes a streak of three straight double-doubles into tonight’s game and as far as risk goes, his is pretty minimal. 

Jayson Tatum PF (BOS)

While it’s not going to come cheap, we can’t talk about a slate that involves Boston and ignore Tatum. Over his last 10 games, Tatum hasn’t put up less than 39 fantasy points and with Brown limited even if he does take the floor, he will be busy once again as a large part of Boston’s offense. With Kemba Walker continuing to struggle since his return, the Celtics need Tatum’s scoring more than ever and he hasn’t scored less than 24 points in his last 10 games while averaging 27 points per game overall. While it is an expensive play out of the captain spot, there is no one else on the court tonight, Mitchell is close, that brings the upside Tatum provides.

MID-TIER:

Joe Ingles SG/SF (UTA) 

Ingles failed to take advantage of his promotion to the starting lineup on Sunday as he managed just seven points thanks to shooting an inefficient 30% from the field along with going one of six from behind the arc. From a fantasy perspective his nine rebounds saved the day but with just 3.6 per game overall, that’s not something we can count each night. Instead we are going back to the well and hoping for an improved shooting night as he remains in the starting lineup. 

Kemba Walker PG (BOS)

Walker has struggled since returning from his knee injury shooting 35.7% from the field in nine games so far this season, but no one in this pricing tier provides his level of upside. Despite the poor shooting, the fact that Walker is still averaging 15.9 points per game speaks to his usage and role in Boston’s offense. Considering his struggles from the field, there has been some volatility in his overall performance, but chipping in 3.4 rebounds, four assists, and 1.2 steals per game does help provide some floor. More important though, is his ability to easily put up 35 to 40 fantasy points without it coming as a surprise. 

Bojan Bogdanovic SF/PF (UTA) 

Shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. I think that does a good job of describing a large part of Utah’ offense as the Jazz have multiple players who frequently launch up shots from behind the arc. That always leaves room for upside and we saw the perfect example of that on Friday as Bogdanovic put up 50.75 fantasy points after converting on seven of his 10 three-point attempts scoring 31 points while adding five assists and seven rebounds. Over his last 10 games Bogdanovic is shooting 55.1% from behind the arc and that is momentum I want to ride. 

DART THROWS:

Carson Edwards SG (BOS) 

Edwards got his chance to start on Sunday and he simply left fantasy owners hanging. He was coming off a performance that saw him put up 16 points in 30 minutes of play but instead Edwards scored just two points in 17 minutes of action. Smart being sidelined does help Edwards because of Brown’s status, but overall he is averaging just 5.8 points on the season in 12 minutes. There is some risk here if he is cold from the field, but Edwards should be one of the first guards off the bench for Boston tonight even if he doesn’t get a do-over in the starting lineup. 

Derrick Favors C (UTA) 

We talked above about targeting centers against the Celtics, so why not double our fun with Favors? He seems to be locked into that 15-to-20-minute range on a consistent basis which helps provide some floor at a relatively affordable price. In five of his last six games, Favors hasn’t scored less than 21 fantasy points, although with a high of 29.25 points there is limited upside. However at this price in a Showdown Slate, I’m not exactly arguing either.

Robert Williams C (BOS) 

We are talking about throwing darts here, and Williams does provide some salary relief so I guess he is doing his job. Don’t look at the 18 fantasy points he is averaging on the season as there are ebbs and flows to his performance while his workload remains relatively consistent around 15 minutes per game. Three games ago Williams scored nine points with eight rebounds and then followed that up with 10 points and two rebounds. Either would be sufficient at worse but he is coming off a one point, two rebound performance against Phoenix in his last game. While we don’t know which Williams we will get, the potential is there, perhaps more so than with others at this salary level.