Dominate your NBA DFS contests today with our DFS Playbook, Core Plays, Starting 5 Video, Value Vault, Player Projections, Lineup Generator, & Draft Percentage Forecaster
Portland Trail Blazers & Phoenix Suns
Spread: Suns -13
Total: 227.5
Injuries:
Portland Trail Blazers:
Damien Lillard – Out
Jusuf Nurkic – Out
Justise Winslow – Out
Nassir Little – Out
Eric Bledsoe – Out
Dennis Smith Jr - Out
Phoenix Suns:
Chris Paul – Out
Frank Kaminsky – Out
Cameron Payne – Probable (Wrist)
*Please note that players not listed below are not necessarily a complete fade and any player listed can certainly be used as the MVP/Captain. These are merely suggestions for players to use when setting Showdown lineups.
MVP/CPT
Devin Booker, PG/SG (PHX) – With Chris Paul sidelined, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Booker has kicked the second half off in style with a 25-point effort followed by two 30-point games. Booker is also averaging eight assists and five rebounds in those three games and he should encounter limited resistance tonight. The only potential concern, is how much can get Booker get done before the game gets truly out of hand and he is sent to the bench for rest.
Deandre Ayton, C (PHX) – Ayton benefits from going against a Portland team that is hurting in the post with Nurkic sidelined, and he should be able to get on track from a rebound perspective. On the season, Ayton is averaging 10 rebounds per game so that’s not necessarily a problem, but he has just 12 in his first two games back after the break. The good news is that Ayton has been locked in offensively with 20 and 23 points, respectively, so perhaps tonight is the night that he combines the two?
Anfernee Simons, PG (POR) – It will be on Simons to try and keep pace with the Suns tonight in a game that Portland is a large underdog. However, in order for Simons to do that, he will need to rebound from his five of 18 (including one of nine from downtown) shooting effort on Sunday. The majority of what we get from Simons is on the offensive end (although he did average just under seven assists per game in his last three prior to the All-Star break), so while there is risk, the volume will be there and he can easily put up 30 points.
Util
Josh Hart, SF/PF (POR) – At this point, Hart can be considered the main secondary scoring option for Portland although that really isn’t saying much. Hart is averaging 14 points and 7.5 rebounds per game on the season, but he has come out of the All-Star lacking offensively averaging 11.5 points in his last two games while averaging 24 points in his three previous games.
Cameron Johnson, SF/PF (PHX) – Johnson has been working up to this all season, and now with Paul out, it is his time to shine offensively. He’s not going to shoot seven of 11 from the field every night like he did on Sunday, but the volume will continue to be there and Johnson is averaging 19.7 points per game in his last three while shooting 46% from downtown.
Jae Crowder, SF/PF (PHX) – Crowder is cheaper than Mikal Bridges by $1,000 on DK, that is enough to sway me here. Both are going to get a solid 30 minutes of playing time tonight and Crowder has picked up the pace offensively averaging 15 points per game over his last three since the All-Star break along with 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
Drew Eubanks, C (POR) – It’s almost by default that we find Eubanks here as Portland is quite thin on all levels entering action tonight. We aren’t getting a true bargain here, but Eubanks is fairly priced if, and there is some risk in that if, he produces at the same level as he did on Sunday. In 29 minutes of action, Eubanks finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds and that certainly got our attention.
CJ Elleby, SG/SF (POR) – Almost by default, Elleby has found steady and consistent playing time with Portland. On occasion, he will get to double digits offensively, but the eight-point, five rebound, three steal, two blocks performance from Sunday is a more reasonable expectation as we just hope that Elleby can continue to fill the box score across all categories.
Dart Throws
Ben McLemore, SG/SF (POR) – McLemore should get at least 20-minutes of playing time tonight for Portland as they are lacking in both healthy players overall, but also in offense. In the two games since the All-Star break, McLemore took 13 shots, while only making two of them, so things can only go up from here. The good news, is that we have seen McLemore do it in the past.
Keon Johnson, SG (POR) – Johnson emerged out of nowhere and played 26-minutes on Sunday and certainly had his opportunity to make his presence felt taking 10 shots from the field. The problem, is that Johnson only made two of those shots while grabbing four rebounds. If the workload is the same tonight, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be, Johnson is a solid option to throw a dart on.
Greg Brown, PF/C (POR) – Once again tonight, Brown should see another 20-minutes or so of playing time tonight after scoring nine points and grabbing five rebounds on Sunday. A repeat performance works for the back end of our lineup tonight.