Boston Celtics @ Los Angeles Clippers
It looks like all the stars are going to align and be available for this incredible Showdown matchup between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers tonight. With players like Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard ready to play, this should be a high-scoring affair. We will also be able to find a couple of value options where we can spend down. Here are the NBA DFS top plays we can invest in for our lineups on FanDuel and DraftKings!
Boston injuries:
Danilo Gallinari – OUT
Al Horford – OUT
Robert Williams - OUT
Los Angeles injuries:
Norman Powell - OUT
MVP/CAPTAIN
Jayson Tatum (SF/PF)
The last two games have not been kind to Jayson Tatum, but that should in no way dissuade us from wanting to pay up for his services tonight. He averaged 38 fantasy points against Golden State and Phoenix, a full 13 points below his season average. But against the Clippers, it should be a much easier path to fantasy points. Los Angeles is a bottom-eight team against small forwards in their last seven contests, partially because Kawhi Leonard is still not playing over 30 minutes per game. Part of the reason Tatum’s numbers have been bad the last two games is his lack of rebounds, but the Clippers allow 44.0 rebounds per game (22nd in the NBA), so Tatum should have plenty of opportunities.
Paul George (SG/SF)
In his last game on December 10th, Paul George had his first “MVP Candidate Paul George” game since Halloween. The Clippers felt comfortable running him out there for 40 minutes and he put up over 65 fantasy points including 36 points on 48% shooting. A matchup against the Celtics will be much tougher than one against the Wizards, but the point remains that George is getting the minutes and usage that make him one of the most dangerous players in the NBA.
Jaylen Brown (SG/SF)
Brown has been much more consistent than teammate Tatum over the last three games. Brown has between 43 and 49 fantasy points in each of those games. Considering he comes in at a $3,000 discount on Tatum’s DK salary, I have no issue slotting Brown in your 1.5x slot against a team allowing 21 points, six rebounds, four assists, and 1.5 steals per game to opposing shooting guards.
UTILITY
Kawhi Leonard (SF/PF)
Leonard did cross 30 fantasy points for the first time this season against the Wizards on Saturday. But he did it with an abnormally high six assists and eight rebounds. The shooting remains a problem (38% on Saturday, no games over 50% since November 19th), but the real concern here is the minutes. Leonard is capable of putting up 1.25 fantasy points per minute with ease, but until the Clippers give him 34+ minutes, we need to be judicious of him in our MVP slot. If this is a game where they finally unleash him so he can try and slow down Tatum, his $7,600 salary will look way too low.
Marcus Smart (PG/SG)
At one point, Smart was not thought of as a scorer, but more of just a defensive clamp that did all the little things on that end of the floor. But this season, that has changed. Smart has scored in double figures in six of his last seven games, which has coincided with over 30 fantasy points in five of those contests. Smart is handing out assists (7.2 per game in his last five) and stealing everything in sight (2.2 per game in his last five) these days. That gives him a nice floor and an easy toad to 5x in this game that has a very high total (226.5 points).
Reggie Jackson (PG)
Jackson has an odd trend developing where he is much better from a fantasy perspective against tough teams than he is in the “easy” matchups. When he played Charlotte and Sacramento last week in back-to-back games, he averaged 12 fantasy points per game. When he played Miami, he scored 31, against Portland it was 54, and then 26 against Denver. If that trend remains, he should do well against the Celtics, although Smart will be on him all night long. But for $6,200 ($800 less than his last salary), it’s a risk we should be willing to take.
DART THROWS
Blake Griffin (C)
In just one week’s time, Griffin’s salary has jumped from $1,400 to $4,000 now that he is playing 24 minutes per night with Al Horford missing a number of games. Horford is out again tonight, so Griffin should be right back in the starting lineup where he has scored at least 24 fantasy points in three straight games. The Clippers are the third-worst team in the league at defending power forwards, and while Griffin will technically be listed at Center, he is the prototypical power forward archetype and should be able to easily reach 20 fantasy points in this game.
Luke Kennard (SG)
Just keep shooting it Luke, that’s what is getting you the fantasy points. In Kennard’s first three games back from injury, he is shooting 43% on three-pointers and has hit at least 14 fantasy points in each game. But what’s most encouraging is that Kennard has now played 24 minutes in back-to-back games, his first time to do that since early November. For just $3,800 he has the 6x upside that we need in our lineups to allow us to get up to the high-salary guys at the upper end.
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Dominate your NBA DFS Showdown contests today using our Player Projections that you can use specifically for Showdown!