DFSGhost 
Game 7 is on tap in Brooklyn on Saturday night, but tonight’s NBA slate takes center stage with two heavy favorites in Philadelphia and Utah on the ropes, with both on the road facing elimination. I’m fired up for tonight’s action, and you should be too! It’s Fajita Friday’s edition of the Gems – let’s ride.
Before running to the DraftKings, FanDuel, or Yahoo lobby to construct your NBA DFS lineup after reading this article, please make sure to utilize the abundance of tools we have at Win Daily:
NBA Core Member #1: Joel Embiid ($11,200 FD / $11,000 DK)
It’s do-or-die for the Philadelphia 76ers and the man to keep them alive is none other than The Process himself. Sporting a 35.9% usage rate in the series, Embiid has averaged 32/12/4.6/1.2/2.2 and has been unstoppable. With Philly’s back up against the wall, I want the best player on the court – and on the slate – in my NBA lineups
NBA Core Member #2: The Studs
Pick your poison: the second member of your NBA lineups needs to be one of Paul George, Trae Young, or Donovan Mitchell. No, don’t try to fit multiple, because role players are nowhere to be found with a berth in the third round on the line. While Paul George and Trae Young both dominate their respective offenses, Donovan Mitchell is the only one that is mispriced and will come in much lower owned than the formers. While PG did have a remarkable 37.4% usage rate last game, where he dropped 37/16/5 in over 40 minutes of action, the only player to have a higher usage rate than Mitchell (38.2%) in these NBA Playoffs is Luka Doncic (40.4%). Should Conley return, it could complicate things – or make it easier – depending on where you were leaning. Either way, you need one – and only one – of the three.
NBA Core Member #3: Seth Curry ($6,200 FD / $5,400 DK)
We’ve been saying how good Curry has been for the 76ers through the series, and while most will look at his last game, where he dropped 36/7 on 68.4% shooting and 7 3PM, it’s really his 21.4/3.4/2 series average that has made me keep going back to the well. With such little price increase across both sites, he will surely be more popular tonight than he was two days ago, but that doesn’t take away the fact that he’s one of the best plays in the midrange of tonight’s NBA slate.
NBA Core Member #4: Clippers Role Players
From my writeup on Wednesday:
“I bet you were hoping for me to tell you which two Clippers to play alongside Paul George – is it two? Three? One? The trio of Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris, Reggie Jackson should start alongside PG, while we await whether the fifth be one of Luke Kennard, Terance Mann, or Ivica Zubac. When selecting the “other” Clippers to play tonight, you need to decide on a few factors: the first would be to consider one, if not both pure shooter – this is Reggie Jackson and Luke Kennard – but do you play both if they are starting together? In that case, look for Patrick Beverly or Terence Mann to be your second guard. Amongst the forwards, Morris has proven to get hot from behind the arc, but his lackluster rebounding in the series leads me to give the edge to the savvy veteran in Nic Batum, who has been logging minutes both at the ‘4’ and the ‘5’ when the Clippers go small – which they will surely have to do when Zubac gets four fouls in four minutes. All in all, you need at least another Clipper in your NBA lineups tonight, and I categorize them into scorers (Kennard/Jackson), forwards (Morris/Batum), and secondary guards (Beverly/Mann).”
You’ll notice how I did not mention Ivica Zubac as a play whatsoever with my not-so-subtle shot at his foul trouble – and he played a whopping 8 minutes. I said Mann would get a ton of minutes, and he ended up starting and playing clutch minutes. While we were a slate ahead of the field, everyone knows what is now going on. However, this doesn’t change my view on the Clippers whatsoever – they’re all underpriced, and you need at least two, if not three, excluding Paul George.
Value Gems: Check the projection model.
I will continue to stress the importance of having both the projection model and cheat sheet open when building lineups for a further player pool and to ease a decision between two players, in addition to finding additional value plays.
You can find me on Twitter @DFS_Ghost
