DFSGhost 
We saw the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets punch their tickets to the second round of the NBA Playoffs last night, and tonight, it’s the Dallas Mavericks who has the chance to close things out at home in Game 6. There is only a showdown slate tonight, but it’s Fajita Friday, so you know we’re coming in hot to continue our run. 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:
The premier targets on this NBA Showdown slate should come as a surprise to no one: both Luka Doncic and Kawhi Leonard need to be in every lineup you make, regardless of whether you’re playing on FanDuel or DraftKings. Sporting an outrageous 42.4% usage rate in the series, Doncic has singlehandedly led the Mavericks to a 3-2 lead, posting a 35/8/9.4 scoring line on 47.9% shooting, including 42.9% from deep on 4.8 3PM per contest. On the flipside, it’s all Kawhi in an elimination game – and perhaps his last game in LA. Sporting a 29.2% usage rate this series, Kawhi has posted over 30 PPG for the Clippers, chipping in 7.8 RPG on the glass and adding 4 APG as well. With an average of 18.8 FGA per night, I’m expecting this number to surpass 20 with ease tonight, solidifying him as not only a lock, but one of two captains I will play on DraftKings.
Now, with this much salary tied up between two players, we need to potentially fade Paul George altogether. While this is a risk – you need to take a stand tonight – and that’s the one I am taking. If you can somehow fit all three while getting the two names I’m about to talk about, you have the obvious green light. Again, with that much salary tied up between Kawhi Leonard and Luka Doncic, two players I will be overweight on are Nic Batum and Boban Marjanovic. Simply put, I have been calling for Nic Batum to be in the starting 5 since the beginning of this series, and he has come through with 10/6/1 across 34.6 MPG in the last two. The wildcard here is Boban – he presents a serious mismatch for any NBA team, let alone the undersized Clippers. Whether we see him starting or not remains to be seen, and if he is not starting, I will likely pull back a bit – but not entirely; in that case, split shares between Boban and Willie Cauley-Stein. With a 10.5/6.5 scoring line across 17.4 MPG in his last two, Boban is a lock if starting yet again.
Tonight’s slate is all about raw points – that’s the name of the game. I’m locking in the quartet of Kawhi Leonard, Luka Doncic, Nic Batum, and Boban Marjanovic – if Boban starts. With the two highest scorers on this slate in my NBA lineups, I can pair them with two solid point/$ options and round out the rest with players who will see the most number of minutes. Have fun and good luck!
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
