This article is part of our DraftKings NBA series.
Team Analysis
Defenses to avoid: Utah Jazz, at DEN: The Jazz and the Spurs have similar caliber defenses, and are both on the second half of a back-to-back on the road. However, the Spurs face a tougher opponent in the Raptors (third in NBA in offensive rating, fourth in SRS) which makes the Jazz the more intimidating defense. The Jazz allow the fewest fantasy points to guards, the fewest to forwards, and third-fewest points to centers.
Offense to use: Minnesota Timberwolves, at PHO: The Suns rank near the bottom of the league against every position, giving up the 11th-most fantasy points to guards, 7th-most to forwards, and 9th-most to centers. Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and all of the other Timberwolves skill players have good match-ups.
Teams on Back-to-Backs:
First game: Celtics, Bulls, 76ers, Raptors
Second game: Clippers, Spurs, Jazz, Wizards
Jimmy Butler, CHI at ORL ($9,000): Butler has averaged 25 points, 6.7 boards, 6.7 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.7 treys through nine January games. On Tuesday, he faces a Magic defense that has given up the sixth-most fantasy points to shooting guards over the past 10 games.
Elfrid Payton, ORL vs CHI ($6,400): Payton has averaged 20.7 points, 7.8 assists, 4.5 boards, 1.3 steals and 1.2 treys over his last six games. On Tuesday, he faces a Bulls defense that has given up the fourth-most fantasy points to point guards over the past 10 games.
Kris Dunn, MIN at PHO ($4,900): Dunn started on Sunday in place of Ricky Rubio and turned in 10 points, nine assists, eight boards, three steals, two treys and a blocked shot with only one turnover in 34 minutes of action. Rubio injured his hip last Thursday, but missed Sunday's game for personal reasons. It has not been announced yet if Rubio will play on Tuesday, but if not then Dunn would have a solid match-up against a Suns defense that has given up the 11th-most points to point guards this season.
Karl-Anthony Towns, MIN at PHO ($10,500): Towns continues to increase his already impressive production level, and in his last three games has upped it to 32 points, 13.3 boards, 4.0 assists, 1.7 blocks, 1.0 treys and 0.7 steals per game. On Tuesday, he faces a Suns defense that has given up the seventh-most points to centers over the past 10 games.
Markieff Morris, WAS vs BOS ($6,300): Morris is a consistently strong producer for the Wizards, averaging 17.4 points with 9.0 boards, 2.6 assists, 1.6 treys, 1.4 steals and 0.7 blocks over his last nine games. He faces a Celtics defense that has given up the fifth-most points to power forwards this season.
Terrence Ross, TOR vs SA ($4,200): Ross is expected to have an expanded role on Tuesday with DeMar DeRozan shelved by ankle injury. While the Spurs are a tough defense, Ross getting potential starter minutes at a budget price could make him worthy of consideration.
DeAndre Jordan, LAC at PHI ($8,000): Even with foul trouble and blowouts limiting his minutes in recent games, Jordan is still averaging 15.7 points, 16.4 boards, 2.2 blocks and 1.6 assists over his last 10 games. Blake Griffin is a game-time decision to return on Tuesday, which could either eat into Jordan's usage or free him up to do more damage, but more importantly Joel Embiid is sitting for the 76ers ,which should make it easier for Jordan to operate against a defense that already gives up the most fantasy points to centers.
Al Horford, BOS at WAS ($6,800): Horford remain a jack-of-all-trades center, averaging 14.9 points, 7.8 boards, 5.3 assists, 2.0 treys and 1.6 combined steals/blocks over the month of January. On Tuesday, he faces an average Wizards interior defense (15th in fantasy points allowed to centers in last 10 games), but he should have a quickness advantage against the more lumbering Marcin Gortat.
Tyson Chandler, PHO vs MIN ($5,700): Chandler is rebounding like a much younger man, averaging 16 boards with 10.9 points and 1.0 combined steals/blocks over his last eight games. His rebounding is robust in the face of competition level, so unless Karl-Anthony Towns gets him into foul trouble there is a good chance that Chandler continues to board at his current level.
