This article is part of our DraftKings NBA series.
Team Analysis
Defense to avoid: Utah Jazz, vs CHA: The Jazz give up the fewest fantasy points to guards and forwards, and the third-fewest to centers, according to the DraftKings scoring system. Their opponents, the Hornets, have some effective offensive players but aren't a dominant unit themselves.
Offenses to Use: Miami Heat, vs PHI: The 76ers are average-to-below-average defensively on the season, allowing the 15th-most fantasy points to guards, the 16th-most to forwards and the most to centers. However, those rankings are built with Joel Embiid playing much of the time. Embiid is out on Saturday, and with him sitting a lot of the last five games the defense has slid to allowing the fourth-most fantasy points to guards, the seventh-most to forwards and the fourth-most to centers.
Teams on Back-to-Backs:
First game: Rockets, Lakers
Second game: Nuggets, Pistons, Pacers, Grizzlies, Bucks, Timberwolves, Magic, Suns, Kings
Stephen Curry, GS at SAC ($9,600): As written in this week's Hoops Lab article, Curry is all the way woke. In his last three games, he has averaged 37 points, 8.3 assists, 5.7 boards, 7.7 treys (not a misprint) and 2.0 assists. On Saturday, he faces a Kings defense against which he dropped 30 points, six assists, four boards, five treys and two steals when they squared off last month.
Dion Waiters, MIA vs PHI ($6,900): Waiters has become an impact player for the Heat, averaging 23.6 points, 4.9 boards, 5.0 assists, 3.1 treys and 1.1 combined steals/blocks over his last seven games. On Saturday, he faces a 76ers defense that has allowed the fifth-most fantasy points to shooting guards this season.
Evan Fournier, ORL at ATL ($5,000): Fournier has been productive this season when healthy, and on Friday he showed that he was fully recovered from his latest injury absence by notching 20 points, 10 boards, four assists and two treys against the Raptors. On Saturday, he faces a Hawks defense that has allowed the third-most fantasy points to shooting guards over the last 10 games.
Paul George, IND vs DET ($8,100): George has been elite in five of his last six games, yielding overall averages of 26.8 points, 7.0 boards, 3.3 assists, 2.0 treys and 2.0 combined steals blocks over that stretch. He faces a Pistons defense against whom he dropped 32 points, six boards and two assists last month in Detroit.
Wilson Chandler, DEN at SA ($6,100): Chandler has been productive all season when given starter minutes, and Friday was no exception. With Danilo Gallinari out injured, Chandler scored 23 points with eight boards, four blocks, three assists and two steals in 41 minutes of action on Friday night. Gallinari will sit again Saturday, and Chandler will play a Spurs team against which he scored 11 points with seven boards and two assists in only 24 minutes of action the last time that he faced them.
Marcus Morris, DET at IND ($5,000): Morris is coming off of his biggest game of the season, having scored 36 points with six boards, two assists and a steal on Friday. His production is up-and-down, but overall he's been productive with averages of 17.7 points, 6.0 boards, 2.4 assists and 1.8 treys in his last 10 games which outplays his price tag.
Nikola Jokic, DEN at SA ($8,900): Jokic returned Friday after a three-game absence, and was supposed to face "an undisclosed minutes restriction." Instead, he dropped a 20-point, 13-board, 11-assist triple-double in 32 minutes against the Bucks. His price dropped a bit while injured, but he obviously has max-price production potential even against a usually strong Spurs defense.
Dwight Howard, ATL vs ORL ($7,200): Howard faced his former Rockets team in his last outing and dropped 24 points, 23 boards, three assists, two blocks and a steal on them Thursday. On Saturday, he faces another of his former teams, which allows the 10th most fantasy points to centers.
Wily Hernangomez, NY vs CLE ($4,500): Hernangomez is productive whenever he gets minutes, and the Knicks may finally be recognizing that. In his last 10 games, Hernangomez has played more than 20 minutes in six of them. In those six games, he has grabbed double-digit rebounds in all of them and averaged 13 points with 13.5 boards in only 24 minutes. He has averaged 29.0 MPG in his last two games after only 9.0 MPG in the two games before that, signaling that the Knicks may be coming around on him.
