EuroLeague Primer: Round 28 - Friday

Written by

Maciej Bogdanski

Updated on March 5, 2021 2:49PM EST

PREGAME UPDATES

Barcelona's Pierre Oriola and Sergi Martinez will be held out Friday due to a coach's decision.
ASVEL's Derrick Walton and Antoine Diot remain out Friday.
Fenerbahce's Edgaras Ulanovas will suit up for Round 28.
Olympiacos' Vassilis Spanoulis will be available Friday.
Landry Nnoko and Langston Hall will both be in uniform for Red Star.
Devin Booker, Stefan Jovic, Janis Timma, Evgeny Voronov and Vladislav Odinokov are all out for Khimki on Friday.

THE SLATE

BER ALBA Berlin at KHI Khimki Moscow Region

Status Check: Jayson Granger (BER), Louis Olinde (BER), Christ Koumadje (BER), Devin Booker (KHI), Stefan Jovic (KHI), Janis Timma (KHI)

Best Bets for Success: This game's total points prediction is 12 points higher than any other on Friday's slate, so there's more players mentioned here than usually. Despite a loss against Zenit on Tuesday, ALBA's frontcourt starters did a great job in taking over from guards in scoring points for fantasy competitions. Luke Sikma, Ben Lammers and Simone Fontecchio all scored over 25 DFS points and continue amaze with their consistency. Sikma averages the most in last five games – 26.1 DFS points, but other two are within just one point behind him. He is also more versatile, assisting and grabbing rebounds whenever he can't contribute to ALBA's scoreboard. In last round Khimki recorded their first victory since November, breaking 17 games losing streak. Three players contributed hugely in win against Real Madrid: Alexey Shved, Jordan Mickey and Errick McCollum. Former two are regularly appearing in this section, while the later more often featured in DFS Darlings in the past. McCollum, who, alongside Mickey, could play his last game for Khimki on Friday, averages 27.2 in his last five outings, missing double digits points figure only once. Above trio was responsible for scoring over 80 percent of points against Madrid, combining for 63 of their 78 points.

DFS Darlings: ALBA's backcourt couldn't do much against Zenit, team famous for conceding least amount of DFS points against opposition guards. Khimki is on opposite end of that ranking, so Maodo Lo, Peyton Siva and Marcus Eriksson will have a great chance to improve from last outing. Siva scored 31 fantasy points in reverse matchup last year, assisting ten times. You can add him to your DraftKings EuroLeague DFS team at $7,400

MIL AX Armani Exchange Milan at ZAL Zalgiris Kaunas

Status Check: Malcolm Delaney (MIL), Zach LeDay (MIL), Arturas Milaknis (ZAL), Patricio Garino (ZAL)

Best Bets for Success: In absence of Delaney, who will be out for next few weeks after knee surgery, Sergio Rodriguez will most likely bet the primary playmaker for Milan. Popular El Chacho was rested in last game against Fenerbahce, spending only 19 minutes on the court, his shortest outing since January. That didn't stop him from another over 20 DFS points performance, taking Rodriguez's average in last four games to 24. Shavon Shields scored in double figures in five consecutive games since recovering from thigh injury, delivering 25 DFS points in Round 27. You can add him to your team on DraftKings at $9,400. After rather quiet February, at least in terms of fantasy points, Joffrey Lauvergne seems to be back on track. Zalgiris' center scored 18 points in last outing against ASVEL, producing 31 DFS points, his highest since January. Marius Grigonis contributed to last week's win with 21 points, while spending 26 minutes on the court, his shortest showing since December. As well as Lauvergne, Grigonis is likely to get more playing time in the game against Milan.

DFS Darlings: Another Milan's veteran putting great performances of late is Luigi Datome. Italian forward provided over 20 DFS points in three out of his last four games. Rokas Jokubaitis had his best outing this year against ASVEL scoring 23.5 DFS points. His scored his season high 15 points in reverse fixture last year and will cost you just $6,000 with DraftKings.

RED Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade at OLY Olympiacos Piraeus

Status Check: Landry Nnoko (RED), Quino Colom (RED), Langston Hall (RED), Duop Reath (RED), Kostas Papanikolaou (OLY), Hassan Martin (OLY), Vassilis Spanoulis (OLY)

Best Bets for Success: Jordan Loyd features in this section for a second time this week, but that's for a good reason. Red Star's guard had his best outing this year scoring 26 points on the top of six rebounds, two assists and a steal. He is now averaging 30.1 DFS points in last four starts and is close to performance levels from last year when he scored over 30 DFS points on nine occasions. Ognjen Dobric delivered at least 15 fantasy points in last eight games despite losing starting spot since Loyd came back from injury. Sasha Vezenkov rarely disappoints this season, with 23.8 as lowest fantasy score in his last five outings. In that period, he also recorded an average 8.2 rebounds per game. Kostas Sloukas was lightly worked in last rounds crushing defeat to Baskonia, spending on the court only 23 minutes. Olympiacos' star, who is looking to bounce back after a few subpar performances, will have much easier job against Red Star, one of worst defenses in the league against opposition backcourts. Octavius Ellis was very close to recording his first season's double – double in Round 27. He scored 27.3 DFS points, including 12 points, nine rebounds and two blocks in just 18 minutes on the court.

DFS Darlings: Kosta Koufos unexpectedly claimed starting center spot in Olympiacos' lineup against Baskonia. Although he scored only 11.3 DFS points, he should build up on that in next games. Livio Jean-Charles scored his season high 15 points, his team's best, in the same game. It was his second start this year and he is available on DraftKings for just $6,400.

ULK Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul at ASV LDLC ASVEL

Status Check: Edgaras Ulanovas (ULK), Melih Mahmutoglu (ULK), Alex Perez (ULK), Derrick Walton (ASV), Antoine Diot (ASV)

Best Bets for Success: Jan Vesely continues his series of great performances for Fenerbahce. On Wednesday he was just two assists short of triple-double, but still delivered his season best DFS output – 45 points. Vesely should be very popular fantasy selection for Round 28 as ASVEL defense against centers in worst in the league. With Kyle O'Quinn still adjusting to European style of basketball, The Czech Jet's position is indisputable at the moment. Lorenzo Brown has equalled his season best by scoring 18 points last time out. Considering that he featured only for 19 minutes and Fenerbahce's backcourt is shorthanded this week we can expect him to be spend more time on the court against ASVEL. Norris Cole was again top DFS points scorer in last round's game against Zalgiris. He is now averaging 27.7 fantasy points in last five games and scored in double digits in his last six outings, including three with at least 20 points on his account. Moustapha Fall was lightly worked in last outing spending only 19 minutes on the court. In four showings before that he averaged 24 DFS points per game.

DFS Darlings: Danilo Barthel is likely to see extended minutes on Friday night. In last game he scored 15.5 DFS points, his best since coming back from injury that kept him on sidelines for most of January. With Dyshawn Pierre featuring heavily against Milan and not much time to recover, Barthel is likely to start against ASVEL. Ismael Bako has scored his season best 10 points in Round 27 and added 4 rebounds, extending his over 10 fantasy points run to nine games. He is available on DraftKings for mere $4,900.

BAS TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz at BAR FC Barcelona

Status Check: Pau Gasol (BAR), Artem Pustovyi (BAR)

Best Bets for Success: Historically encounters between these two teams are rather low scoring affairs: total points average of only 143.4 over last five meetings in domestic and European competitions. For that reason, it would probably be wise to limit your choices in this game. Pierria Henry has scored 20.5 DFS points in last outing, only made of assists, rebounds and steals, in over 18 minutes on the court. With Luca Vildoza involved heavily against Olympiacos, 32 minutes, Henry will likely take the driver seat in Baskonia's backcourt against Barcelona. He is EuroLeague leader in steals and second best assistant so far this season. Nikola Mirotic scored his season highest 25 points against Panathinaikos on Tuesday. His 34.8 DFS points scored in this game was his best since December.

DFS Darlings: Low points expectancy for this matchup and Baskonia's clean bill of health makes it difficult to point out any value plays in their ranks. Rolands Smits is least risky budget option in heavily rotating Barcelona. Latvian forward is available on DraftKings at $5,100.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Maciej Bogdanski plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: kmag115173.