RADIO
Welcome to the 14th Friday of the NBA season. Tonight is one of the lightest slate of games on the weekend's opening night so far as there are just seven games on the docket. Not surprisingly, with such a light schedule, there are not very many intriguing matchups, however, there are several teams in action that need to start to pick up their play if they are going to make a serious playoff push. These teams are the Pistons, Magic, and the Pelicans.
The best game (or at least the most entertaining) on the docket is likely the Warriors and Clippers in Los Angeles. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant have been terrific lately as Golden State has won six in a row to move into first place in the Western Conference. The Warriors has scored 119 points in each of these six contests, and they have won three of those games by at least 20 points. On the other hand, the Clippers have lost four straight to drop to seventh in the Conference. The Clips have allowed at least 120 points in three of the games during the losing streak.
I will be providing you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings on 01/18/19. These DFS lineup picks can vary from higher-priced players and elite options to lower-priced players and value picks on DraftKings. You can also check out today's FanDuel lineup picks. As always, don't set your lineups to early and check player statuses before the opening tip
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Lou Williams: PG/SG vs. GS ($6,700)
Williams has been playing very well for about the last month-and-a-half. He is coming off his fifth 20-point game this month and 11th in the past 19. Williams compiled 23 points, six rebounds and six assists on 11 of 18 shooting from the field in 27 minutes during the Clippers loss to the Jazz on Wednesday. The 14th-year pro has scored in double-figures in 12 straight games overall.
Scoring is not the only thing that he is contributing as the 32-year-old has doled out five or more assists on 13 occasions during this stretch. Williams is producing 20 points, 5.7 assists, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.4 three-pointers while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 44.3 percent from beyond the arc since Dec. 1.
Williams is averaging 35.8 DK fantasy points over his last five contests and has topped 30 fantasy points in six of his last 10 with a floor of 26.5. The second-round draft pick is averaging 25 points, 7.5 assists, and two rebounds in two games this year against the Warriors despite shooting just 34.4 percent from the floor as well as 33.3 percent from long distance. Golden State has not been strong on the defensive end all season and is allowing 115.1 points a game over the last 10. The Dubs, who are allowing 52.8 points in these 10 games to opposing team's backcourts, have had a particularly difficult time defending the three-point line during this stretch. Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, Mike Conley, and Stephen Curry are high price plays that I like. Meanwhile, Spencer Dinwiddie and Reggie Jackson are medium priced players who could bring value due to their solid matchups.
Josh Richardson: SG/SF @DET ($5,900)
Richardson's scoring has slowed down considerably since averaging 20 points during the first month-and-a-half of the campaign. And he is coming off one of his worst games of the season as the 25-year-old made three of 11 shots and finished with six points along with five assists and three rebounds in Tuesday's loss to the Bucks. It marked just the fourth time this season that the 6-foot-6 wing has failed to score in double figures.
While he hasn't been as explosive as a scorer and has struggled shooting since the calendar turned to December, the good news is that the fourth-year pro has been fairly consistent. Richardson has scored 10 or more points in 16 of his last 17 outings, and he has improved as a distributor, totaling at least four assists 16 times during the last month-and-a-half. Richardson is averaging 14.9 points, 4.8 assists and 3.8 rebounds along with two triples over his last 20 contests.
The Tennessee product is only averaging 28.5 DK fantasy points over the last four games, however, he has topped 30 fantasy points in seven of his last 10 outings. He compiled 48 DK fantasy points in the Heat's first meeting against the Pistons as he tallied 28 points, grabbed eight rebounds and doled out four assists. Richardson has played better on the road than at home this season
In addition to some of the guys that mentioned above who can also be slotted at shooting guard, I also like Klay Thompson as well as Joe Ingles.
DraftKings DFS Forwards
Jayson Tatum: SF/PF vs. MEM ($6,100)
The 20-year-old has been terrific over the last seven games, and he is coming off his first double-double of the month against the Raptors on Wednesday as he tallied 16 points and 10 rebounds. Tatum is averaging 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds along and 1.6 assists along with 2.1 three-pointers while shooting 44.5 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from beyond the arc during this stretch. He has scored in double figures in each of the seven games and has grabbed at least four rebounds on six occasions.
Tatum, who has filled the stat sheet in two of his last four games, has averaged 33.9 DK fantasy points over his last six contests. He has compiled 89.25 fantasy points over his past two games but has only topped 30 fantasy points five times in the last 10. Tatum only had seven points against the Grizzlies in the team's first meeting of the year, however, he did add eight rebounds along with five assists for 34 DK points. Kevin Durant, Tobias Harris, and Danilo Gallinari are strong plays here. I also like Al-Farouq Aminu, Marcus Morris, and Jae Crowder.
Aaron Gordon: SF/PF vs. BKN ($6,400)
Gordon has been solid over his last 10 games. He has scored in double figures in each of the 10 contests while racking up five or more rebounds on nine occasions and picking up at least five assists five times. The 23-year-old also has produced three double-doubles during this stretch.
The fifth-year pro is averaging 17.1 points, eight rebounds, 3.8 assists and is shooting 43.3 percent from the floor over his last 10 games. He has compiled 35.7 DK fantasy points over his last five outings as he has topped 37 fantasy points in three of those games. Overall, Gordon has tallied at least 30 fantasy points six times in his last 10 contests. Opposing power forwards have feasted on Brooklyn over the last 10 games, compiling 24.2 points, 10.6 caroms, and 2.7 assists while shooting 48.7 percent from the floor as well as 35.1 percent from long distance. I also like Julius Randle, Draymond Green, and Blake Griffin here as well.
DraftKings DFS Centers
Ante Zizic: C @UTA ($3,700)
This is a total value play that could play huge dividends. Zizic figures to see plenty of time on the court with Tristan Thompson and Larry Nance Jr. having been ruled out for the contest. The 6-foot-11 center has been very good over the last five games in limited playing time. He is coming off his best game of the season against the Trail Blazers on Wednesday where he totaled 16 points, eight rebounds, one assist and two blocks in 27 minutes. The 22-year-old made five of eight shots from the field and six of seven from the charity stripe.
Zizic has scored in double-digits in three of his last four and grabbed four or more boards in five straight games. He is averaging 10 points and six rebounds while shooting 59.3 percent from the field over his last five. He does have a pretty tough matchup against Rudy Gobert. Nikola Vucevic, Andre Drummond, LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Anthony Davis, and Hassan Whiteside are extremely strong options tonight as well.
