Fantasy Basketball Night In Review: Tuesday, March 30

Antonio Losada looks back at yesterday's slate of games and comments on fantasy basketball risers, fallers and takeaways from the games played then and there.

Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we will highlight a few key fantasy basketball takeaways from the games played during last night's slate. These viewpoints can be both positive and negative and will hopefully help to provide insight into different roster moves you should consider making based on trends and statistical nuggets from around the Association.

Fantasy basketball has a lot of moving pieces with all the different scoring settings that are possible to play under, so I will always do my best to spotlight where players gain or lose value in certain game types. For the sake of simplicity and consistency, every time I mention Fantasy Points in these articles I will be using DraftKings' scoring system, which goes as follows: 1*PTS, 0.5*3PM, 1.25*RBD, 1.5*AST, 2*STL, 2*BLK, -0.5*TO. On top of that, bonus points are awarded for Double-Doubles (+1.5) and Triple-Doubles (+3), only one per player at a time.

Without further ado, let's get right into the latest slate of games from the 2021 season and try to figure out how to take advantage of what we saw transpire.

Tuesday, March 30

Aaron Gordon keeps acclimating to Denver's height while Michael Porter Jr. activates top-speed cruise control for the Nuggets

In the second game for his new franchise, Aaron Gordon played 25 minutes facing a debilitated Philly squad starting at PF once more... but all he could do was finish as the fourth-worst fantasy starter of the slate. Gordon put up a measly 14 FP to the tune of a 6-4-1-1 super-low line, though the Nuggets still got another W to keep bulking up their record. One of the main reasons for that win? Michael Porter Jr.

MPJ is not Nikola Jokic. He isn't Jamal Murray either, and probably not even Aaron Gordon in the long run. But he's been playing way good for Denver of late. Just on Tuesday, Porter's 27-12-4-1-1 line while shooting 69% from the floor, hitting 5 treys, and committing just 2 TOs on a 23-usage-rate game was enough for him to finish second in the fantasy leaderboard only behind Russell Westbrook (27-15-14-2 line...) It's been two dub-dubs in a row for MPJ, who is playing a ton of minutes since the break, averaging 21-8 lines nightly, and shooting a ridiculous 59% on 14 FGA. Quite the step up Denver needed for him, indeed.

• MPJ was great, but so was Jamal Murray with the third-best fantasy outing of the day thanks to his 52 FP translated from a 30-6-4-3 stuffed line. Murray shot a monster 24 FGA on the day, stayed on the court for 38 minutes, and hit 5 triples to go with all that. Rounding a masterful performance, he was able to avoid turning the ball entirely.
• With rookie LaMelo Ball out injured, it is all about Terry Rozier and Devonte' Graham these days in Charlotte's backcourt. Great combination on Tuesday as Rozier went for a 27-7-4 line with a block while Graham put up a sound 17-5-6-3 himself in just 29 minutes of playing time.

• Hornets' biggie Cody Zeller (available in 90% of Yahoo leagues) turned out to be the best reserve of the day with a 16-13-2 dub-dub coming off the bench. More than a healthy dose of shots for him with 13 FGA. Robin Lopez followed him in the off-the-pine fantasy leaderboard, with Dario Sarich coming in third and posting the most-efficient game of the slate (20-5-2 in 18 minutes for an average of 1.68 FP/min).
• The Clips lost one to the on-paper worst team in the league, the Orlando Magic, as Kawhi Leonard was pretty much on the court alone for LA. While Kawhi put up his great 28-5-5-1 line, that's all the Clippers had to throw Orlando's way as no other Clip made it to the top-15 performers of the slate (there were just five games...) and none other than him put up more than 31 FP.

• Speaking of Orlando, talk about a gold mine of sorts for fantasy GMs out there. Nobody would probably want a share of what the Magic have to offer, that's for sure, but there are a few gums stuck in Florida worth rostering. Michael Carter-Williams, Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter, Mo Bamba, Terrence Ross, Chuma Okeke, and Khem Birch all have some appeal in different categories for GMs in deeper leagues, and all of them except Carter and Ross (30%) are available in at least 65% of Yahoo leagues.
• Bogdan Bogdanovic missed ample time earlier this season, being out from early January till March. He's back for good now, and he's started the last three games for the Hawks having his best game donning Atlanta's threads on Tuesday: 22-4-6-4 in 37 minutes. Gallinari, on the other hand, is on a bad skid and only played valuable basketball sandwiching the AS break, being now back at a low set of outings. Bog is available in 50% of Yahoo leagues, and Gallinari in only 35%. You know what to do because those percentages tell precisely the opposite story to the one actually going on.

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