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It wasn’t pretty, but in true 90s style the Denver Nuggets defeated the Utah Jazz a few nights back to advance to the second round against the Los Angeles Clippers. So Game 1 of the series will begin Thursday at 9:00 p.m. ET. The Nuggets don’t get too much time to get things together before the start of their series, while the Clippers have been sitting easy for a little bit after taking down the Dallas Mavericks in six games. Let’s take a look at some DraftKings Showdown picks for the contest.
Set your DraftKings lineup here.
Captain’s Pick
Nikola Jokic ($16,200)
If there’s an area the Clippers have issues I think it’s in the front court with their lack of size. Montrezl Harrell isn’t playing nearly as much as the regular season and Ivica Zubac can’t guard Jokic. Part of me expects the Clippers to smash Denver in this game. Even if that is the case, Jokic should have around three quarters to return some value. Everybody will be gushing over Jamal Murray’s performance in the first round. Jokic is the steady play at Captain.
Fade of the Game
Michael Porter Jr. ($6,400)
I think we keep fading Porter until he shows us he can stay on the court and play some defense. My expectation is that won’t be a thing in Round 2. Leaving Porter in there against Kawhi Leonard or Paul George seems less than ideal. Porter struggled to contain players on the Utah Jazz. Now he gets two All-Stars. So this price is still pretty high. If he gets down into the $5K range, maybe we can start talking about MPJ again in Showdown. Otherwise, I’m staying away.
Value Picks
Lou Williams ($7,400) — I know Lou Will is still expensive, but there’s value at this price. You aren’t going to find many players who can put up 40-50 DKFP in this price range. He struggled in the final two games against the Mavericks, but I think that was more a result of the two games being blowouts. This game could be the same scenario. Or it’s a blowout created by Lou Will going off in the second quarter or something.
Gary Harris ($5,000) — Coach Mike Malone already came out and said Harris will be needed offensively in Round 2. This is also Mike Malone, so I’m not going to hold my breathe. With that said, he has a point. Harris slowly got back into the flow of things in the final two games and played decent minutes. His shooting will come around eventually and this price is very low for a player like Harris.