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A fun 10-game NBA slate comes to an end in Portland on Sunday evening, where the Portland Trail Blazers play host to the limping Miami Heat. Though the Heat have won five of six after dropping six straight, they won’t have Victor Oladipo for this game and are listing Tyler Herro ($7,000) as questionable. Portland, meanwhile, continues to play exceptionally on the offensive end and has picked up their defense of late.
Without further ado, let’s get into how to construct your Showdown lineups for Sunday evening.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA Showdown $120K Fadeaway [$30K to 1st] (MIA vs POR)
Captain
Jimmy Butler ($16,200 CP)
With Oladipo out and Herro questionable, Butler should shoulder most of the load on offense here. If you want to attack one of the two defenses, it should be Portland’s. Though Portland ranks second-to-last in efficiency for the season, over the past 10 games it’s defensive rating has actually ranked 18th in the NBA. Still, though, you’ll want to avoid loading up against a defense as good as Miami’s. Anyway, the usage should be good here, and he’s been over 43 DKFP in each of his past four games. Butler probably represents the safest play on the slate.
Enes Kanter ($11,700 CP)
If you want to take a less-popular option at captain, I think Kanter is probably your guy. No, it’s not just because he’s coming off a 70-DKFP game on Saturday. He has a great matchup with a team in the bottom third of the league in rebounding rate, which some may not realize because of the prowess of Bam Adebayo ($10,200). Kanter’s whole value comes from his ability to rebound, and he is in a great position to do that here.
Fades
CJ McCollum ($9,800)
I absolutely love McCollum, but there’s no way I’m paying this price for him in what’s a pretty tough matchup. Not only are the Heat stingy on the defensive side, he’ll probably see some Jimmy Butler defense. That’s on top of the fact that he’s averaging 40.1 DKFP on the year, which would hardly crack value. I’d project him out to get 30-35 DKFP, which makes him an easy fade at this exorbitant price.
Value FLEX Options
Jusuf Nurkic ($6,800)
This is a pretty brutal game for finding value, but I think Nurkic is in a really good position to at least hit value at this price. His playing time has been fluctuating, but Nurkic has really lifted this Trail Blazers defense to new heights since being back. I suspect they might try to work him in a little more as the games go on down the stretch. There’s also the fact that the Heat stink at rebounding the ball, as we touched on earlier with Kanter. I like this spot a lot.
Andre Iguodala ($2,400)
At this price, you’re just looking for like 10 DKFP. Well, Iguodala should be able to provide that, and he’ll probably exceed simply hitting value if Herro is out. This is sort of predicated on the injury news, but you want to attack the Blazers on the wings, and that leads me to believe in Iguodala, who’s normally locked in to 20 minutes. His floor should be hitting value.
The Outcome
I’m a bit puzzled with the folks lining up to take the Heat here with so many injuries, and I’m doubly-puzzled considering the quality of opponents that they’ve beaten lately has been low. Portland’s defense has improved a lot, and its offense has remained elite. I don’t see much working against them here, and they should eke one out.
Final Score: Trail Blazers 108, Heat 102
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA Showdown $120K Fadeaway [$30K to 1st] (MIA vs POR)
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is jetsfan196) and I may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.