NBA DFS Playoffs (April 16, 2022)

by Gus Elmashni

Good morning NBA DFSers! We have a full day of NBA Playoff basketball on tap!

The play-in games treated us well with every one of the three lineups I shared reaching the cash line. Let's take down a GPP today!

The games start soon so check out the spreadsheet below for the projections.

NBA DFS Google Spreadsheet

Also, here is what you should play today. It's somewhat different from the optimals.

DraftKings

PG: Ja Morant

SG: Malik Beasley

SF: Dorian Finney-Smith

PF: Jaren Jackson

C: Brandon Clarke

G: Spencer Dinwiddie

F: Andrew Wiggins

UTIL: D'Angelo Russell

FanDuel

PG: Ja Morant, De'Angelo Russell

SG: Spencer Dinwiddie, Jordan Poole

SF: Dorian Finney-Smith, Malik Beasley

PF: Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes

C: Jaren Jackson

Remember, DFS roster construction is both an ART and a SCIENCE. Here are some quick hits about today's slate.

  • Jordan Poole will be facing some very weak defenders in the Denver backcourt so fire him up on FanDuel given how significantly cheaper he is on that site compared to DraftKings.
  • Stacking the Minnesota-Memphis game would be a wise move. Highest point total and Memphis won't quite run away with the game until early in the 4th quarter. Pairing Morant and Jackson makes sense. You get an awesome offensive weapons with Morant and superb defender in Jackson who can easily rack up 5-6 combined blocks and steals today.
  • On the other side of Minnesota-Memphis game, roll with Russell. He is playing well and Morant is an OK defender. My guess is that Desmond Bane will smother Anthony Edwards freeing up some scoring opportunities for Russell.
  • Steer clear of Karl-Anthony Towns. Steven Adams is a beast of a defender in the paint.
  • As a sleeper pick, go with Malik Beasley. He is getting good run off the bench and the Grizzles frontcourt bench players have negative +/- ratios for defense.
  • No Luka means you are playing Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith. I like Brunson but he is priced a bit too high on FanDuel and he rarely cracks 40 fantasy points even when given plenty of playing time. Dinwiddie is a usage monster and is great at racking up the peripheral stats. Finney-Smith may not score as much but he is an accurate shooter and great with the defensive stats.
  • As much as I love to play Embiid or Jokic (or you could do both since they are now PF eligible on FanDuel), they are too expensive and both are facing strong defenses that play at a somewhat slower pace than most teams. A 50 fantasy point is nice but with so many options, you can't afford to spend over $11K on FanDuel and get less than 5x value. You will be toast.
  • Stacking Barnes and Siakam makes me nervous but we are getting phenomenal savings with Barnes and he can easily accumulate several rebounds, blocks, and steals. His defensive +/- rating is 4th best among all NBA small forwards. As for Siakam, he is playing out of his mind right now and is a serious triple double threat. His recent strong games were against Philadelphia and Boston, both legit Eastern Conference contenders. I would rather take the $1500 - 2000 savings with Siakam and still get the same production as I would get from Embiid or Jokic.

Get your lineups submitted and good luck!