As the NBA play-in tournament continues, we have another two games on tap this evening. The winner of tonight’s Charlotte Hornets/Atlanta Hawks matchup will face the Cleveland Cavaliers for the eighth seed in the east and the victor of the San Antonio Spurs/New Orleans Pelicans game faces the Los Angeles Clippers for the final NBA playoff spot in the west with both games taking place on Friday. Here’s a breakdown of the two basketball battles from a DFS perspective along with prioritized plays for FanDuel, DraftKings and Yahoo!

 

 

NBA Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament

Charlotte Hornets @ Atlanta Hawks

 

 

These two teams split their season series at two games apiece and Charlotte plays at a very fast pace. Both teams allow at least 112 points per game and tonight should feature a swift back and forth led by LaMelo Ball and Trae Young. John Collins and Gordon Hayward won’t play and it will be up to the backcourts to carry their teams. Both teams ended the season strong and the Hawks actually won seven of their final 10 games. The Hornets ranked second in the east in scoring dropping 115.3 points per outing. 

Injuries:

*John Collins-Out

*Gordon Hayward-Out

*Lou Williams-Out

*Chaundee Brown Jr.-Out

Player Breakdown:

 

 

LaMelo Ball: Leading into this game, Ball has dropped nine or more dimes in each of his last four battles. The Hawks ranked 23rd at covering point guards and Ball posted 2 double-doubles against them this year. He’s taken 16-plus shots in each of his last 3 matchups and he’s shot 50 percent from the floor or better in 3 of his last 4 contests. Because of how weak Atlanta is at covering opposing backcourts, the pace-drop for Charlotte shouldn’t make us shy away from playing Ball in DFS and even betting his props. Ball also swiped 1.6 steals per outing.

 

 

Trae Young: With John Collins and Lou Williams off the floor, Young’s usage percentage eclipses 34 and he’s very appealing indeed, but, throughout the season his scoring has been all over the place when he matched up versus the Hornets, but the plus side is that despite Young scoring fewer than 20 points in 2 of 4 games against them, he shot 50 percent or high from the field in both of his last 2 contests. Young will absolutely be looking at 20 or more shots because with the season on the line, he’s going to take matters into his own hands. Young to end his season produced four double-doubles in his final five games. He’s hit the 30-point mark in scoring in 5 of his last 7 games.

 

 

Miles Bridges: Bridges wasn’t outstanding against the Hawks this season, but Danilo Gallinari is a major downgrade from John Collins defensively and the Hawks were a bottom-10 team at guarding forwards and Bridges will toggle between SF and PF throughout this game and we should see him take 12-15 shots tonight. He pulled down seven boards per game and even swiped nearly a ball per outing. Bridges shooting has been up and down in recent games, but he does average 1.10 fantasy points per minute with Gordon Hayward off the floor and even if the Hornets jet out to a lead, Bridges will play more minutes and we should see him play 35 minutes this evening.

 

 

Clint Capela: The Hornets have been especially weak versus frontcourts through ranking 25th during the season and they’ve even been horrible at guarding power forwards over the last few weeks. Being that the Hawks season is on the line in this game, Capela should be looking at a longer leash when it comes to playing time. He posted double-doubles in three of his last four games to end the season playing over 30 minutes in just one of those contests. Capela pulled down 14 or more boards in 3 of 4 battles against the Hornets this season. Capela produced 17 points and 15 rebounds last time out versus Charlotte and with this being a pace-up spot for him, he should be in line for a highly productive night. He also swatted away 1.3 shots per game.

 

 

Bogdan Bogdanovic: The Hornets rank 25th in covering mid-courts and Bogdanovic has taken no fewer than 13 shots in each of his last 4 contests. We’ve seen him grab more rebounds lately, which makes him more attractive for DFS pulling down six-plus boards in three of his last four outings. Bogdanovic has also hit three or more three-pointers in four straight games shooting over 47 percent from beyond the arc over his last few games. He’ll help bring up the ball and drop a few dimes as well and with the pace being turned up for the Hawks in this game, we should see Bogdanovic help Trae Young move the basketball around. Bogdanovic also swipes 1.1 balls per game and has produced 3 multi-steal outings in his last 5 contests.

 

 

NBA Western Conference Play-In Tournament

San Antonio Spurs @ New Orleans Pelicans

 

 

The Spurs won the season series 3-1 against the Pelicans but the big question still remains regarding Dejounte Murray’s health as he was dealing with an illness prior to the end of the regular-season. Murray’s conditioning will make or break the Spurs as the offense runs mainly through him. He scored 17 points in 32 minutes in the Spurs final game of the season, which is good news for the Spurs that he’s back out there, but, is he 100 percent? What about Brandon Ingram? All signs are pointing to him playing, but he’s been dealing with a tight hamstring. He has been practicing leading up to this battle. Both teams have very shaky frontcourts on defense and the Spurs scored nearly four more points per game than the Pelicans on offense.

Injuries:

*Brandon Ingram-Probable

*Romeo Langford-Probable

*Zion Williamson-Out

*Kira Lewis Jr.-Out

*Doug McDermott-Out

Player Breakdown:

 

 

Dejounte Murray: Shortly before Murray got sick, he posted a triple-double against the Pelicans and it was the second one he produced against New Orleans this season along with an additional double-double in another game. Seeing him play over 30 minutes last game and not reading reports about his health being any kind of issue is encouraging. Not only did Murray grab over eight boards and dish at least nine dimes, but he also stole the basketball twice per game. He has an above 28 usage percentage and he produces 1.47 fantasy points per minute.

 

 

CJ McCollum: McCollum scored no fewer than 20 points in his last 3 matchups versus the Spurs and he’s actually eclipsed the 30-point mark in scoring against them in 2 games. Ingram playing will take a few shots away from him, but McCollum should easily play 35-40 minutes and we should still see him take 15-18 field goals tonight. Tonight’s game is a major pace boost for the Pelicans and McCollum has previously produced a double-double against San Antonio. He’s even swiped 1.1 balls per outing. The Spurs also ranked 25th at guarding guards this season.

 

 

Jonas Valanciunas: After posting four double-doubles against the Spurs this season, it’s safe to say that Valanciunas is a safe play heading into tonight’s game. San Antonio ranked 26th in the league at guarding centers. We shouldn’t see his minutes limited and we’ve actually seen Valanciunas produce double-doubles in each of his last 12 games that he’s received 30 or more minutes in, and he should play 32-35 minutes this evening.

 

 

Brandon Ingram: We’ve seen Ingram score 22-plus points in 2 games against the Spurs and San Antonio ranks 19th in the league at covering mid-courts. Ingram had improved his rebounding pulling down at least seven in four of his last five outings. We all know Ingram can bring up the ball as well, dishing six or more assists in three of his last four contests. It’s a bit safer building around McCollum being that we don’t know how Ingram’s Hamstring will limit him if at all and we must be careful when spending on him for DFS contests tonight.

 

 

Jakob Poeltl: With New Orleans ranking 20th at guarding centers, Poeltl should be in line to play over 30 minutes and leading into this game, he posted double-doubles in both of his last two battles. Poeltl contributed two previous double-double performances against the Pelicans and then grabbed 11 rebounds in another game against them. He should take eight to 10 shots in tonight’s game. Poeltl also blocked 1.7 shots per contest this season. He produces 1.13 fantasy points per minute.

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