Boston Celtics @ Sacramento Kings
Spread: PK
O/U: 224
Injuries
Celtics
Kemba Walker - OUT
Marcus Smart - OUT
Payton Pritchard - OUT
Romeo Langford - OUT
Kings
Nemanja Bjelica - QUEST
DaQuan Jeffries - OUT
Defense vs. Position (DvP)
Celtics - 4th vs. PG / 4th vs. SG / 10th vs. SF / 16th vs. PF / 25th vs. C
Kings - 25th vs. PG / 29th vs. SG / 21st vs. SF / 26th vs. PF / 13th vs. C
MVP/CPT
We’ve gushed all day about the spot Fox is in tonight and he’s my top play on the board for this showdown slate. Look what happens when Marcus Smart comes off the floor? Opposing guards go nuclear and that’s what Stephen Curry did on Tuesday and Fox could do on Wednesday. Fox has put up 40+ DKP in 8-of-10 games and has put up 60+ twice in that span as well. The upside is through the roof and catching Boston on a back-to-back is the icing on the cake.
The Kings are dreadful defensively all over the floor, but Tatum is the best player on this Celtics team and has been extremely consistent of late. He’s poured in 40+ DKP in 8-of-9 with the one being 39. He’s too cheap on DK and although I lean De’Aaron Fox for my CPT, I have no issue pivoting to Fox instead. The Kings rank 26th in DvP against power-forwards and this is a big pace up spot for Boston to boot.
Like Tatum, everything lines up for Brown here as the match-up really doesn’t get much better than this. Not only does Sacramento rank 21st against small-forward and it's a pace up spot for Boston, but Sacramento ranks dead last in DRtg amongst the entire NBA. With Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker off the floor this year, Brown features a 32/9% USG rate and averages 1.29 FP/min.
Mid-Tier
Boston’s front court has been an issue and they’ve been torched there all season long. Boston ranks 25th in DvP against centers this season. Holmes is fresh off a 45 FP night and he’s now put up 40+ FP in 3-of-4 games. He’s been significantly better at home this season averaging 33.5 DKP compared to 27.8 on the road.
Things were getting a little weird with Hield earlier this year as his minutes started to decline, but as he started to play better his playing time rose drastically and here we are watching him play 37+ minutes every single night. He’s been productive during his time on the floor as well 32+ DKP in four straight contests.
Another consistent performance came from Theis on Tuesday and there is no reason to think he’s going to slow down anytime soon. Theis has averaged 27.1 DKP/game over his last five games and that includes a single point dud, just showing everyone how well he’s actually played this season. Theis fits like a glove on this showdown slate.
Value Tier
With the Celtics down so many assets, they elected to start Theis and Thompson side-by-side on Tuesday and it worked out. Thompson wasn’t all that bad in his 25 minutes of action scoring 13 points while grabbing eight boards. This is an even better match-up and you have to think a double-double is on the table because of that fact.
The thing about using Whiteside is that we don’t need 25 minutes out of him to get us there. He’s been just fine in terms of production at 16-to-18 minutes -- at least at this price point. When Whiteside has been on the floor, he’s averaged 1.2 FP/min and has a 22% USG rate, both elite numbers for a guy playing limited minutes off the bench. We’ve already touted the Celtics as being a terrible defensive front court, so why not take a shot on Whiteside on this showdown slate?