Today for Thursday, January 11th, we get an early day-time showdown slate featuring the Brooklyn Nets taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers at 2:00 PM ET in FRANCE! We have an exciting match up here against two evenly talented teams. Let's discuss where we are looking on this showdown game!

Finding some of the NBA DFS top picks could be made easier if you take a look at Fantasy Alarm’s NBA DFS Projections, powered by FanJections. Let’s dive into the complete breakdown for tonight’s showdown slate.

 


Brooklyn Nets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

Total: 225

Spread: CLE -3

 

Brooklyn Nets Injuries

 

Cleveland Cavaliers Injuries

 

NBA DFS Showdown CPT/MVP Top Plays

Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers

Easily the best play on this slate for this showdown game. Mitchell is the “do-it-all” for the Cavaliers mainly while they are still without both Garland and Mobley. Mitchell carries a 31.6% usage rate with those two guys OFF the court this season, and also averages roughly 50 fantasy points per 36 minutes in this scenario. We can essentially bank on Mitchell playing high-30 minutes in this game, as we see the books do think this game is just a couple buckets in talent gap. Mitchell has had two sub-par outings in his last two games, but one was due to blow out and the other was a culprit to a bad shooting night (1-for-10 from three point). However, prior to those games, he had recorded 41+ fantasy points in his last seven-straight games.

Jarrett Allen, Cleveland Cavaliers

Allen has also been playing on quite a different level as of late, eclipsing 40 fantasy points in 6 of his last 7 contests to date. To be honest, I found it quite shocking that Allen is averaging 1.33 fantasy points per minute in a 461-minute sample so far this season with Garland and Mobley off the court, while Mitchell is just not even a fraction higher at 1.37 FP/M. We know the Nets tend to like to run small, and even with Claxton, this is still a nice match up for Allen today.

Mikal Bridges, Brooklyn Nets

Believe the Bridges is going to have to be very good today to insure that the Nets do stay competitive in this game. I think we could possibly see a shootout back and forth type with Mitchell and Bridges here. Bridges has been up-and-down this season after having a stellar year last year as basically the only stud Net left standing, but he is second on the team in usage rate (only behind Cam Thomas, who has since been relegated back to a bench role) at 26.2%, and he is fresh off a 52 fantasy point outing vs the Portland Trail Blazers last time out on a  42 point, four rebound, three assists stat-line.

 

NBA DFS Showdown UTIL Top Plays

Nic Claxton, Brooklyn Nets

Looking for Claxton to hold his own in the paint against Allen, but it won't exactly be an easy task. However, Claxton has been pretty good lately, coming off back-to-back 45-fantasy point outings, and 35+ fantasy points in three-straight against the Rockets, Thunder, and Trail Blazers. Claxton is seeing 28+ minutes and has been contributing in multiple categories, including steals and blocks, so his value is nice here.

Caris LeVert, Cleveland Cavaliers

LeVert has been the first player off the bench for the Cavs, as he continues to play his role set forth at the beginning of this season. He has come on much stronger as of late with the injury to Garland and is a very high-usage player and can easily put up the fantasy points when he gets 25+ minutes. In his last six contests, LeVert has recorded 34+ in five of those six, with three of those six eclipsing 40 fantasy points.

Cameron Johnson, Brooklyn Nets

Electing to go Cam here over Dinwiddie as a mid-tier UTIL mainly because I think he will be able to produce a bit more in this match up. Dinwiddie has been very up-and-down lately, and Cam has been much more solid. Johnson has seen 32+ minutes in five of his last six games, while logging at least 29+ fantasy points in six of his last eight games. Will look for Cam to be more of a UTIL staple play here.

Sam Merrill, Cleveland Cavaliers

Although I haven't played much Merrill this season so far, he has been serviceable off the bench for the Cavs in the backcourt with Garland out. Merrill has seen 23, 26, and 29 minutes over the Cav's last three contests and recorded 29, 20, and 27 fantasy points as a result. He should continue to see mid-20's in minutes and he has been putting up around a fantasy point per minute when given that amount of time on the floor lately.

NBA DFS Showdown Value Plays

 

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