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NBA Picks and Pivots – FanDuel Picks for March 16

ByBrian Tulloch|
Mar 11, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine (8) react after a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 11, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine (8) react after a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

NBA Picks and Pivots – FanDuel Picks for March 16

Welcome to the Wednesday edition of Picks & Pivots, a daily fantasy column focused on providing analysis for the upcoming NBA FanDuel slate. The purpose of this column is to first identify key building blocks that can be used for any roster construction and then identify pivot points to help differentiate your lineup in hopes of a big pay day!

Tonight’s slate of nine games offers not only some interesting match-ups, but gives DFS players the ability to roster many of the game’s best tonight as the superstar category is absolutely loaded this evening, making it critical to find valuable targets in order to fit the elite players in to your lineups.

Looking at the Vegas totals and projected point totals for this evening, there are two games in Oklahoma City at Boston and New Orleans at Sacramento that both project to be very high scoring (220 pts+) with 2-3 point spreads which gives us the ability to target a high scoring game where the starters would conceivably play major minutes.

Starting with OKC, playing Boston means this is a pace up game for the Thunder and while many will look to roster Russell Westbrook, Boston has been one of the toughest teams against opposing Point Guards. Similar to yesterday where Paul George was a target against the Celtics and responded with 46.4 points, I will look to target SF – Kevin Durant as Boston’s vulnerabilities lie in the front court and with Jae Crowder out of the lineup, I expect the Celtics to have a tough time matching up with KD.  Staying in the same game, PF – Serge Ibaka who posted 16 points and 10 rebounds in the previous meeting between these two teams (KD was out that game) gives us cheap exposure ($5,400) in a game to target.

On the other side of the ball, Russell Westbrook presents one of the most favorable matchups to opposing PG’s and with a very affordable price tag ($7,900), PG – Isaiah Thomas is one of my top targets as not only is the matchup ideal, but IT2 has been averaging more fantasy points per game over the last 5 and will need to continue that trend to try and keep up with OKC tonight.

In the other highlighted game, I expect many players to look towards Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, and certainly both players can win you money on any given night, but in a pace up game for New Orleans where they are expected to score 7 more points than their season average, I will pivot towards PG – Jrue Holiday as Sacramento provides one of the most favorable matchups to opposing guards and after two subpar outings in a row, this may be a good chance to grab Jrue at lower than expected ownership.

With so many superstars available tonight and many marquee matchups available, one game I am hopeful gamers overlook is Minnesota and Memphis. One look at the season long Defense Versus Position rankings may lead some to avoid players against Memphis but remember without Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Mike Conley, this is a VERY different team and one I intend to go after tonight with many of the Timberwolves players.

C – Karl Anthony-Towns is coming off two mediocre games in a row, but with the Grizzlies depleted across the front line, I expect KAT to have a big bounce back game and will look to have exposure to a player that has massive upside for tournaments. SG – Zach LaVine is another player I will look to target and hope the season long DVP numbers direct gamers away from this matchup. Memphis on the season has been one of the toughest against opposing SG’s but over the last week they have provided one the of the league’s best matchups and at a very reasonable price, LaVine offers both a solid floor and the ability to have a massive game. PG – Ricky Rubio(has hit 6x value his last two games), SF – Andrew Wiggins and PF – Gorgui Dieng all are reasonably priced across their respective positions and allow flexibility to fit in some of the stars on tonight’s slate.

Next: NCAA Tournament - South Region Capsule

Best of luck to each of you this evening, on the eve of one of the greatest sporting events this country has to offer let’s hope the professionals can live up to the Madness tonight!