The Conference Finals continue with Game 3 out West on Saturday and Game 3 in the East on Sunday. Get your DFS fantasy basketball team in the game with FanSided’s FanDuel daily picks.
Wow. The Conference Finals have not been competitive at all, and injuries suggest that the next games may not be any better. The Cavs and Warriors have won the last two games by a combined 80 points, with the Warriors winning Game 2 by 36 and the Cavs winning Game 2 in Boston by 44. Kawhi Leonard is out again on Saturday, and Isaiah Thomas left Game 2 with a hip injury that has him on the injury report for Sunday as the series shifts to Cleveland. Can the underdog teams play well enough to force the main players on each squad to play normal minutes?
The Warriors at the Spurs game tips on Saturday night at 9:00 p.m. ET. With Leonard out, the Spurs will be hoping that the shift to their home court will be enough to revitalize their team. It seems a long shot, though, as the Warriors are supremely talented and playing at a high level. They are 10-0 in the playoffs, and without Leonard the question seems less whether the Spurs can win a game, and more whether they can even make it competitive.
In the East, the Celtics are facing the same challenge. After getting blown out in both home games, they travel to Cleveland for Game 3 on Sunday. The Celtics’ best player, Isaiah Thomas, didn’t play in the second half of Game 2 with a hip injury. Thomas is undergoing tests on the hip on Saturday, and no word yet has been given as to whether it threatens his availability for Sunday. Overall, though, the Cavaliers are also an undefeated 10-0 in the playoffs, and the Celtics will have to up their level tremendously to even threaten the Cavs in Cleveland.
My favorite plays of the day can be found on the following slides in FanSided’s FanDuel daily picks. Each day in order to offer a variety of price points at each position, you can find two slides for each position–one for high-salary options and one for high-value options. Each pick is ranked on a scale of 1-5 stars to indicate the confidence in the pick. The final slide of this post has more detail on what each level means, but in short, more stars means more confidence in the selection on a points-per-dollar basis.
Important note: the goal of this post is not to give you a copy-and-paste lineup. Instead, each selection is given while highlighting the factors you need to consider when building a customized lineup for yourself. If you want to see an example lineup, you can find it on the final slide of the post, but I suggest you adjust your lineup to fit your personal taste.
To keep up with all of FanSided’s DFS NBA coverage head over to the fantasy basketball hub where each day you can find a post like this tailored for FanDuel as well as one specifically designed for usage on DraftKings. In this post, all salary and “fantasy points” references are to FanDuel’s scoring system and salaries. If you have any additional questions or thoughts or are looking for updates as we approach tipoff, follow @FanSidedFantasy on Twitter or you can follow my account @ProfessorDrz or find me on my home turf of The Hoops Lab.
Let’s take a look at your best options for both studs and value players at each position.