The Conference Finals continue with Game 4 out West on Monday followed by Game 4 in the East on Tuesday. Get your DFS fantasy basketball team in the game with FanSided’s FanDuel daily picks.
The inevitable clash of playoff undefeateds was derailed on Sunday when the Cavs clearly tried to coast to a win and the Celtics had the pride to steal a game in Cleveland. This opens the door for the Monday-Tuesday FanDuel contest to NOT be the last one of the season … as long as San Antonio can pull a similarly inspired performance out on Monday.
The Spurs put up a spirited effort on Saturday but still fell to the Warriors by double figures. The Spurs are game but simply outmanned without Kawhi Leonard. Leonard is questionable to play on Monday, though coach Greg Popovich has already announced that it is unlikely that he plays. The Spurs have several value plays with Leonard out, and if they are as scrappy on Monday as they were on Saturday, that could also force the Warriors to play their starters long enough to reach normal output. The game tips at 9:00 p.m. ET, and if the Warriors sweep then there’d be no more NBA DFS this season.
The Celtics pulled off the massive upset on Sunday night. Coming in without their best player, the injured Isaiah Thomas, and coming off a 44-point loss in Game 2, the Celtics pulled a second half comeback behind Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley and won on Bradley’s buzzer beater that bounced in. LeBron James turned in by FAR his worst performance of the postseason, as he clearly thought he could coast through and didn’t expect the Cavs to lose their second half league. For Game 4, then, the expectation is that we should get a much better effort from LeBron to re-take control of the series.
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: every day 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.