NBA FanDuel: Santa Slam Christmas Special! – Tuesday, December 25th
Merry Christmas FantasyCPR Faithful! As 2018 draws to a close, I hope you all had a wonderful year, and I wish you all many more to come! This article will be a one-time special for the five-game Christmas Day NBA FanDuel slate, which starts at 12:00 PM ET. Instead of specific types of targets for cash games or GPP, I will instead focus this article towards the Santa Slam contest, which boasts a $200,000 first place prize, for just a $12.25 entry!
While I normally do an NBA FanDuel cash game targets article, this will be one of the hardest slates to play cash games on of the entire season. No two games overlap today, as all five are spread out throughout the day. This means on a site with no late-swap like FanDuel, it gets very hard to figure out which questionable players are actually going to play. With that in mind, I wanted to write something for this slate, and I think I am just going to fire a few bullets at this massive tournament.
This massive tournament is of course the Santa Slam, and since I am going to make multiple teams, this article will cover my player pool. I will give my top target at each position, as well as my top value play or plays. The stars will all be out on Christmas Day, and my hope is to find you some targets for your NBA FanDuel action. Before we get to the targets, let’s take a quick look at what to expect today on a game-by-game basis.
As an added Christmas gift to our Fantasy CPR readers – we are bringing you a Christmas Day FREE ROLL from our friends at FantasyDraft who are giving away 10 tickets including a $25 GPP ticket to the winner.
NBA FanDuel: Santa Slam Special: Slate Breakdown:
Again the toughest part about today without a doubt is roster construction due to news that we already have at hand. When the slate locks at noon, we will likely not have all of the news we need, so we have to work around it. Thankfully, with just five games, we are actually in pretty good shape.
Milwaukee @ New York: (228.5)
It starts with he Bucks in New York to face the Knicks, and this expects to be the most lopsided game of the day, with Milwaukee currently 10 point favorites. Malcolm Brogdon is currently listed as a game time decision, and this one we should get news on because it is the first game. If he should miss, George Hill would seem to be the beneficiary, and he becomes a decent GPP play.
Oklahoma City @ Houston: (220)
Upon the conclusion of that game, the Rockets will take on the Thunder at home. This one figures to stay close, with the Rockets currently 1.5 point favorites. Chris Paul will miss some time, and guys like Eric Gordon, Danuel House Jr. and Gerald Green will all see extended run because of it. This will be a great target game for value, and with no CP3 defense, this could be a huge game for Russell Westbrook.
Philadelphia @ Boston: (223)
The third game of the day will be a clash at TD Garden, where the Celtics will host the 22-12 second place 76ers. Boston is currently 3.5 point favorites in this one, and are close to being healthy. It looks like Al Horford will finally return to try to defend Joel Embiid, but the Celtics did lose backup center Aron Baynes who will miss this game. There could be some solid targets in this one as well, as this looks like the game that could be overlooked.
Los Angeles Lakers @ Golden State: (234)
This game will be the chalkiest of the bunch today, but with the Warriors at home as nine-point favorites, this looks like the perfect GPP fade situation. Everywhere you look today, the top targets will be LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry, simply because the 234 game total is head and shoulders above the rest of the games. Ownership could be inflated on all the studs and value in this game, and while I will likely have a share of The King, I may just stay away from Golden State completely.
Portland @ Utah: (214.5)
Well they saved the best game for last right? Um no. I will definitely be asleep by the time this one starts, and thankfully so because there won’t be a whole lot to target here. Lowest Vegas total on the slate, and also likely a slow-paced defensive battle. This teams just met as well in Portland on Friday, and Ricky Rubio led the Jazz to a 30-point victory 120-90. I think it will be closer this time around, and there may a sneaky play or two here as well, but not much.
Big money on the line today! Lets get to the targets! Click on bar below to proceed!
NBA FanDuel: Point Guards – 12/25/18
Russell Westbrook – Oklahoma City Thunder – $11,300
Always, Always, Always go right back to Westy after a poor shooting night. It was an awful 35 minutes shooting wise for Westbrook against the Jazz on Saturday, going just 3-17 from the floor and scoring just nine points. Thankfully, Paul George was next level, scoring 43 points and doing it all on the defensive end as well, notching five steals and grabbing 14 rebounds. The Thunder snuck out a one-point victory in that one, giving them four straight wins. With no Chris Paul to defend Westbrook in this one, this is a fantastic bounce-back spot. And with how hot PG13 is, this is easily my favorite game stack of the day.
Ricky Rubio – Utah Jazz – $6,700
The price is kind of high on the veteran Spaniard, but my hope is that will keep the ownership down a bit. Rubio is far from consistent, but he has put together back-to-back solid games, and again this contest tonight is a rematch from just the other day. The fact that Rubio scored 24 actual points in that one against Portland is what is promising. Not really known to score much, Rubio added eight assists and managed 39.4 FDP. He followed that up with a 46.4 FDP performance the following night at home against the Thunder, scoring 12 points and dishing out 14 assists.
***Value Plays: Rajon Rondo – 4,900***
NBA FanDuel: Shooting Guards – 12/25/18
James Harden – Houston Rockets – $12,400
Harden’s game log over the last couple of weeks is just ridiculous, with two 70+ FDP games in the last six. In that six game span, The Beard is averaging 65.6 FDP, and for that reason, the price tag isn’t scaring me off. It will be tough to fit him in everywhere, but I will certainly find a way in at least one lineup.
This will likely be a tough game for Harden, but the hot streak is something I just cannot ignore. There looks to be so much fantasy goodness coming here with the three studs. and my goal is to find a way to fit them all here.
Jaylen Brown – Boston Celtics – $4,400
There are a few decent looking targets in that $5-7K range, but none that really stick out to me. Therefore, instead of writing up someone I likely won’t play, here is a value play that mostly everyone will be on anyways.
This position as a whole is pretty awful today. Eric Gordon at $6K is tempting, and that could work with a full game stack, but the point chasers will be out in full force chasing a repeat of Brown’s last performance.
Against the Bucks on Friday, Brown played 30 minutes in a game for the first time since late November, and played fantastic. He missed a few games with injury, then was eased back into action, before being unleashed the other night. Brown scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds, en route to 44.4 FDP. I think this one will be huge chalk with so little to choose from here, and I am going to eat it.
Value Plays: Andre Iguodala – $3,900***
NBA FanDuel: Small Forwards – 12/25/18
Paul George – Oklahoma City Thunder – $10,300
It’s hard to believe PG13 has been doing this for almost a month, but in 10 games so far in December, George has not scored less than 41 FDP in any game. He has gone over 50 FDP in four of the last six, and is coming off of that incredible 83.8 FDP performance against Utah. Instead of paying up for Giannis Antetokounmpo or LeBron James, a solid pivot here that may be under owned just due to the depth of the position is George.
When the Thunder and Rockets played back on November 8th, George was on his all-around game, notching 59.2 FDP. He had six steals in that one, and with turnover prone James Harden driving the lane a bunch here, this has the makings of another huge FDP game for PG13. If we get the news we need early enough like I am hoping, I can see a game stack with Westbrook and George, and even fitting Harden in on the other side. We will get to that in the sample lineup on the last slide.
Brandon Ingram – Los Angeles Lakers – $6,000
If you want a more balanced attack, and maybe aren’t quite in position to pay up for three studs comfortably, look right to the Lakers and Ingram. In my opinion, this is the position with the best value at the bottom in the Rockets replacements for CP3, but Ingram was solid in 32 minutes in his return from a seven game absence.
Ingram posted 18 points and grabbed seven boards against the Pelicans on Friday, and with Rajon Rondo back in the fold, the Lakers are getting healthy. There will likely be plenty of points in this game, and if the Lakers can keep up with Warriors, Ingram should get solid run once again.
***Value Plays: Gerald Green $3,600 – Danuel House Jr. $3,500***
NBA FanDuel: Power Forwards – 12/25/18
Jayson Tatum – Boston Celtics – $6,800
If you thought shooting guard was bad today, power forward wants you to hold its beer. I am going to start by saying I don’t feel 100% comfortable with anyone at all at this position, so my best option here will be to try to find some variance.
My thoughts are the masses will gravitate towards the Lakers/Warriors game, and many will look to Draymond Green and Kyle Kuzma. Both could be great, but neither can really be expected to have a ceiling type game here. The same can be said about Tatum probably, but he has been a bit more consistent as of late.
If you look at Sunday’s game against Charlotte, recency bias will sway right to Kuzma at the same price. If you look at the four previous games, Tatum isn’t exciting, but he did break 40 FDP against the Suns, and did not go below 34 FDP. This looks like a position to go low at, but Tatum could work well in a Boston stack here with some of their other options.
Jerami Grant – Oklahoma City Thunder – $5,400
Another not very sexy pick I am very aware, but this goes back to this game stack for me. I think adding Grant as the third piece to the stack with PG13 and Westy will be my angle of attack. Grant never really gets a chance to do much in this offense, but does contribute an average of 12 points and about 4.6 rebounds per game. A case can be made to pay all the way down for both value plays below at this position as well, as there is just nothing here.
***Value Plays: Jonas Jerebko $4,400 – Daniel Thies $4,000***
NBA FanDuel: Centers – 12/25/18
Joel Embiid – Philadelphia 76ers – $10,300
This is a tough slate for center, and Embiid has a tough match-up here with the Celtics, but he is just too cheap. I mean I get it, he has not surpassed 50 FDP in four games now, and while the double-double’s are still there, the monster games just have not been. When I look at the other options at the top however, I do not see much I like.
Rudy Gobert and Jusuf Nurkic just faced each other, and neither really put up a game to make me interested here, and Steven Adams battling with Clint Capela and vice versa is about the only match-up in that game that I want no part of. I will probably have an Embiid lineup, and my only pivot is definitely a question mark.
It won’t be a secret, if Javale McGee is forced to miss another game after his battle with pneumonia, 21-year-old Ivica Zubac could be in line for big minutes once again. I am all in on Zubac if McGee is ruled out early enough. In 32 minutes against the Pelicans on Friday, Zubac notched 40.2 FDP scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. I don’t expect that again, but he needs just half of that to hit value.
***Value Plays: Mike Muscala $3,900 – Ivica Zubac $3,500***
NBA FanDuel: Santa Slam Special – Sample Lineup 12/25/18
The line-up below is meant to be illustrative only to further back-up the logic laid out in previous slides. It is not an optimal line-up. It is in fact, just a “Sample Lineup.”
PG – Russell Westbrook – $11,300
PG – Rajon Rondo – $4,900
SG – James Harden – $12,400
SG – Jaylen Brown – $4,400
SF – Paul George – $10,300
SF – Gerald Green – $3,600
PF – Jerami Grant – $5,400
PF – Daniel Theis – $4,000
C – Ivica Zubaac – $3,500
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