NBA DFS picks August 23: Who is worth playing in a Boston sweep?

NBA DFS forward plays:

Kawhi Leonard has taken over the Clippers in the playoffs. George is still a decent option, but he’s coming nowhere near value in this series. Kawhi has topped 50 in all three games and topped 60 in Game 3. Kawhi is the one star I want a lot of exposure to, but I may limit ownership if Doncic is out.

Speaking of Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis becomes a must-play if Luka is out as well. If you look at the games that Luka missed in the regular season, Porzingis had some monsters in those. He’s not dropping 70 on the Clippers, but Porzingis could come close to the upside of Kawhi.

Embiid is a fine option, but the upside isn’t there. Philly is going to get swept today. The only question is whether they actually put up a fight or not. I’m not sure they will.

Teams like the Clippers and Boston are really tough to rely on in NBA DFS since they are so deep. The Heat are the same way. Tatum struggled in Game 3, but Boston still ran off with it. I expect this to focus on Kemba once again, so I’ll find the extra money for Kawhi.

The only thing Pascal Siakam is doing in this series is lowering his price. Not that I mind. Toronto’s guards are taking over because they can. I like Siakam for the price, but the upside isn’t all that high with VanVleet dominating the series so far.

Jarrett Allen‘s price is up to the point where he really isn’t going to do enough for you to take down a GPP. I do like him in cash games, but Serge Ibaka feels like he has more upside. His foul-plagued Game 2 slashed his ownership, but Serge is still playing against one of the worst interior defenses in the league. Marc Gasol is a suitable value play on DraftKings and punt on FanDuel for the same reason.

Inconsistency can be expected, especially for a young guy like Michael Porter. That said, The Nuggets need him to compete with Utah. They are missing the scoring of Barton and Harris, which means they need Porter to remain aggressive like he was in Game 2. I like his upside for the price, but his floor is lower than most in his same price range.

Marcus Morris is having a great series for the Clippers and shouldn’t slow down. Harrell is eating into the production of Zubac. Morris is outdoing both of them and is worth the slight increase in price.

Brooklyn has a lot of fight in them, which is why I find myself using a lot of guys like Temple, TLC, and Allen. Their bench is non-existent, which means huge minutes for guys like Temple, LeVert, TLC, Allen, and Tyler Johnson. Who you can trust is a different matter entirely, but all but LeVert are reasonably priced.

Royce O’Neale’s pitiful Game 1 has his price way lower than it should be. He’s a stat sheet stuffer even if he doesn’t score, so he’s a lock for 5x value and is an acceptable punt at PF on FanDuel. You’ll have to punt somewhere over there.

Every other day I’ve been looking for ways to cram both Luka and Embiid into my lines. I likely wont have either one today. A balanced build looks nice if you can stomach a Kawhi fade right now.