The Late Cut: NBA $5,000 Friday

The NBA on Draftstars returns today with five matches to choose from. There are a few high quality matchups on, including Oklahoma City hosting Cleveland, Boston travelling to Portland and the Mavericks hosting the high flying Jazz. Draftstars will running a $5,000 game for today’s NBA with $750 going to first place.

Yesterday’s Score: 259.25

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Here is a team you may consider for the NBA $5k+ Friday competition

Point Guard

Kemba Walker ($15,200)

Walker has been a bit out of sorts lately, with a poor run in his last three matches. It has emerged that he was battling an illness and he is fully healthy now. Walker is too good of a player to keep quiet for too long and he will be keen to compete against one of the form players in the league, James Harden. Harden doesn’t play hard defensively, which should allow Walker to score freely.

C.J. McCollum ($12,350)

McCollum should be riding high on a wave of confidence after his buzzer beater in his last match. McCollum floated a shot up from inside the key with 0.3 seconds remaining win the game for the Trail Blazers. McCollum comes up against the Celtics in this match, and it will most likely be a shootout, which plays into McCollum’s hands as he is a brilliant shooter, especially from deep.

Shooting Guard

Jaylen Brown ($5,950)

Brown will most likely start for the Celtics today, he has started most games for the Celtics in Avery Bradley’s absence. Brown has been a little up and down in his rookie season, but has definitely shown signs that he will be a decent player in the future. Brown’s place in the starting unit gives him a good opportunity to get a decent score and he is quite cheap, which means you can splurge elsewhere.

Joe Ingles ($5,150)

Ingles has been promoted into the starting lineup in recent matches to replace the injured Rodney Hood. Ingles has been playing solidly, consistently scoring around the 15 to 20 DS point mark. For a player of his salary, that is a healthy return. Ingles is a quality shooter and especially proficient from outside the arc. Hopefully he continues his solid form in Dallas.

Small Forward

Gordan Hayward ($13,200)

Hayward was playing very well in his last match, before sitting out the last quarter and a half due to the state of the game. He should be well rested to play his full allocation of minutes in this match, which looks as though it will be a lot closer. Hayward has been flying lately, scoring over 47 DS points in his three matches before his last one.

Wesley Matthews ($9,050)

Another player who is in great form, Matthews comes into this match averaging 34.5 DS points over his last three matches. That is a considerable bump on his season average of 26 DS points. Although Matthews comes up against the Jazz, who are strong defensively, Matthews should still be able to post a good score, whether it is through his shooting, assisting or rebounding.

Power Forward

Al Horford ($13,850)

This spot was going to go to Cavs big man Kevin Love, however he is likely going to be rested. Make sure you are checking twitter for the latest team news. Al Horford has been playing a good supporting role to Isiah Thomas for the Celtics. He has nearly doubled his average number of assists from 3.2 per game last season to 5.2 this season and he is still a force in the paint, averaging nearly 7 rebounds per game. Horford will be keen to bounce back after his quiet game yesterday, which he can do against the inexperienced Mason Plumlee and Noah Vonleh.

Nikola Vucevic ($14,500)

After a couple of quiet days, Vucevic made a statement in his last match, finishing with 19 rebounds on his way to 52 DS points. Vucevic has lifted his average to 39.1 DS points over his last six matches, compared to 32.9 for the season, Vucevic should be able to dominate the boards against Jahlil Okafor who still has a lot of development ahead of him.

Centre

Frank Kaminsky ($7,700)

Kaminsky is really showing some promising signs, he has been brilliant in his last three matches, two of which he has started. Kaminsky’s three game average is over 33 DS points, which is excellent for someone at his salary. He comes up against a Houston team who don’t rebound particularly well aside from Harden, so Kaminsky should get his fair share of boards.

The Line Up

PG: Kemba Walker ($15,200)

PG: C.J. McCollum ($12,350)

SG: Jaylen Brown ($5,950)

SG: Joe Ingles ($5,150)

SF: Gordon Hayward ($13,200)

SF: Wesley Matthews ($9,050)

PF: Al Horford ($13,850)

PF: Nikola Vucevic ($14,500)

C: Frank Kaminsky ($7,700)

Salary Remaining: $3,050