NBA $20,000 THURSDAY: TIPS & SELECTIONS
It’s another big Thursday of NBA action with 11 games slated.
The Bucks and the Pacers clash in a top-three meeting in the Eastern Conference, while the Trail Blazers will be out to end a two-game losing run when they take on the Western Conference leading Warriors.
Draftstars has $20,000 up for grabs in the Thursday jackpot.
James Harden – SG/PG – $23,220
It seems redundant to elaborate on why you should pick Harden at this point. He’s put up 30+ points in 30 straight games. He’s putting up numbers that few in history have been able to produce. From a Draftstars perspective, the fact that Harden is still on the court chasing these numbers late in games is a further blessing. Minnesota has the 19th ranked defense in the NBA. Harden has scored at least 54 Draftstars points in seven of his last eight games, and over 60 in half of those games.
D’Angelo Russell PG/SG – $15,330
D-Lo comes off a blistering game against the Raptors where he put up 28-14-7 for 58.25 Draftstars points, his second 50+ point effort in three games. He now gets a juicy game against a Cavaliers defense ranked 22nd in the league. Russell recently became the youngest player in NBA history to amass 500 career triples, and this will be his last showing before making his All Star game debut. Everything is going well for Russell right now and Cleveland isn’t likely to stand in his way.
Jonas Valanciunas – C – $10,740
Returning from the lengthy stint on the sidelines, and making his debut for the Grizzlies, Valanciunas feasted off the bench putting up a 23-10-2 line in just 21 minutes. Grizzlies coach J.B Bickerstaff had mentioned that Valanciunas would come off the bench, but after this outing, and a disappointing foul plagued showing from Ivan Rabb, that may change quickly. One way or the other, it won’t matter for Valanciunas who was having an excellent season coming off the bench in Toronto before his injury. The Grizzlies aren’t loaded with scoring options, so Valanciunas should find himself getting plenty of usage and he gets a good match up here against a Bulls team short on big bodies.
Otto Porter Jr – SF/PF – $10,770
One of the most underappreciated trades in the deadline madness was the coup of Otto Porter Jr by Chicago and he has been rewarding his new squad so far. OPJ scored 18 points on debut for the Bulls, and has backed that up with 17 and 18 point outings while contributing across the stat sheet as well. He got good minutes from the outset, and these seem to be trending up too, with 37 minutes on the court in his last game. He still comes in at a good price for his minutes and scoring potential.
Landry Shamet – SG – $7,290
Traded to the Clippers as part of the Tobias Harris trade, rookie Shamet is quickly finding himself right at home in LA. He went off for 17-2-3 in his Clippers debut, and backed that up with a 15-3-2 in his second game in which he saw his minutes bumped up to 33. The Clippers now host a Suns team ranked 28th in the league defensively and with Doc Rivers raving about Shamet’s quick start for the Clippers he should continue to see good minutes and usage.
Enter the NBA $20,000 Thursday tournament.
NBA SCORING SYSTEM
Point Scored = 1 point
Missed Field Goal = -0.25 points
Missed Free Throw = -0.25 points
Assist = 1.5 points
Rebound = 1.25 points
Turnover = -0.5 points
Steal = 2 points
Block = 2 points
3 Point Made Bonus = 1 point
Double-Double = 2 points
Triple-Double = 2 points
NBA