Fantasy Basketball 2021: Daily Fantasy Tips for Friday's NBA Playoffs
Luka Doncic has been a scoring machine for the Dallas Mavericks against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Doncic's scoring exploits would suggest he will be the most rostered player in FanDuel daily fantasy basketball contests for Friday's Game 6.
Friday's DFS strategy differs from the rest of the postseason to date because you are playing a single-game contest.
Doncic must be placed in one of the three roster spots on FanDuel with point multipliers, and who you surround him with in the other two spots will determine how high up you place.
Kawhi Leonard and Paul George will be popular selections as well. There is a good chance both put up high totals, especially if the trend of road teams winning the series extends into Game 6.
To have the most successful lineup, you need to plug in a few players with lower salaries. If you use Doncic, Leonard and George, you will not have enough salary left to add two high-volume options.
You are going to have to choose between Leonard and George and then find the perfect fits to fill out the five-player roster.
Start the Roster Build with Luka Doncic
Do the smart thing and roster Doncic in some capacity.
Doncic is averaging 35 points, 9.4 assists and eight rebounds per game in the series and has attempted 48 more field goals than Leonard.
Doncic should be playing with a bit less pressure in Game 6 since he is not facing elimination. If he continues to produce at a high level, Dallas will at least be in a position to close out the series on home court on Friday night.
As expected, Doncic carries the highest FanDuel salary at $16,000, and given his high volume, he needs to be in one of the three-point multiplier positions.
The best advice we could give with Doncic is to put him in either the MVP (2x) or star (1.5x) positions to maximize his output.
Doncic produced over 60 FanDuel points in three of the five games, and he is coming off his highest total of the series at 71.6.
Leonard has not gone over 60 points in a single game and George has not reached 50, so it would make sense to follow the chalky option and use Doncic in the MVP slot.
Select Paul George over Kawhi Leonard
Leonard may be the first Clippers player you look to, but he should be put on the backburner in favor of George.
George is coming off the better performance in Game 5, and he is $1,000 cheaper in salary in FanDuel's Friday contests.
That valuation is significant because you are going to need as much excess salary as possible to fill in the slots beneath your two stars.
It is nearly impossible to have success while rostering Doncic, Leonard and George. That would leave you with $15,000 for two roster slots. Once you get below $8,000, the only true option is Boban Marjanovic.
George had 11.5 more DFS points than Leonard in Game 5, and he turned in his best performance of the series in Dallas in Game 3.
In the Clippers' first road game, George produced 29 points, seven rebounds and four assists and he attempted more shots than Leonard.
If Dallas' defensive focus leans more toward Leonard, George could be in line to take the most shots for the away team.
George attempted more three-point shots and five fewer field goals than Leonard in the series. He also has a better average in rebounds and assists.
If George gets to the upper 20s in the scoring column, he could outperform Leonard with the addition of his rebounds and assists.
Start Your Value Plays with Los Angeles' Big Men
If you roster Doncic and George, you will have $30,000 left in FanDuel salary for three roster spots. That total drops to $29,000 if you pair Doncic and Leonard.
Tim Hardaway Jr. and Reggie Jackson both sit above the average salary for those remaining spots, so to roster one of them, you need to look at the value options from the Clippers frontcourt.
Marcus Morris and Ivica Zubac are both listed at $9,000, and each player should continue to have an increased workload with Serge Ibaka on the sidelines.
Morris is the preferred option of the two because he starts and is expected to take a handful of three-point shots. He went 4-for-8 from downtown in Game 5.
Zubac pulled down 11 rebounds to go along with his six points on Wednesday. He hit over 20 FanDuel points for the first time in the series as well.
If Zubac continues to be effective on the glass, you could get away with using him over Morris. A stronger case could be made in Zubac's favor if he came at a lower salary.
By rostering Morris or Zubac, you will have $21,000 to work with and some combination of Jackson, Hardaway, Rajon Rondo and Dorian Finney-Smith to add in the final two roster spots.
That is the best possible strategy you could go for with two superstars in the five-man squad. You could have more flexibility if you look past two of the top three players, but their shot volume is too hard to ignore to invoke that line of thinking.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from Basketball Reference.
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