Daily Fantasy Basketball 2015: NBA DraftKings Best Lineup for April 18
The playoffs... deep breath... ARE HERE!
It's a quadruple dip on the second season's opening day. And... let's be honest, though the regular season was fantastic, the playoffs will inevitably be better.
To boot, DraftKings will be rolling out hundreds of tournaments, 50/50's, and head-to-head matchups to help whet your daily fantasy appetites.
| Position | Player | Opponent | Price |
| Point Guard | Stephen Curry | vs. New Orleans | $10,100 |
| Shooting Guard | Louis Williams | vs. Washington | $5,300 |
| Small Forward | Paul Pierce | @ Toronto | $4,500 |
| Power Forward | Draymond Green | vs. New Orleans | $7,200 |
| Center | Andrew Bogut | vs. New Orleans | $5,000 |
| Guard | Corey Brewer | vs. Dallas | $4,000 |
| Forward | Taj Gibson* | vs. Milwaukee | $5,200 |
| Utility | Pau Gasol | vs. Milwaukee | $8,400 |
Trust the best team in basketball
Up until they fell to the No. 6 seed, there was a lot of hype surrounding the San Antonio Spurs. Most of that hype was fair. They ran away with the championship last season. Per StatMuse.com, they finished 46-18 record in games when Kawhi Leonard played. And they won 14 of their last 16 games.
Guess who else won 14 of 16 to finish the year? The Golden State Warriors. That's right. The team from the bay equaled the Spurs' "hot stretch run" without needing any of those final 16 contests.
According to NBA.com, the Warriors led the league this season in points per game, assists per game, possessions, and margin of victory. They went 39-2 at home—tied for the second best regular-season home record ever!
Warriors' head coach Steve Kerr spared his troops by limiting their minutes all season. According to basketball-reference.com, no Warriors player averaged over 33 minutes per game. In the playoffs, Kerr will let the starters flex their muscles. I'd expect Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to hover right around 37 minutes per game. Center Andrew Bogut should play five or six more minutes per game.
According to ESPN.com, Golden State scored 112 points in both home games against the Pelicans this year. With Oracle Arena rocking, and more floor time for the starters, expect another high scoring output.
Paul Pierce ($4,500) at Raptors
The Truth had a quiet season this year for the Wizards. According to basketball-reference.com, he posted career lows in minutes, points, rebounds and assists per game. But just last season Pierce scored over 25.5 fantasy points per game in a seven-game series with Toronto.
The savvy veteran still knows how to score from all over the floor. He is the most playoff-tested Wizard starter, and he sat Wednesday so he'll be well rested and ready for the big stage.
Taj Gibson ($5,200), Pau Gasol ($8,400) vs. Bucks
*Gibson is listed as questionable
The best possible way to accumulate fantasy points is by grabbing offensive rebounds and making the ensuing dunk. It's a 3.25-point play where no one else gains any points. Yes, a three-point shot is valued at 3.5 points, but the vast majority of threes come with an assist attached—that's 1.5 points for another player potentially owned by a DraftKings opponent.
According to basketball-reference.com, the Chicago Bulls are the No. 1 offensive-rebounding team in the league. The Bucks allow the sixth-most defensive rebounds per possession. Gibson makes his money pounding the offensive glass. Plus he has the skill, patience and balance to convert those putbacks.
I'm playing Pau because he has owned the Bucks this year. The big Spaniard has posted double-doubles (yay, DraftKings bonus points) in all four games against the Bucks this season. He also threw up a 46-point, 18-board stat line in the Bulls' second game vs. their neighbors from the north this season.
