The Thursday slate of games in the NBA is usually limited to just three or four. However, these games are usually thrillers. The games on slate for tonight have a lot of upside with high point totals. The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers are on back-to-backs tonight but still have the potential to have big offensive nights.
Obviously, you have the high-end superstars tonight with Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, and Nikola Jokic, but in order to find value in NBA lineups you have to look deeper than that. You want to find the guys that are much cheaper so that you have the ability to play guys like LeBron or Russ without losing any value. Without further ado, let’s introduce the matchups and value plays you should be slotting in your lineup for tonight.
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Matchups To Target
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Detroit Pistons
The Cavaliers are coming off a poor 86-point performance against the Nets, so they are going to look to bounce back tonight against the Pistons with an offensive outburst. The total is set at 220.5, which can mean a lot of production from both sides.
The Thursday slate of games in the NBA is usually limited to just three or four. However, these games are usually thrillers. The games on slate for tonight have a lot of upside with high point totals. The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers are on back-to-backs tonight but still have the potential to have big offensive nights.
Obviously, you have the high-end superstars tonight with Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, and Nikola Jokic, but in order to find value in NBA lineups you have to look deeper than that. You want to find the guys that are much cheaper so that you have the ability to play guys like LeBron or Russ without losing any value. Without further ado, let’s introduce the matchups and value plays you should be slotting in your lineup for tonight.
Check out today’s NBA Shot from FanDuel
Matchups To Target
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Detroit Pistons
The Cavaliers are coming off a poor 86-point performance against the Nets, so they are going to look to bounce back tonight against the Pistons with an offensive outburst. The total is set at 220.5, which can mean a lot of production from both sides.
The Pistons went off for a monstrous 133-point game against the Sixers while also allowing 132 points. This game did go into overtime but does not change the fact that the Pistons can score heavily but also allow a lot of points. The upside about picking players in this matchup is that the Cavaliers have some very inexpensive players, and the Pistons have some reliable but also inexpensive guards to pick from.
Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Lakers
The total in this game is set at 237.5, but I can see this getting up near 250. To give you an idea, the Lakers scored a whopping 131 points against the Phoenix Suns last night. The Nuggets are not the Suns, but they did allow the Sacramento Kings to score 112 points on them their last time out.
The Nuggets have been playing very well as they start their season with a perfect 4-0 record. Denver has managed to score 100 points or more in all four of their games this season. They held the Golden State Warriors to just 98 points, but LeBron James and company will be yet another monstrous offense that they will have to tame.
The Final Five
Steven Adams (C – OKC): $7,400 vs. BOS
Steven Adams has been an absolute beast this season. The Australian is averaging 14.7 points and 14.3 rebounds per game, and in his first three games, he has scored 40.2 FFP, 41.6 FFP, and 38.8 FFP. He is going up against the Celtics and Al Horford, but keep in mind he has two inches and about 20 lbs on the 32-year-old. The Thunder have also had three days of rest and a much healthier Russell Westbrook. Even at this price, Adams is a great play tonight.
Reggie Bullock (SG – DET): $4,700 vs. CLE
Bullock has been very solid in his two regular season games for the Pistons. In their most recent overtime win, Bullock played 41 minutes and contributed 17 points, three assists, and two rebounds. The Cavaliers have allowed 120.5 points per game this season, which means there will be no shortage of opportunities for the Pistons to score. Having Bullock at this price allows you to pair him up with either Drummond or Griffin, who he will be feeding the ball to in the paint.
Trey Lyles (PF – DEN): $4,400 vs. LAL
The Canadian big man has been relatively quiet all year. In the Nuggets last game against the Kings, Lyles scored 12 points and put up five rebounds, three assists, and one block in 23 minutes. He has seen an uptick in minutes since the beginning of the season and should have the opportunity to really perform tonight. Lyles has outplayed Craig and Hernangomez since the beginning of the season, so his opportunities should continue to grow.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (SG – LAL): $3,900 vs. DEN
A lot of people are siding with Josh Hart tonight, but at $6,800 he is just too expensive. Although, Hart was in the starting lineup last night he played just 26 minutes, while Caldwell-Pope played 33. Now, this is the first time that Caldwell-Pope has seen over 20 minutes since the season opener, but with the amount of suspensions and injuries the Lakers have he will end up getting a solid amount of minutes and he will score. Caldwell-Pope averaged 11.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.0 three-pointers against the Nuggets last season.
Lance Stephenson (SF – LAL): $3,900 vs. DEN
Stephenson had an out of this world performance last night against the Suns putting up 23 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and two steals in 25 minutes. Stephenson does come off the bench, but the Lakers are coming off a back-to-back which means they will look to dig a little deeper into their lineup. Even if Stephenson plays just 15-20 minutes he could still give you great value for the price.
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Ryan Sura is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Ryan, check out his archive and follow him @RyanSura18.