Welcome everyone to your Run Pure Sports DFS Daily Breakdown. Today we will be previewing Friday’s seven game slate in the NBA. The idea of this article will be to give you a quick glance at the games each day and provide the overnight point spreads, game and team totals along with overnight injury news and potential DFS targets.
PELICANS (118) -7.5, 228.5 vs CAVALIERS (110.5)
The New Orleans Pelicans (15-22) will welcome in the Cleveland Cavaliers (14-22) to the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans are coming off their worst loss of the year, a disappointing 135-105 blowout loss at home last night against the Timberwolves. Zion WIlliamson led the way with 24 points on 9-13 shooting. They are 4-6 in the last 10 games.
Meanwhile the Cavaliers had their four-game winning streak snapped against Indiana 114-111 in their last game prior to the break. Collin Sexton has been on a tear recently and he leads the team in scoring at 24.1 ppg. Jarrett Allen has been a double-double machine and a guy you can plug into your lineup pretty much any night with that type of upside.
Injury News –
New Orleans – JJ Redick, Out (heel)
Cleveland – Kevin Love, Questionable (calf), Darius Garland, Questionable (groin)
DFS Targets –
Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Collin Sexton, Jarrett Allen
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76’ERS (119.5) -4.5, 234.5 @ WIZARDS (115)
The Washington Wizards (14-21) started off the second half of their season with a 127-112 loss at Memphis. The Wizards were led by Bradley Beal with 21 points but that was 11 points below his season average of 32 ppg. He struggled from the field at just 6-22. Russell Westbrook added 20 points and 10 assists. They had won seven of their last 10 games.
The Philadelphia 76’ers (25-12) come into this game after a 127-105 blowout win at Chicago last night. They played the game without stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. Tobias Harris led the way with 24 points. Tony Bradley and Dwight Howard filled in for Embiid in the paint and combined for 32 points and 17 rebounds. Embiid who is averaging 30.2 ppg and one of the leading MVP candidates at this point in the season, is listed as probable to play tonight, however Simmons will be out again.
Injury News –
Philadelphia – Ben Simmons, Out (health and safety protocol), Joel Embiid, Probable (health and safety protocol)
Washington – Bradley Beal, Questionable (knee)
DFS Targets –
Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Seth Curry, Furkan Korkmaz, Bradley Beal, Russell Westbrook
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NUGGETS (116) -3.5, 228.5 @ GRIZZLIES (112.5)
The Memphis Grizzlies (17-16) welcome in the red hot Denver Nuggets (21-15) to the FedEx Forum. The Grizzlies have won three of four after their 127-112 win against the Wizards on Wednesday. Jonas Valanciunas went off with 29 points, 20 rebounds and 4 blocks in the win. Ja Morant continued his hot streak with 21 points and 10 assists. They are 6-4 in the last 10 games.
The Nuggets come in having won five of their last six games. Nikola Jokic was a beast in the first half leading the team in scoring, rebounding and assists. Jamal Murray has been steady all year averaging 21.8 ppg and Michael Porter Jr has been playing some of his best basketball of the year and has been a nice DFS option in the last two weeks.
Injury News –
Memphis – Grayson Allen, Probable (concussion), Facundo Campazzo, Probable (health and safety protocol), Paul Millsap, Questionable (knee),
Denver – Gary Harris, Out (adductor), Paul Millsap, Questionable (knee), JaMychal Green, Questionable (shoulder)
DFS Targets –
Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., Ja Morant, Jonas Valanciunas
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HEAT (112) -2.5, 221.5 @ BULLS (109.5)
The Miami Heat will look to continue their hot streak when they visit Chicago to take on the Bulls (16-19). The Heat are coming off a 111-103 win over the Magic and come in 8-2 in their last 10 games. Jimmy Butler just missed a triple double last time out with 27 points, 8 rebounds and 11 assists. With Bam Adebayo expected to miss his 3rd game in a row, Kelly Olynyk should again get the start. In the two previous games he has combined for 38 points, 17 rebounds and 9 assists.
The Bulls did not play well in a 127-105 home loss to Philadelphia last night. Lauri Markkanen returned to the lineup after missing more than a month of action and led the team with 23 points in just 27 minutes. All-star Zach LaVine added 19 points and 7 assists. The Bulls have lost three of their last four games.
Injury News –
Miami – Bam Adebayo, Out (knee)
Chicago – Devon Dotson, Questionable (knee)
DFS Targets –
Jimmy Butler, Kelly Olynyk, Kendrick Nunn, Tyler Herro, Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen
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SPURS (114) -7, 221 vs MAGIC (107)
The San Antonio Spurs (18-15) will take on the Orlando Magic (13-24) from the AT&T Center. The Spurs have lost four of their last six games and are coming off a 115-104 loss to the Mavericks. DeMar DeRozan stayed hot with a 30 point, 11 assist effort in the loss but will miss this game to attend a private funeral of his father.
The Magic are hoping to end a six game losing streak after their 111-103 loss to the Heat last night. The line bright spot has been all-star center Nikola Vucevic. He leads the team in scoring (24.6 ppg) and rebounding (11.5 rpg). The Magic have had to play without Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon throughout the season. They hope to get Gordon back tonight.
Injury News –
San Antonio – DeMar DeRozan, Out (personal), LeMarcus Aldridge, Out (not with the team)
Orlando – Evan Fournier, Out (groin), James Ennis, Out (calf), Terrence Ross, Questionable (knee)
DFS Targets –
Dejounte Murray, Jakob Poeltl, Rudy Gay, Nikola Vucevic
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JAZZ (121) -15, 227 vs ROCKETS (106)
The Utah Jazz (27-9) will start the second half of the season with the best record in the league, but will be looking to break a two game losing streak when they welcome in the Houston Rockets (11-24). They went 1-3 on their recent four game road trip. The Jazz had 3 players on the all-star team in Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley.
The Rockets meanwhile are reeling losing 14 games in a row after their 125-105 loss to the Kings. John Wall sat out the game with bruised left knee and is expected to miss another game tonight. Keep an eye on the injury news today as Victor Oladipo is also listed as doubtful as they may keep him out for rest on a back to back. If both Wall and Oladipo are out that would open up a lot of value for guys like Jae’Sean Tate, Justin Patton, Sterling Brown and Ben McLemore.
Injury News –
Houston – Eric Gordon, Out (groin), John Wall, Doubtful (knee), Victor Oladipo, Doubtful (b2b, rest), Danuel House, Questionable (knee)
DFS Targets –
Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley, Jae’Sean Tate, Sterling Brown
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LAKERS (110.5) -4.5, 216.5 vs PACERS (106)
The Los Angeles Lakers (24-13) will start the second half of the year at home against the Indiana Pacers (16-19). The Lakers come in losing seven of their last 10 games. They hope to get good news on center Anthony Davis sometime this month. He has missed the last 9 games due to a right calf strain. Lebron James has gotten better with age this year and has put up MVP type numbers so far. He leads the teams in scoring (25.8) and assists (7.8). The return of Dennis Schroder from injury has helped as he put up 28 points and 9 assists last game out.
The Pacers come into this game off a 113-103 loss to Denver and will start the second half of the year with six of the first seven games on the road. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games and have lost 10 of their last 15. They have been led in scoring this season by Malcolm Brogdon (21.2) and Domantas Sabonis (20.8). Guard T.J. McConnell has been a nice spark off the bench recently.
Injury News –
LA Lakers – Lebron James, Probable (knee), Damian Jones, Probable (back), Kyle Kuzma, Probable (heel), Jared Dudley, Probable (knee)
DFS Targets –
Lebron James, Dennis Schroder, Malcolm Brogdon, Domantas Sabonis, T.J. McConnell
