Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) is continuing to grow in Australia and to help you take advantage of the large amounts of money on offer to win we will be offering our NBA team for game 3 of the NBA Finals with DFS website Draftstars.
Game one and two of the 2016 NBA Finals are in the books. The series heads back to Ohio for the next two games and hopefully we head into Game 5 with the series tied at 2-2.
The injury and uncertainty of Kevin Love is a really interesting conundrum for the fantasy world. He will most likely be a game time decision. This will be a headache for everyone entering a team line-up. Unless you plan on stacking your team with Warriors players (which I am not recommending) although a case could be made for that strategy in this series.
Let’s not overreact to games one and two. Instead let’s look at the facts.
Golden State are almost unstoppable at home. They went 39-2 in the regular season and 11-1 in the post season at home. On the road the Warriors are more than beatable. They are 3-4 away from Oracle Arena in the post season and two of those were blowout losses. If it wasn’t for Klay Thompson in Game 6 it would have been three blowout losses.
Meanwhile LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are 7-0 at home in the post season. They are a far better shooting team at home. The Cavs have been shooting 45% from three-point land at home, yet only managed 27% in the first two games at Golden State.
If Kevin Love is out, then the Cavs will have no other choice but play Timofey Mozgov and possibly Channing Frye. This could actually be a positive considering Love has done a terrible job at defending Draymond Green. Including Mozgov could free up LeBron on Defense (less switching etc.) which could actually nullify Green on Offense. This is just one of the theoretical scenarios we have to think of when putting together a fantasy line-up. With that in mind here’s our line-up for Game 3.
Draftstars DFS NBA Finals Game 1 Lineup
PG – Stephen Curry ($22,500) Golden State
Clearly nowhere near his best in games one and two. Curry still managed 38.25 fantasy points in just 25 minutes of game 2. I believe playing both teams starting point guards is a positive strategy long term. We all know he’s only one game away from dropping 10 threes’ and having 60+ fantasy points.
PG – Leandro Barbosa ($5,000) Golden State
Although I don’t have much time for the Brazilian blur I can’t ignore the minutes (and points) he is putting up. At the beginning of the series I didn’t think Steve Kerr would play Barbosa more than 5 minutes per game (like many other series) but obviously they like the match ups and spark he has provided.
SG – Kyrie Irving ($17,100) Cleveland
Irving is up almost $500 since game 1. Even though he hasn’t been efficient he is a fantastic point guard and always shoots the ball better in front of a home crowd. I expect 40+ fantasy points from Irving in Game 3.
SG – Iman Shumpert ($5,350) Cleveland
At this price I really don’t expect much from Shumpert. However, he is playing a ton of minutes (17 game 1 and 20 game 2) and Cleveland need him to contribute more than he has been. Not expected a double-double from him but definitely more at the offensive end of the court.
SF- Richard Jefferson ($5,000) Cleveland
26 minutes. 12 points. 5 rebounds. 20.75 Fantasy points at $5,000. Enough said.
SF – LeBron James ($22,500) Cleveland
LBJ had one of his worst games ever. He was very hard on himself in the press conference and despite all that he still scored very well in Draftstars. This is largely due to the fact that a turnover is only worth -0.5. James still had 19 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists for 47.50 fantasy points. These are great numbers for such a “terrible” game. He will be hungry and better in Ohio, no doubt about it.
PF- Tristan Thompson ($10,200) Cleveland
He came up big for us in game 1 with 10 points and 12 rebounds. He only played 19 minutes in game 2 and I have to believe that was looking ahead to this game. Especially with Love in doubt Tristan Thompson has to come up big for the Cavs here in Game 3.
PF – Channing Frye ($5,650) Cleveland
Still can’t believe they are not playing Frye. He has dropped about $2,000 in price accordingly. If love is out I will definitely be going with Frye. The Cavs game plan has not worked thus far and I will be shocked if they keep going with the same line up and bench options in games 3 and 4.
C – Timofey Mozgov ($6,100) Cleveland
The line up above is stacked (Cleveland) but it will only work if Kevin Love is out. Mozgov will be a key inclusion if Love does sit this game. It changes the complete thought process and overall team structure with Mozgov -in and Love-out.
ALWAYS GAMBLE RESPONSIBLY.
