After an extremely busy stretch, the NBA regular season schedule slows down dramatically on Tuesday night with just 10 teams in action. That will mean fewer options to choose from when it comes to Daily Fantasy Leagues and lesser room for error when it comes to finding the perfect balance between superstar talent and sleeper value plays. Here is some important advice to consider for Tuesday’s NBA fantasy action.
Weak Defense To Target: Phoenix Suns
The Suns are locked in free fall mode right now with four straight losses including a pair of defeats at the hands of the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers in which they gave up an average of 107.5 points per game. Phoenix has slipped to 28th in the NBA in scoring defense and the schedule isn’t about to get any easier for them with the streaking Toronto Raptors in town on Tuesday night. Toronto will play this game on short rest after visiting the Denver Nuggets the night before but they are playing their best basketball of the season right now and should have no trouble beating up on the Suns. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are the All-Stars that have led the Raptors all year but Cory Joseph has come on strong of late and could be a decent sleeper value play as Toronto relies a little more heavily on its bench for this favorable NBA fantasy matchup.
Player Who’s Hot Right Now: Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
The first-overall pick from the 2015 NBA Draft is playing the best basketball of young career right now and it only makes sense to ride him while he’s hot. Towns has averaged 24.5 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game over the past week of action and he should post a similar stat line when the Timberwolves visit the lowly Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night. The Lakers have been an atrocious defensive team this season and are allowing the most points per game of any team in the league. This is a plus-matchup for Towns and the Timberwolves.
Injuries, Rest Create Opportunities For…. Devin Booker, Gorgui Dieng
There isn’t much that has gone right for Phoenix of late but it is worth pointing out that the franchise appears ready to turn to its young stars and give them more opportunities to prove their ability. As a result, Devin Booker has been one of the biggest beneficiaries. He played just 19.2 minutes per game in the month of December but that average has shot up significantly in January. He played 33.6 minutes per game in the opening month of 2016. The 2015 first-round pick has averaged 17.0 points 4.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.8 three-point shots per game over the last week of action. While the Suns likely won’t beat Toronto, we can expect another strong performance from Booker at a very reasonable price point in NBA Fantasy Leagues.
Meanwhile, Towns hasn’t been the only center from Minnesota that has thrived of late and with only five games on the slate it’s hard to ignore the recent play of Gorgui Dieng with the potential for him to produce another strong fantasy performance against the Lakers on Tuesday night. Dieng has averaged 16.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game over the last seven days and should have a similar stat line against Los Angeles as another strong sleeper play.
Highest Scoring Game Of The Night: MIA @ HOU
The Houston Rockets are among the highest scoring teams in the NBA but they have struggled at the defensive end of the floor. Most recently, that includes a 123-122 loss to the slumping Washington Wizards on their own home court. The combination of a high-scoring offense and struggling defense makes Houston’s matchups worth targeting and the Miami Heat should be able to do some damage against them. James Harden is the obvious fantasy superstar from the Rockets but Trevor Ariza is another decent option worth considering for Tuesday night. Meanwhile, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have been absolutely on fire for Miami but Amar’e Stoudamire’s strong play of late makes him another sleeper option. He’s worth taking a chance on in order to capitalize on what should be the highest scoring game of the night.
