We are getting into the part of the NBA Playoffs where we will start having some odd number games, and that is exactly what we have for this Tuesday, September 1st,  with just two games on the docket featuring the Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors playing Game 2 of their series in the beginner, with the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets getting the night-cap for the final game of their series, Game 7. With that said, let’s see what we can produce for DFS purposes for these two games.

**REMINDER: These example lineups are meant to reference what can be created using out content, tools, and lineup generator. They are NOT meant to be used for plug-and-play use! Thanks.

 

GAME 1

Boston Celtics vs Toronto Raptors (Starts at 5:40 PM ET)

Betting Odds: TOR -1.5, 216.5 Total

For our first game of the day, we have the Boston Celtics trying to take a 2-0 early lead in their series against the Toronto Raptors. The Celtics won Game 1 with a final score of 112-94. They were guided to the convincingly easy Game 1 win by big games from a duo of stars in Jayson Tatum (21 points, nine boards, two dimes, and 1 steal), Kemba Walker (18 points, three boards, ten dimes, and 1 steal), and also had very nice supporting-role games from both Marcus Smart (21 points, six boards, four dimes, and 1 steal), and also, Daniel Theis who likely had the most surprising outcome of the night finishing with 13 points, 15 huge boards, a dime, a steal, and two blocks. The Raptors leading scorer was Kyle Lowry with 17, as he also chipped in six boards, eight assists, and a steal. Serge Ibaka was quite active off the bench, scoring 15 points, with nine rebounds, and an assist. For the Raptors to bring this series to a 1-1 record, they will need much more out of their other two studs in Fred VanVleet (3-for-16 shooting, 2-for-11 from 3-point land, however did have SIX steals), and Pascal Siakam (5-of-16 shooting, 0-for-3 from the arc). These performances are absolutely inexcusable, and I truly do expect we see much better games out of those two, and the Raptors as a whole. A few of the bigger team discrepancies between these two teams that likely also aided in the easy BOS win was the fact that BOS was +10 on the glass, +12 on the defensive-rebounding as well, and three point % with BOS shooting 43.6 from the arc and TOR only netting 25.0%. A few of the head-scratching stats from this game was that TOR +8 in free-throw attempts, and they also won the turn-over battle by a decent margin being +9 in that category as well. Lastly, the total number of FGs was only a +1 margin, in the favor of BOS, they just shot 47% from the field, whereas TOR only shot a meager 36.9%. Bottom line, TOR has to shoot much better in Game 2 if to even this series. Now, let’s talk a bit about the DFS aspects of Game 1 that could potentially influence how we view these players for Game 2.

First, let’s talk usage leaders, as this is obviously a big facet in the DFS World. The Celtics were not led by Jayson Tatum, or Kemba Walker, it was actually Jaylen Brown who led the team in usage for Game 1 with a 27.8% usage. Tatum was next with 24.6%, it was then Daniel Theis at 24.6%, Marcus Smart at 22.7%, and finally Kemba Walker at just 18.4%. For the Raptors, it was Kyle Lowry with the top usage on the team in this one with an overall usage of 25.9%. He was followed by Siakam at 25.7%, then Fred VanVleet at 21.6%, Serge Ibaka at 20.6%, Normal Powell at 19.7%, and lastly, Gasol at just 15.7% to round it out of the notable players. OG was down the line at 11.4%, as he really isn’t ever a big usage player anyways. As you can see, the cream usually rises to the top. Most of the bigger stars for each team were the main usage leaders, especially on the Raptors side of the spectrum, and BOS was small-bit more spread out. Brown having the biggest usage, and his line wasn’t one to scoff at with 17 points, five boards, and four dimes, was kind of a surprise, and Kemba’s usage being as low as it turned out to be, were likely the most shocking stats to me for Game 1. For game 2, I will expect a much better shooting night from TOR, but it won’t be any easier. When you win the turnover battle as TOR did, and still lose as badly as they did, that means you are definitely up against a good opponent. Let’s talk about player options for this game.

BOSTON:

TOP: Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker (think he comes around a bit more in this one)

MID: Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart

VALUE: Daniel Theis

 

TORONTO:

TOP: Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet

MID: Pascal Siakam, Serge Ibaka

VALUE: Norman Powell, Marc Gasol

 

GAME 2

Utah Jazz vs Denver Nuggets (Starts at 8:30 PM ET)

Betting Odds: Den EVEN, 218.5 Total

Boy, just let me start off by saying how damn exciting this series has been so far going into GAME 7! This has literally been one of the best series I have seen in many playoffs. These two teams have just gone after each other game after game in this series. Thus, shows why the betting line for this game is dead-even for both teams, as the books know this game could go either way easily. It has truly been the Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell show as well, as both of these guys have just played so lights-out. Jamal Murray has averaged around 47.3 ppg over his last three or something like that, and that’s just totally insane for a playoff series. Murray’s last three actual scoring outputs: 50, 42, 50. Mitchell’s las three scoring outputs: 44, 30, 51. Just utterly insane. SO, with that said, now we get the final game of the series and one of these teams will have to leave the bubble afterwards. Hate to discount the games that others are also having in this series, as Nikola Jokic has put up 29, 31, and 22 actual over his last three as well, with an avg of 5.8 rpg, and 6.2 apg also. Rudy Gobert has put up four-straight double-doubles, and Mike Conley has avg 22.5 ppg over his last four, with 6.1 apg, and 1.2 spg as well in that span. Just all-around great games being played by individuals in this series. There really isn’t much more to say about Game 7, as we can now go right into what we need to look at for DFS purposes.

Looking at usage numbers over the first six games for this series, the Jazz have obviously heavily relied on one player – Donovan Mitchell, and his overall usage number proves this point as it sits at a monstrous 37.4%. The next closest is just 24.7% and that belongs to sixth-man Jordan Clarkson, with Conley coming in a smidge lower at 24.0%. Some interesting usages to note for Jazz – Rudy only sitting at 17.2% so far for the series, but maybe one of the shockers is Joe Ingles at just 11.7%. Not exactly what you would expect out of Ingles. Gobert really isn’t a high-usage player, but we have seen Ingles be one. I suppose he needed an injury to get above the 20ish-percent threshold. For Denver, we have somewhat of a similar story with Jamal Murray sitting comfy at the top with a 30.3% usage, next is Jokic at 27.5%, and then it is actually Michael Porter Jr. next at 18.8%. Both Paul Millsap and Jerami Grant are sharing a usage a smidge over 16.0%, while Monte Morris and freshly-returned Gary Harris right around 15.0%. Let’s talk options for this game.

UTAH:

TOP: Donovan Mitchell

MID: Mike Conley, Rudy Gobert

VALUE: Jordan Clarkson, Royce O’Neal, Joe Ingles

 

DENVER:

TOP: Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic

MID: Michael Porter Jr.

VALUE: Jerami Grant, Paul Millsap, Torrey Craig, Monte Morris