NBA GPP Green Light 3-21-18

Happy Hump Day boys and girls! We have a fantastic eight-game slate on tap tonight, although one that is riddled with injuries, headlined by the Raptors against Cavaliers. There are five games with totals projected over 220 points, all of which are excellent places to start with lineup construction, and only two games with double-digit spreads, so we should be in for a great night of basketball. The Cavs, Sixers, Heat, Nets, Bucks, Nuggets, Raptors, and Hornets all have team totals over 110 points. Keep an eye on the Memphis Grizzlies and their injury reports, to make sure one of their guys isn't going to be a late scratch, and the Raptors could end up resting a player or two on the second night of their road back-to-back.

DK Salary: $6,600 / FD Salary: $7,500

The Raptors have been in the habit of resting players on back-to-backs, and Valanciunas played last night against the Magic, so there is a chance he rests tonight, but assuming he plays, I absolutely love this spot for him tonight against the Cavaliers. Valanciunas is coming off two down games, against OKC and Orlando, but had been dominating opponents before those outings. He averaged 17.63 points and 11.75 rebounds per game in the eight games prior to those two outings and eclipsed 40 fantasy points in five of those outings. He continues to play limited minutes, however, which limits his upside, and will likely keep his ownership down in this spot. Cleveland has struggled against centers all season long, ranking 24th in fantasy points allowed to the position, and they have given up 44.4 rebounds, 12.7 second-chance points, and 46.9 points per game in the paint on the season. They are terrible when defending the roll man in the pick-and-roll, surrendering 8.4 points per game and ranking as the league's worst defense against the play, and Valanciunas is operating as the roll man on 27.3 percent of his possessions this season. He destroyed the Cavs when these two teams met earlier this season, with 15 points and 18 rebounds in just 18 minutes, and could go bonkers on them tonight if Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson will be the two defenders he will face off against.

DK Salary: $5,800 / FD Salary: $5,500

We have a rare occasion where a player is cheaper on FanDuel than he is on DraftKings, and we also get that player in an excellent matchup and he is coming off a dominating performance against the Lakers. Young has been volatile at times this season, and even recently, but over his last four games it seems that his performances have stabilized as he has notched at least 30 fantasy points in three of the last four games, including 39.5 and 40.25 fantasy points against the Sixers and Lakers. He seems to be benefiting from the absence of Domantas Sabonis, as well, as he has notched double-digit field goal attempts and has scored in double figures in two of the three games that Sabonis has been out. Well, Sabonis is out again tonight, as the Pacers take on the Pelicans, so he should benefit from that absence again tonight, and he gets the added benefit of being in a great matchup. New Orleans ranks 21st in fantasy points allowed to power forwards this season, giving up 47.85 per game, and their rebounding and rim protection numbers have crumbled with Cousins on the shelf. The Pelicans are giving up 8.2 steals per game on the season, so Young should be able to pad his numbers with steals, and is in a great spot to easily pay off his salary again tonight.

DK Salary: $5,400 / FD Salary: $5,800

The Washington Wizards head to San Antonio tonight to take on the Spurs, and while this game isn't terribly appealing on paper, there are a few places to attack tonight. That starts at "point guard" with Tomas Satoransky whose time as the starting point guard will likely come to an end soon. He has been playing a heap of minutes recently, averaging 32.4 over the last five games, and he has averaged almost 30 fantasy points in that span. He has flashed 40-plus fantasy points upside recently, with 41.5 fantasy points against the Timberwolves, and he has scored over 30 fantasy points in three of his last ten games. The Spurs have struggled to defend point guards recently, ranking 27th in defensive efficiency over the last ten games, and have allowed 25.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 11.4 assists, and 43.1 percent shooting over that span. They have also struggled to defend the rim in those 10 games, allowing opponents to shoot over 61 percent on attempts in the restricted area. Satoransky is attempting 32 percent of his shots at the rim, so he should be able to attack their weakness there.

DK Salary: $5,000 / FD Salary: $5,400

Crabbe returned from a two-game absence against the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday and he torched the Memphis Grizzlies to the tune of 22 points with three rebounds, two assists, and a block. Crabbe has been a volatile option, as evidenced by his combined nine points in the two games prior to his Memphis outing, but he also flashed his upside by torching the Charlotte Hornets to the tune of 29 points with eight rebounds when these teams faced off earlier this month. Crabbe was able to light up the Hornets because they are one of the league's worst defenses against spot-up shooters, allowing 23.8 points per game on 40.8 percent shooting, and they struggle to defend the three-point line where opponents are connecting on almost 38 percent of attempts this season. Crabbe has been solid as a spot-up shooter this season, as he is spotting up on 30 percent of attempts this season while shooting 44.8 percent on those attempts, and he is connecting on 36.5 percent of his three-point attempts this season. Because Crabbe doesn't generally notch peripheral stats, he needs to get hot from the floor to be of value, but with Charlotte's lack of defense recently it is certainly something he can do tonight.

DK Salary: $4,700 / FD Salary: $5,300

We have reached the point in the NBA season that Kyle O'Quinn is a great GPP option, and the crazy part is that the Knicks aren't even missing any bodies outside of Kristaps Porzingis. That being said, Enes Kanter appears to be in the doghouse after speaking out against tanking and developing young players, as he has not played more than 18 minutes since he spoke out. Because of this, O'Quinn has found himself playing more minutes and he has been outstanding in those minutes. He has eclipsed 20 fantasy points in six-straight games, and eight of the last ten, and will likely play a decent amount of minutes tonight against a Miami Heat team that lacks a true center with Whiteside being out. As was evidenced by Nikola Jokic last game, the Miami Heat have been really bad against centers with Whiteside being out, and they struggle to rebound, as they have allowed 14 rebounds and 23.6 rebounds per game over the last five games. O'Quinn's ability to rack up the defensive numbers makes him an even better option on FanDuel, as he has at least two blocks or steals in eight straight outings. I expect that this will be a popular matchup to target tonight but O'Quinn may go overlooked with Kanter and the rest of the Knicks frontcourt being healthy.