The Clippers and Rockets have both had their fair share of swings through the first six games of their second round series and now both teams will lay it all on the line for an opportunity to play in this year’s Western Conference Finals. Here is a look at the optimal lineup for Sunday’s DraftKings NBA Daily Fantasy Leagues based on the one game scheduled for that afternoon.
PG: Chris Paul, Los Angeles
Salary: $10,200
Paul has been outstanding for the Clippers when healthy – including in the Game 6 loss where he still managed to put up a game-high 31 points with 11 assists, seven rebounds and a three-point shot. Paul has the potential to put up outstanding numbers regardless of whether Los Angeles wins or loses, so it makes sense to start our lineup with the best available point guard. He’s potentially the best player on the board for Game 7.
SG: Jamal Crawford, Los Angeles
Salary: $5,300
In a perfect world, we would be able to plug Houston’s best player James Harden in to this spot but the reality is that there is only so much salary to be moved around and the SG spot is one of the few where we find a couple of decent value plays for Sunday. Crawford has been fairly inconsistent for the Clippers in these playoffs but there will be a bigger emphasis on bench scoring in Game 7. Los Angeles will need its best pure shooter off the bench to produce a clutch performance on Sunday.
SF: Trevor Ariza, Houston
Salary: $6,500
Our first play from the Rockets comes at a position where Ariza has the potential to be the best player by far as he has averaged 12.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.6 steal and 1.8 three-point shots so far in these playoffs. Ariza is the best option at the SF spot so we don’t mind spending a little more money on him here.
PF: Blake Griffin, Los Angeles
Salary: $10,000
If there is one player that every fantasy lineup should have locked in for Sunday’s Game 7 it is Griffin, who has been an absolute monster performer in these playoffs. Griffin has averaged 25.4 points, 12.8 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.0 blocks so far this postseason. With a trip to the Western Conference Finals on the line on Sunday, he is bound to pull through with another big fantasy performance.
C: DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles
Salary: $7,700
Dwight Howard has been far too inconsistent to imagine spending more money on him in this spot than we have to spend on Jordan, so this selection makes a lot of sense in a couple of different ways.
G: J.J. Redick, Los Angeles
Salary: $4,300
As much as we would like to have balance throughout our lineup with both teams represented for Game 7 the bottom line is that Griffin and Paul represent the best options at their positions by far and the difference between having Crawford or Redick instead of Harden or Jordan over Howard isn’t drastic enough to make it worth spending more money. Redick has averaged 15.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.5 three-point shots so far in these playoffs and at a $4,300 price tag, that is solid value here.
F: Clint Capela, Houston
Salary: $2,200
We don’t have much money left over to spend, so we have to get creative here and plug in a player in Capela that isn’t going to produce monster fantasy stats but fits in with the remaining salary we have left over. Capela won’t have a major impact on this game but at least he allows us to take better players in other spots to fill out our roster.
FLEX: Austin Rivers, Los Angeles
Salary: $3,600
Rivers isn’t a dominant option either but he is the best available option we have with our remaining cap space, so we will take him in this spot. There is no denying that we are leaning heavily on Clippers’ players here but that is more about the fact that we can have Crawford, Redick and Rivers in the lineup for under $14,000 when that is almost how much it would cost to have James Harden on his own.
