This article is part of our FanDuel NBA series.
After a fantastic opening day of the playoffs Monday, we have more Game 1's today. This Orlando bubble has a March Madness sort of feel to it, with teams playing all throughout the day. We do have two 8 vs. 1 matchups and two 4 vs. 5 matchups, so it should make for an interesting day. Let's go ahead and get into it!
Slate Overview
MIL-ORL: This is probably going to be the most lopsided series of the first round, with Milwaukee entering this matchup as an 11.5-point favorite. The total is sitting at 226.
IND-MIA: This might be the lowest-scoring series, with this total sitting at 216. Miami enters this game as a 4.5-point favorite and every game should be close.
HOU-OKC: While Houston is favored in the series, Oklahoma City enters this matchup as a 1.5-point favorite. The total is currently at 226.
LAL-POR: The Lakers enter this game as a 6.5-point favorite and the total is currently at 230.
Positional Breakdown
PG: Damian Lillard is up top here at $10,100. Chris Paul follows him up at $7,200 while Malcolm Brogdon is $6,800. Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic and Markelle Fultz are in the upper $5,000s. In terms of value, I like Austin Rivers, D.J. Augustin, George Hill and Aaron Holiday.
SG: James Harden is the highest-priced player on the board at $11,500. Jimmy Butler, CJ McCollum. Khris Middleton and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander all sit between $6,900-$7,800. Victor Oladipo and Dennis Schroder sit around $6K while Tyler Herro ($5,300) and Ben McLemore ($3,700) make for solid value plays.
SF: Giannis Antetokounmpo carries an $11,000 salary, while LeBron James is just $700 behind. T.J. Warren is the only player within $4000 of those two, sitting at $7,500. Carmelo Anthony, Evan Fournier and Danilo Gallinari all barely crack $5K. Eric Gordon and Danuel House are great cheap options in the $4,000s.
PF: Anthony Davis is the king of the mountain here at $10,000. Bam Adebayo is a solid value at $7,500. Robert Covington and Aaron Gordon both sit around $7,000. In terms of value, this is the weakest position on the slate.
C: Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Vucevic sit atop here right around $8K. Myles Turner is next at $6,700 while Brook Lopez owns a $5,800 price tag. Steven Adams is a solid play at $5,400 while P.J. Tucker has a nice floor at $3,700.
Injuries to Monitor
Evan Fournier/Aaron Gordon/Terrence Ross (ORL)
Ross and Fournier are both recovering from an illness but they should be ready to play. As for Gordon, his status is up in the air due to a hamstring issue.
Myles Turner/T.J. Warren/Victor Oladipo (IND)
These three guys sat out the final regular-season game Friday but they should all be ready to go.
Jimmy Butler/Goran Dragic/Bam Adebayo (MIA)
All of these guys sat out the Heat's last game too, but they should also be ready to play.
Russell Westbrook (HOU)
Westbrook will miss the first couple of games of this series because of a quad issue. That should force James Harden into a monster role and give Eric Gordon more touches. Danuel House is also nicked up but should play.
Anthony Davis/LeBron James (LAL)
Both these guys are probable but both should be fully ready to go.
Elite Players
This slate is just swamped with top-notch superstars. We have James Harden, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard all available. It will be imperative to get at least two of these guys into your lineup and picking the right ones is going to make all the difference on this slate. The top option is James Harden though. With Westbrook out, Harden could be looking at 30-plus shots while posting a 40 percent usage rate. That has 60-80 FanDuel points written all over it, and the other main guys all are in games with serious blowout risk.
Expected Chalk
Damian Lillard, POR ($10,100)
Every NBA fan knows just how well Lillard is playing right now and that'll likely get him rostered by everyone. Over his last six games, Dame Dolla is averaging 61.8 FanDuel points per game. That's truly ridiculous but that's going to be hard to duplicate against a dominant Lakers defense. Not to mention, there's serious blowout potential every time these teams play. That makes this look like bad chalk and I'm going to be fading Lillard.
Anthony Davis, LAL ($10,000) / Bam Adebayo, MIA ($7,500)
If you take a look at the positional breakdown section, you can see why this is the case. The power forward position is downright terrible on this slate and almost everyone will roster at least one of these guys. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that close to 20 percent of lineups will have both of these players slotted in at that position. The only other power forward I trust is Robert Covington, but Davis and Adebayo are the clear-cut plays here, making them very chalky.
Key Values
Chris Paul, OKC ($7,200)
CP3 is going to be hungry in this series. Being in the playoffs is usually enough motivation for the superstar point guard, but facing his former team is surely going to amp up his intensity. What I really like is the matchup, with Houston playing at the fastest pace in the NBA while sitting 23rd in points allowed. That was certainly the case in their last two meetings, with Paul averaging 47 FD points per game against the Rockets.
Eric Bledsoe, MIL ($5,600)
The only reason Bledsoe is this cheap is because his minutes were limited at the start of the bubble. The reason for that is because his conditioning wasn't quite up to snuff, but he played 30 minutes in two of his last three games. We're still talking about a dude who's averaging over 30 fantasy points per game for the season, and that 30-point total was actually his floor in three meetings with the Magic this season.
P.J. Tucker, HOU ($3,700)
Tucker is not going to excite many DFS players, but he's too reliable to be this cheap. We're talking about a guy who could be playing 40 minutes. That alone makes him hard to fade at this salary, plus he averaged 21 FD points per game this season. Those 21 points would equate to 6X value on their own, and it's reasonable to believe that he'll see a minutes increase in the playoffs as Houston runs with a short rotation.
