NBA DFS: Bam Adebayo and best/worst DraftKings daily fantasy basketball plays for Thursday, Sep. 17th

Welcome to your daily NBA DFS digest at FakeTeams, gents. Every day I’m here with a handful of pro-tips to roster a winning team just a few hours from now. On top of that, I’ll bring you some news, statistical trends from the past few days, some studs/duds from the last slate of games, and much more!

Hoop Land Times: News and notes from around the Association

• The Nuggets did it. Denver made history last Tuesday defeating the Clippers while becoming the first team to come back from 1-3 in two series inside the same postseason. Time for the other team from Hollywood to face the giant killers in the WCF.
• Miami beat Boston thanks to a monster game-winning block by Bam—among other things, sure, but oh my Bam! These Heat are no joke and Boston will have to sweat the series if they want a place in the Finals.
• After losing Game 7 it was all sour comments and excuses from and around the Clips. Lou Williams said that the team lacked chemistry; Paul George said that this was just their first run together and not a championship-or-bust season; Doc—the losingest coach in Game 7 history (eight)—said that the team was tired... Yeah, alright.
• It was also reported that Montrezl Harrell and Paul George got into a verbal exchange during a timeout back in Game 2. Harrell is a free agent this next offseason, by the way.
• No matter what, Rivers has been assured that he will remain Los Angeles’ head coach next season.
• Nikola Jokic became the third player in NBA history to log a trip-dub in two Game 7 playoffs. Jamal Murray became the second-youngest player in history to score at least 40 pops in a Game 7. Damn, son, these two are something.
• Dame and CJ torched the Clips on Twitter. Go look for it, because it was too good to be true.
• The All-Rookie teams were announced Tuesday. First team: Ja, Nunn, Zion, Clarke, and Paschall. Second team: Coby, Herro, Terence Davis II, PJ Washington, Hachimura.
• The All-NBA teams were announced yesterday. First team: LeBron, Giannis, Luka, AD, Harden. Second team: Dame, Kawhi, Jokic, CP3, Siakam. Third team: Simmons, Tatum, Butler, Gobert, Russ. Biggest snub: Bradley Beal—the first player since 1982 Adrian Dantley to average 30 pops a game and not make it to any All-NBA team.
• Fertitta, the Rockets owner, made it clear that Daryl Morey job is safe and he’ll be the one picking the next Houston’s coach.
• As is often the case, after a team gets eliminated from the postseason rumors start running wild. The latest one? The Knicks potentially being interested in trading for Russ...
• Giannis, once more, said that he can’t wait to be back with the team for next season. The backlash he’ll get if he eventually makes a 180-degree turn and declares wanting out could make history.
• Jeremy Lin is leaving the Beijing Ducks and wants to return to the NBA next season. Someone make this happen, please.
• Joe Ingles, on the contrary, might be looking for a return to his homeland Australia. Another player potentially looking into returning home: Marc Gasol.
• The NBA has locked on November 18th for the 2020 Draft. It is set in stone now, and we’re exactly two months from the day. Let the rumors and mock drafts official begin!
• The Indiana Pacers believe Mike D’Antoni can turn Victor Oladipo into James Harden 2.0. That is, if they land him as their head coach, which is not a lock considering Philly might get involved in his hiring.
• Nick Nurse secured the bag by signing a multi-year contract extension with the Raps. He was this close to putting the undervalued Raptors in the ECF on back-to-back seasons after getting the chip last year. Not bad.
• Still a lot of time for the 2021 season to tip-off, but it looks like the Cavs are already working on the basis that Kevin Love won’t play any back-to-back games. Look how good load management worked for Kawhi this postseason!

Duds and Studs: Yesterday’s Slate Recap

• Oh Joker, my Joker. Monster triple-double to the tune of a 16-22-13 including 2 steals and 3 blocks. Jokic was insane in his brain, and that superb performance comes on a 38.5% shooting night in which he only took 13 shots and committed 5 turnovers. I mean, even with those blips, he thrived and helped Denver reaching the WCF. Unbelievable.
• Kudos to Tatum too, who finished with 67 DKFP in G1 of the ECF. He stuffed the line with 30 pops, 14 boards, 5 dimes, 3 steals, and 2 blocks while hitting 4 treys... and missing—actually, getting hydro-blocked—a last-second dunk that could have potentially won Boston the game. Can’t get everything, I guess.
• Jamal Murray was the only other player into the 50s thanks to a massive 40-4-5 (6 treys) line in 44 (!) minutes of playing time. Dragic, Adebayo, and Herro all finished with 40+ fantasy points in Miami’s winning effort.
• The Heat proved doubters wrong once more and the ROI King award went to... Tyler Herro! Not often do you have the chance to field a 40+ fantasy-point player at the sweet price of $5.4K. Herro dropped 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while falling just one dime short of an incredible trip-dub, with 9 dimes. I mean, this kid is a rookie and one of the youngest cats to ever make it this far with a prominent role in his team. Pat Bev and Brad Wanamaker were good values too, though both ate an L.
• And the DOTS (Dud of the Slate) Award went to... Paul George! Absolutely horrific game by PG13 aka Pandemic P aka Putrid P. George helped Denver win Game 7 with his 10-4-2-1-1 line in 38 minutes. Kawhi pursued George in the offseason, forced a trade for him, but probably expected a little bit more from his side... Not this year, though.
• Two dub-dubs via points and rebounds (Tatum’s 30-14 and Herro’s 12-11) and none between points and assists.
• Shout-out to Jokic for his monster G7 trip-dub of 16 points, 22 rebounds, and 13 dimes. Can’t get much better. Shame on Adebayo and Herro for falling one dime short of a dub-dub and a trip-dub respectively.
• Wanamaker went bonkers stealing 5 rocks, while Jokic was all alone leading the slate with 3 blocks.

Gotta Win The Day: Best/Worst DraftKings plays for today’s slate

• Love: (C) Bam Adebayo, MIA (at BOS): Forget about that game-winning block. Sure, that was an incredible play boosting Bam’s value, but it was everything else that makes him a truly great play against Boston. See, the Cs only have Daniel Theis in the paint to stop Bam. He ran into foul trouble in Game 1 and was ultimately eliminated with six fouls. Even playing 35 minutes, he could just grab four rebounds and block one shot. Adebayo, on the other hand, ate all he could manage finishing with 18 pops, 6 rebounds, and 9 assists. He also had two blocks and got 11 times to the charity stripe thanks to putting pressure on Theis and forcing him big time on defense. Adebayo is one of the players most benefited by this matchup, so take advantage of it.
• Hate: (PG) Kemba Walker, BOS (vs MIA): I was so high on Kemba for these playoffs as a whole and this series in particular. It is still early, sure, and everything can change during the next few games. That being said, though, Kemba looked plain bad in G1. In a monster 43 minutes thanks to OT, Walker was far from Cardiac finishing with a good-not-great 19-3-6 line. Dragic was incredibly more valuable on the other end of the court for Miami, hitting 46+ fantasy points while Kemba sat at 32+. I’d fade Kemba at least until G3 when we have a two-game sample to work with, because the first outing wasn’t anything to be very excited about.
• Love: (PG/SG) Marcus Smart, BOS (vs MIA): Although Gordon Hayward is active for Game 2, odds are he still remains out at least until Game 3 next Sunday. That means you need to play the hell out of Smart before it’s too late and Gordon snatches the starting spot from Marcus. In 43 minutes Smart absolutely thrived against Miami dropping 26 points (18 of them on triples, 2 via free throws) and grabbing three boards. He didn’t have a great impact on the assists leaderboard with just one, but he was levels above Kemba to kick the ECF off. Smart will get run heavily because of his defensive prowess, so you know the minutes will be there and the offense production, even while not top-tier, will return tons of value on a game-to-game basis.

If you have any comment or question about the daily column, tonight’s games, players involved in them, or even season-long fantasy NBA topics, just drop it below or reach out to me on Twitter at @chapulana and I’ll get back to you as soon as I grab a keyboard!