SI's Fantasy and Gambling analyst Corey Parson runs through his bestNBA bests and top daily fantasy plays for Friday, July 31 in the Orlando bubble.
Day two of the NBA Bubble will have an NCAA Tournament style feel to it as the NBA gives us six games to sweat and build daily fantasy lineups around. Today will be the day that the NBA youth uprising will begin.
Best Bets
Memphis Grizzlies vs Portland Trail Blazers: Grizzlies +3
When the NBA restart schedule was released, this was the first game that caught my eye and my exact thought was this will be a great day to catch the points with the Memphis Grizzlies.
This game opened up as a pick'em, but my feeling all along was that the public money would start to come in on the Trail Blazers, mainly because the Trail Blazers are an experienced team that was just in the Western Conference just last season. Well, that's not the same Trail Blazers team that will take the court today. To be fair, Jusuf Nurkic is back and has looked good in the seeding round games but this Trail Blazers team has been under .500 all season long when the season came to a pause.
Portland was 29-37, they were 3.5 games behind the Grizzlies for the eighth seed in the Western Conference, on February 12th right before the All-Star break the Grizzlies and Trail Blazers played in Memphis. The Grizzlies were 3.5-point favorites that night and won the game by seven points. I remember cashing that ticket before heading to Chicago for the All-Star break.
These seeding round games will be heavily bet with a lot of public money coming in. The nationally televised games will be even more heavily bet, this game is on NBA TV at 4pm ET, so I can see the public driving this number up to Trail Blazers -4.5. I don't think it will matter but I would try to get the best number on the Grizzlies that you can and sprinkle something on the money line.
Sacramento Kings vs San Antonio Spurs: Kings -3.5
The San Antonio Spurs have made the playoffs in 19 straight seasons, but unfortunately for Spurs fans that comes to an end this season.
The future in the West will be the Sacramento Kings and the days of that franchise being a doormat in the West is coming to an end. The San Antonio Spurs had a record of 27-36 when the season came to a pause, the actual play on the court was worst than that.
The Spurs suffered through an eight-game losing streak and a five-game losing streak this season, not to mention their leading scorer LaMarcus Aldridge was ruled out for the season weeks ago. The Kings, on the other hand, have the look of a team that has come to life. Before the pause, they were 7-3 with some pretty impressive wins. Luke Walton's team is led by the fiery young backcourt of De'Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield, but unfortunately for the Kings, Marvin Bagley was injured in the bubble and is out for the season. The last time the Kings and Spurs played was right before the All-Star break as Sacramento beat the Spurs by 20 that night. We just need them to win by four today.
People's Parlay: Orlando Magic moneyline / Washington Wizards +7 (+157)
DFS Plays
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PG/SG James Harden, Houston Rockets
DraftKings: $11,000 FanDuel: $10,600
Harden and the Rockets take on their in-state rival Mavericks to close day two in the bubble. Harden is the most skilled offensive player in the league so look for him to get off to a hot start. Houston and Dallas both have something to play for as far as seeding goes, so Harden should play normal minutes.
PG/SG Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
DraftKings: $8,800 FanDuel:$8,000
Booker is in a good spot today. Let's just say that the undermanned Washington Wizards are defensively challenged. Guards that can score tend to go off versus the Wizards, and I can see Booker hanging 40 on them today.
SG/SF Caris Levert, Brooklyn Nets
DraftKings: $7,800 FanDuel: $8,200
Levert is a real chalky play and will be heavily owned in today's contest, I'm not going to use him in all my lineups but it would be silly not to have exposure to the Nets' main offensive weapon.
PF/C Rui Hachimura, Washington Wizards
DraftKings: $7,800 FanDuel: $5,600
The Wizards, much like the Brooklyn Nets, are taking their skeleton squad into the bubble without scorers Bradley Beal and David Bertans. Hachimura will have to pick up the scoring for Washington.
PF/C Brandon Clarke, Memphis Grizzlies
DraftKings: $4,100 FanDuel: $4,600
Ja Morant isn't the only rookie in Memphis that can play, Brandon Clarke has some game as well and the Trail Blazers struggle big time against opposing power forwards and Clarke shoots 40% from three.