NBA Finals, Game 2: DraftKings Showdown Players & Captain Picks

Following a much-anticipated opening game (and Warriors loss) of the 2019 NBA Finals, we as daily fantasy players are back to the drawing board after testing the waters with varieties oddball shots-in-the-dark at Captain and attempting to gauge where both coaches would respectively rotate their minutes and usage.

Hopefully for many of you, the gut plays worked out for you and you were able to stay different enough with your lineups, without straying the course by a country mile (ie: My entry). But today is a new day, and we now at least have a sample size for how these two current rosters in the Warriors and Raptors will matchup, so now it’s time to let the reasoning begin stemming from the game flow and fantasy production that transpired within Game 1.

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Top Shelf

Kawhi Leonard ($11,800/$17,700 Capt.)

Despite somewhat of a lackluster opening outing, Kawhi Leonard is a no-brainer play coming back out in Game 2. In front of a raucous home crowd, I find it very hard to believe that Kawhi has two games in a row producing anywhere under his DraftKings Fantasy Point projection.

Shooting 35.7% from the field (5/14 FGA, 23 PTS, 8 REB, 5 AST, 1 STL), Leonard is primed to bounce back against the short-handed Warriors, who are clearly hurting missing a defensive anchor in Kevin Durant along with a hobbled Andre Iguodala and DeMarcus Cousins. Kawhi only registered two shot attempts in the fourth quarter, and I highly doubt that that will happen again at home in an NBA Finals game. They will be feeding Leonard early and often, where his usage rate was down to 23.5% from an average 31% over the six games the previous series with Milwaukee. Kawhi Leonard should consume a fair share of the Captain designation across your roster entries.

Draymond Green ($10,400/$15,600 Capt.)

Once again, Draymond Green has proven to have turned a new leaf since changing up his diet in the past couple of months leading into the Playoffs and it seems to clearly be paying off, and not just in terms of his improved temperament with the refs (this is great for DFS because it means he’s not being ejected, or getting in as much foul trouble). Even in a loss, Draymond triple-doubled (10 PTS, 10 REB, 10 AST, 1 STL) and produced right at his projection line at 41 DraftKings Fantasy Points.

Kevin Durant’s absence has also boded quite well for Green, as his usage has nearly doubled since the “calf strain” injury to Durant (as we all know is far worse than that description leads us to initially be led to believe), going from the low teens to as high as 24.3% during the Western Conference Finals. Draymond Green makes for a very reliable play, as well as Captain designation as a sneaky upside move that could work in Cash games as well as GPP.

Mid Grade

Pascal Siakam ($9,800/$14,700 Capt.)

Following a turbulent string of fantasy production throughout the Eastern Conference Finals, Pascal Siakam rediscovered his inner beast during the second half of Game 1, erupting for 55.50 DKFP, which was 68% greater than projected. Shooting an insanely efficient 14-of-17 from the field (23.6% usage, 88.2% efficiency rating), the Durant-less Warriors were rendered helpless against Siakam, whose second half damage was actually manufactured during the floor run of the starting Warriors unit. This tidbit of game flow information is intriguing and really makes you wonder if this guy has actually seen the likes of his true fantasy ceiling in these Playoffs yet.

I’ll be rostering heavy on Siakam, and getting at least a couple of entries with him slotted in as Captain (just as the winner of the Millionaire entry did on Thursday). He’s a physical freak and is playing out of his mind at home. Fading Siakam could turn out to be detrimental.

Klay Thompson ($8,400/$12,600 Capt.)

Being that his fantasy productivity has been on a skid during the last four games, Klay Thompson’s DraftKings price tag has begun to gradually teeter on the downtick, and I feel this is the calm before the storm. Thompson is beyond due for position regression and should be aiming to shoot plenty of three-pointers alongside Steph Curry.

Shooting 47.1% from the field and 50% from three-point range (8/17 FGA, 3/6 3PA), Klay had a majority of his court time shared with the other Hampton’s Five starters. In the past he’s tended to flourish running the gun with the second unit, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Steve Kerr implement that very strategy more in Game 2. I wouldn’t be opposed to getting 5-10% of your rosters included with Klay at the Captain position and a majority with him in standard roster role.

Lower Tier

DeMarcus Cousins ($5,400/$8,100 Capt.)

After this guy sent me reeling over to Twitter to apologize for my lofty reach in my previous article, I’m still determined to catch DeMarcus Cousins on an upside sleeper game before this series is over. And after scratching my head over the initial play at Captain a couple of days ago (albeit a bit too gumptious), I find it incredibly hard to fathom that these Warriors will have a chance at winning this series unless Cousins has a hand in it.

Between Marc Gasol and Pascal Siakam having their way in the post all night long, Kevon Looney and Jordan Bell proved that they’re going to need help if they’re going to stand a chance against that menacing tandem for an entire series. However, this is strictly a GPP play and Cousins’ quad injury is obviously hindering any chance he has at exceeding twenty minutes on the floor.

Roster sparingly, and I wouldn’t recommend going much heavier than 10-15% at standard position. In consideration of Captain designation, I would strongly recommend that strictly as a one-off large field GPP play.

Dart Throw

Alfonzo McKinnie ($2,200/DO NOT ROSTER AT CAPT.)

This one is a reach, but can prove to be extremely valuable if it happens to surpass projection values. Alfonzo McKinnie makes for a very intriguing GPP tournament play, much like that of Shaun Livingston on the Millionaire winning roster on Thursday night.

The confirmation of Durant’s foreseeable absence by Steve Kerr provides some writing on the wall for potential rotational changes coming from the bench, and I wouldn’t think that it could mean anything but up for a guy like McKinnie, who has provided much-needed spark during small bursts in the Western Conference Finals. He went 2-of-3 from three-point land in Game 1, and a 75% efficiency rating in his brief 26% usage during his handful of court run.

Strictly a play tailored for GPP’s of the larger scale, I will get my couple of shares of McKinnie in my 20-max tournament entries, and naturally avoiding a silly maneuver at Captain.