It’s always fun to get your mind thinking outside the box by switching up the games you elect to play from time to time, and one great way of doing so is by expanding the number of sites you participate on. By breaking the mold it may lend a hand in your usual efforts on your daily staples sites by taking a step back and looking at slates from a different perspective.
Monkey Knife Fight provides some awesome player-specific games where you can play various bonus multipliers, all depending on how confident you are in those stat-based outcomes (ie: over/under player points).
Use promo code SGP and receive a $100 match bonus up to $100 at Monkey Knife Fight
Monday offers a nine-game NBA slate with plenty of player stat-line games to pick and choose to your liking, and some early indicative injury news may be to our benefit by taking a look at some players on the same team as those in question. Let’s take a look at some of the more intriguingly achievable plays on MKF!
Orlando Magic vs. Atlanta Hawks
Fantasy Challenge: Nikola Vucevic, Trae Young, John Collins
Goal: 153.5 Fantasy Points (3x Prize)
The Atlanta Hawks are giving up 45.46 fantasy points per game to opposing centers, which is the most in the league, standing as excellent sake for Orlando center Nikola Vucevic. Vuc is averaging 42.2 fantasy points per game this season, with a 63.2 fantasy point ceiling.
Trae Young is playing absolutely out of his mind, averaging 58.88 fantasy points per game over his past nine games played, and that’s even including a 19.5-point dud where he only played 26 minutes against Dallas. Facing an Orlando Magic team ranking in the bottom three against the point guard position over the last 30 days, Trae looks to have yet another All-Star performance.
John Collins is the other Atlanta Hawks member carrying the team burden of productivity, recently posting 50 minutes against the New York Knicks and dropping 60.50 fantasy points (on certain sites). Averaging 45.58 fantasy points in his five games prior to the aforementioned overtime gem, combining John Collins with Vucevic and Trae Young makes for a lethal fantasy combo that’s stapled with vantage points.
Milwaukee Bucks vs. Sacramento Kings
More or Less (Fantasy PTS): Khris Middleton, Nemanja Bjelica
Goal: Middleton (More Than 36.5 FP), Bjelica (More Than 31.5 FP)
With Giannis Antetokounmpo already on the early injury report for the Bucks, some players stand in line to take advantage of opportunities on both sides of this matchup between Milwaukee and Sacramento.
Anytime Giannis misses time on the court, Khris Middleton is the primary beneficiary of fantasy production and has been dominating this season regardless of whether the Greek Freak is in action (though it helps when he isn’t, of course).
Middleton put up 76.50 fantasy points against the Washington Wizards in Giannis’ absence just a couple of weeks ago, and the Kings are an excellent matchup to take advantage of at home. Sacramento also ranks in the bottom half of the league against small forwards this season, which is another detail worth noting.
Nemanja Bjelica may have a bit of an easier time on both offense and defense should Giannis not suit up, especially in the rebounding department. He’s averaging 35.25 fantasy points over his past two games, and the Bucks are surrendering the fourth-most fantasy points to power forwards this season (45.72 FPTS/G). So long as his minutes remain stable (over 34 ideally), I see Bjelica having a very promising chance to go over his fantasy point line of 31.5 and helping achieve a 2.5x prize.
Dallas Mavericks vs. Utah Jazz
More or Less (Fantasy PTS): Rudy Gobert, Kristaps Porzingis, Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic
Goal: Gobert (More Than 42.5 FP), Porzingis (Less Than 42.5 FP), Mitchell (Less Than 40.5 FP), Bogdanovic (More Than 30.5 FP)
This one is a bit of a stretch but something to have fun with nonetheless, as well as a rewarding 8x prize should it pan out how we hope. In their previous matchup, Rudy Gobert smashed for over 55 fantasy points. And with Willie Cauley-Stein (107.1 DEF RTG) now in the post for the Mavs, it should prove all the better for Gobert’s chances.
Kristaps Porzingis is a tough one to peg here, but his inconsistency even in the absence of Luka Doncic leaves me wondering and I would rather side with the defense in this case. Utah is allowing the second-fewest fantasy points in the league to opposing power forwards, and the fact that there are no double-double bonuses on MKF make for a difficult task to reach over 42.5 fantasy points versus a paced-down Jazz unit.
Donovan Mitchell has been underachieving as of late, and while Doncic’s absence may appear to be of benefit to Mitchell’s chances to score over 40.5 fantasy points, Mike Conley’s return to the starting lineup has really thrown a thorn into this Jazz guard rotation and Mitchell’s fantasy performance has been paying for it. He’s averaging 33.54 fantasy points in his past six games played and, while his usage is still over 30%, his fantasy numbers leave much to be desired.
Bojan Bogdanovic has been on a bit of a tear as of late, and averaging 31.03 fantasy points in his past seven games played. This one pushes the envelope just a tad also, but it’s the recent performance coming in with 28.75 fantasy points against Dallas that makes me think it was very achievable, given that he was within two points of beating today’s benchmark while shooting 6 of 16 from the field that game.
Feel free to get ahold of me in our Slack channel as well as on Twitter (@TopherSquints) if you have questions or takes you’d care to share.
Use promo code SGP and receive a $100 match bonus up to $100 at Monkey Knife Fight