Daily Fantasy NBA Playoff Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings - Round 2 5/6/18

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The Golden State Warriors at the New Orleans Pelicans

The Warriors lead the series 2-1
Well, it looks like people may have shoveled dirt on the Pelicans at least a hair too early. Just days after the internet pushed out article after article about how the Warriors had finally "turned it on" and how their dominance showed "all that was wrong with the NBA", the Pelicans (also missing one of their best players) built upon a close game two with a convincing victory in game three.

We didn't learn a whole lot of new information from this game, unfortunately. Herculean efforts from Rajon Rondo (FD $7500 DK $8000) (21 assists!) and Anthony Davis (FD $12800 DK $11100) (33 and 18!) were too much to overcome - but these guys were already good plays and the prices really haven't moved that much. Basically all of the starters lost minutes for New Orleans, but that's to be expected in such a decisive victory.

On the Golden State side we also saw decidedly reduced minutes, but there are some take-aways going forward. Stephen Curry (FD $9700 DK $8500) played just 15 minutes in the first half and 28.5 minutes total, but he and the rest of the starters were also pulled with 5 minutes left, and one has to think he'll play crunch time in anything resembling a close game. He's a great price on DraftKings, but the price on FanDuel might be a little rich even if you buy the increased usage we saw from him in the 28 minutes he was out there for game 3. As for the rest, all of Andre Iguodala (FD $4600 DK $4300), Kevin Durant (FD $10400 DK $9000), Draymond Green (FD $8700 DK $8100) look like excellent plays on both sites relative to their current pricing.

Iguodala doesn't appear to be the odd man out that some thought he'd be with Curry's return, and looks like a safe bet for 30+ minutes going forward.

The Houston Rockets at the Utah Jazz

Houston leads the series 2-1
The Rockets retook home court advantage in game three against the Jazz, stomping the Jazz to the point where they had a 28 point lead going into the fourth quarter. As you can probably guess, this makes it awfully tough to learn much about what the various teams might have been switching up in their planning.

On the Jazz side, we saw Favors' minutes head south in game 2 and then reach Antarctic levels in game 3. This will probably mean Jae Crowder will continue to see 33+ minutes, but it honestly might not matter for fantasy purposes. Honestly, the Jazz as a whole are almost all overpriced, with only Rudy Gobert (FD $7600 DK $6800) looking like a value against a tough Houston defense. The minutes are obviously secure on most of these guys when they aren't getting blown out, but there's still probably more risk with the Jazz than with any other team on today's slate. Royce O'Neal had a nice game 3 in spite of the blowout, so perhaps there is upside there going forward if the Jazz see his performance as a bright spot.

The Rockets unfortunately contain very little value as well. You can get cheap prices on guys like P.J. Tucker (FD $4400 DK $3700), who you will probably need to play alongside the bigger names in the Pelicans/Warriors game just to get value. But after that? All of these guys look like expensive versions of guys from the much faster game in New Orleans. You obviously can't play everyone from the Pelicans/Warriors game, but that's certainly where I'd be prioritizing things, rather than taking players from a game with a Vegas total that's 22 points lower.

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