EuroLeague Primer: Round 29 - Thursday

EuroLeague Primer: Round 29 - Thursday

This article is part of our EuroLeague Primer series.

PREGAME UPDATES

THE SLATE

AX Armani Exchange Milan at CSKA Moscow

Status Check: Malcolm Delaney (MIL), Nikola Milutinov (CSK), Janis Strelnieks (CSK)

Best Bets for Success: Tuesday's slate opens with CSKA Moscow, reigning EuroLeague champions, hosting Milano, a very serious pretender to playoff place. Italian team is still without Delaney, so backcourt points scoring duty is mostly on Kevin Punter. He is coming off two good performances in double week, when he averaged 17 points per game. Punter spend 30 minutes on the court in each of these games, against 24.7 when he played alongside Delaney. Also, CSKA is second most generous team in the league in terms of DFS points conceded to opposing guards. Shavon Shields was in very good shooting form since start of February averaging 16.3 points per game. With his price up to $9,900 now, he seems to be a good pick to deliver a haul of fantasy points again. CSKA's Mike James will be looking for opportunity to bounce back after poor game against Efes, his worst showing this season. James recorded only five points and eight assists, but we should expect a much better performance this week. Johannes Voigtmann usually delivers when he gets a chance. Discarding last week's game against Maccabi (he spend only two minutes on the court), German forward averages 27.3 DFS points in last three outings.

DFS Darlings: In the absence of Delaney, Michael Roll has settled into a starting spot for Milan. He only averaged 10.4 DFS points over the last two games, but he is getting the minutes to make an impact, and will just need to knock down a few shots to return useful value. Roll is priced at $5,200 on DraftKings slate. In CSKA's ranks Darrun Hilliard and Iffe Lundberg will be sharing shooting guard duties and both are available at very appealing prices this week: $6,300 and $6,600, respectively. The scale tips slightly in favor of Lundberg who has hit the ground running since signing for the club in February and averages 20.8 DFS points since then.

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv at Panathinaikos OPAP Athens

Status Check: Yovel Zoosman (TEL), Nemanja Nedovic (PAN)

Best Bets for Success: Maccabi's Ante Zizic was rather quiet in first few weeks of 2021, but his last performances definitely earned him a mention in this section. The Croatian center averaged 26.8 DFS points in last three games, including double-double against Bayern. Zizic seems to be on course to reach form from the beginning of the season, despite competing for starting lineup spot with experienced Othello Hunter. Tyler Dorsey has delivered some excellent performances last week in the games against CSKA and Valencia, scoring 20 and 17 points respectively. Dorsey seems to be preferred to Elijah Bryant at the moment and he capitalizes on this opportunity the best he can. His price on DraftKings has reached a season-high $7,700. With Nedovic sidelined most of point scoring will be shifted to Panathinaikos' frontcourt positions. Mario Hezonja is on fire, averaging 26 DFS points in his first two games for new team. He is available at $7,800 with DraftKings. He seems a bit underpriced but team captain, Ioannis Papapetrou, should be back in action this week and that could have an effect on Hezonja's role. Papapetrou is averaging 30 minutes and 22.4 DFS points per game.

DFS Darlings: Omri Casspi's form improved in last two games and he is seemingly close to producing at his pre-injury level. Last time out Casspi scored 21.3 DFS points in his only third start this season. DraftKings has him priced at mere $4,300 for Thursday's game. Ben Bentil has averaged 20.8 DFS points in last three games, his best run so far this season. His price jumped up to a season-high $6,200 but he still seems to be an excellent budget option. 

Khimki Moscow Region at Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade

Status Check: Alexey Shved (KHI), Devin Booker (KHI), Stefan Jovic (KHI), Janis Timma (KHI), Vladislav Odinokov (KHI), Quino Colom (RED)

Best Bets for Success: This meeting between two bottom teams of EuroLeague will likely be top scoring affair on Thursday's slate. Shved is still uncertain after sitting out last domestic game due to back injury. If he will recover in time, he will be, alongside Jordan Mickey, top play for this matchup. They both scored at least 42 DFS points in last three appearances. If Shved will not be ready for the game against Red Star, Errick McCollum will be next best pick. He scored in double digits in las three outings, averaging 29.4 DFS points per game. Jordan Loyd will again be the best pick from hosts backcourt. 28.1 DFS points per game average is probably enough for recommendation, and keep in mind that Khimki concedes most points against guards in the league this season. For the same reason it's worth to have a look at Corey Walden and Ognjen Dobric. They are much cheaper than Loyd on DraftKings slate and should get more scoring opportunities than usual.

DFS Darlings: Last week Langston Hall has made his first appearance since January and it was looking very promising: four points, two rebounds, seven assists and two steals in just 15 minutes on the court. He is priced up by DraftKings at just $5,900. Sergey Karasev played some big minutes for Khimki in last two games, and at $6,000 will likely be very popular option among fantasy players. 

ALBA Berlin at LDLC ASVEL

Status Check: Jayson Granger (BER), Louis Olinde (BER), Christ Koumadje (BER), David Lighty (ASV), Derrick Walton (ASV), Antoine Diot (ASV)

Best Bets for Success: Marcus Eriksson mesmerized EuroLeague fans last week after scoring ten times from downtown and claiming Round 28 MVP title. While it will be difficult to top that performance on Thursday night, we can still expect good haul of fantasy points as ASVEL is fourth worst team in defense against guards in the league. Eriksson's price has jumped up to $9,000 now -- easily the highest it's been this season. Luke Sikma is averaging most DFS points from ALBA players – 23.9 through the season and 26.8 in last five games. His court chemistry with Simone Fontecchio and Ben Lammers was excellent in last games but the trio is getting quite expensive. All three has reached their top prices this year on DraftKings. Also, keep in mind that ASVEL conceded the least DFS points against opposition forwards in the league. Norris Cole continues his streak of double digits points scores, extending the run to seven games now. ASVEL's guard averages 26.5 DFS points over last five games and, with Walton likely still out, is set to continue to play main role in backcourt. William Howard's good performances has been noticed by DraftKings. After averaging 21.5 DFS points in last five games his price has topped $8,000 for a first time this season.

DFS Darlings: Maodo Lo was in the shadow on Eriksson in last game but if Granger remains out he will have a great chance to improve against ASVEL. Lo averaged 26.4 DFS points in February against just 14.5 in the first week of March, so he definitely has potential to do better. Ismael Bako has scored 14 points in narrow defeat to Fenerbahce. While he rarely spends more than 20 minutes on court, Bako still averaged 17.9 DFS points in last three games.

FC Barcelona at Real Madrid

Status Check: Pau Gasol (BAR), Pierre Oriola (BAR), Sergi Martinez (BAR), Sergio Llull (MAD), Rudy Fernandez (MAD), Anthony Randolph (MAD)

Best Bets for Success: In last game of Friday's slate Real Madrid will host FC Barcelona in famous El Clasico. Nikola Mirotic has played in last four out five meetings between these teams in all competitions, averaging 20 points per game. Mirotic and Walter Tavares are most expensive choices in this matchup. You just can't go wrong with above two – in last five outings they average 30.4 and 28.1 DFS points, respectively. Brandon Davies is a much cheaper option, just $7,500 at DraftKings, and he could continue spending more time on the court than usual if Barcelona keeps deactivating one of its other big men. Last time these team met Davies delivered one of his best performances in EuroLeague this season, scoring 31.5 DFS points despite the presence of Tavares. Gabriel Deck has settled in at the small forward spot, and he continues to consistently provide fantasy production. In last three outings he averaged 24.7 DFS points while spending at least 25 minutes on the court in each contest. This situation is unlikely to change this week as Rudy Fernandez won't be a full-go if he plays and Alberto Abalde's minutes on the court are significantly lower than they were earlier in the season.

DFS Darlings: Carlos Alocen has become a very interesting option for fantasy games. Madrid's young guard averages 13.5 DFS points in last five games and you can add him to your DraftKings fantasy team at just $5,600. Barcelona's Adam Hanga continues his solid performances despite usually starting on the bench. The versatile Hanga contributes in all areas of the game and In last five outings he averaged 13.6 DFS points.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Maciej Bogdanski plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: kmag115173.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maciej Bogdanski
Maciej is a former RotoWire contributor.
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