NBA

Beasley has fit in flawlessly as the fifth starter alongside Milwaukee’s four star players. He has had some big games shooting the ball, including knocking down eight triples against Toronto in November. However, he has stepped up as of late and has hit at least four triples in five straight games. The boost from deep has allowed him to produce third round value during that stretch. He shouldn’t be valued as a third round play, but he has provided seventh round value over the course of the year. He can be relied on for 3-pointers and can occasionally provide in other categories. He should be in for a big night against Indiana on Thursday, since they allow the most point per game in the NBA.

Dame didn’t need many shots to make his presence felt in this game. He only took 13 shots but still put up a full line and knocked down five truples, which tied his season-high. Lillard’s numbers are lower than last season, which isn’t surprising now that he is playing alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, over the past two weeks, he has been a first round producer due to improvements in his assists and shooting percentage. His 8.1 assists during this stretch would tie his career-high, while his 50% field goal percentage would be the best of his career. He is still more than capable of taking over games, which he showed by scoring 13 points in the final three minutes of the first half.

Grimes is known for being a really good, young 3-and-D player, but the 3-pointers just haven’t been there for him recently. He missed all of his shots from deep for the third consecutive game and has only hit four over his last seven games. He continues to start, though he has seen his minutes drop recently. Grimes was just outside the top-150 last season, but he has barely been inside the top-300 this year. All of his numbers are down, and his recent play shouldn’t make managers feel like he will turn it around. Tom Thibodeau doesn’t seem interested in changing up his starting lineup, but Grimes’ struggles have opened up a few extra mintues for Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo and Immanuel Quickley.

Brunson posted a solid line, but his struggles from beyond the arc represented the team’s overall poor shooting from deep. Brunson missed all five of his 3-point attempts, and the team shot just 7-of-23 on triples. In comparison, the Bucks shot 23-of-38. It was just too much for New York to keep up, which is why the score got out of hand in the second half. Brunson has provided fourth round value this season and has been in the top-30 over the past two weeks. He is averaging career-highs of 24.9 points and 3.2 triples per game, so the lack of 3-pointers was certainly not the norm for him.

After recording his first triple-double of the season in their last game, Giannis came two rebounds shy of recording his second straight. However, he still did more than enough to help Milwaukee advance to the semifinals of the In-Season Tournament, where they’ll take on the Pacers in Las Vegas on Thursday. While Giannis did keep up his monster production, his free throw shooting did regress after shooting 81.8% from the line over his three previous games. That percentage is unrealistic, but hopefully he’ll shoot better than 44.4%, like he did in this game. We’ll see if he can get back on track against Indiana, but even with a poor free throw percentage, he is still one of the best players in fantasy basketball.

Randle got off to a scorching hot start in this game and made all nine of his shots in the first half, which allowed him to have 25 points at the break. He ended up setting a new season-high for scoring, but he didn’t get much help from his teammates in the loss. Randle got off to an incredibly poor start to the season, but he has been significantly better over the past few weeks. A big reason for that improvement is his improvement shooting the ball. His field goal percentage over the course of the season is barely above 40%, but he has shot over 50% from the field in four straight games. We’ll see if he can keep it going in Boston on Friday.

Gordon returns from a one-game absence, which will push Josh Okogie back to the bench. With both Devin Booker and Kevin Durant healthy, there won’t be much room for either Gordon or Okogie to contribute fantasy value, though they both have some upside on a two-game day.

Gordon will return from a one game absence and should take over for Josh Okogie in the starting lineup. He’ll look to contribute some triples, but he can’t be relied on for much else.

Darvin Ham said that everyone will be available for this game after AD, Hachimura and Vanderbilt were probable and LeBron was questionable. This is a meaningful game, so it isn’t surprising that they’ll all suit up. Hachimura didn’t play any minutes in their last game, and Vanderbilt only played a few mintues in his first game of the year. We’ll see if Ham utilizes them more in this game.

With Ayton unlikely to play, the two active centers for Portland in this game will be Duop Reath and Moses Brown. Reath has had a few good scoring games this season, but neither have really been consistent producer. However, based on the opportunity, Reath should be worth considering as a streaming option.