Daily Fantasy Basketball is one of the most action-packed daily fantasy sports, as players have possessions every minute that lead to highs and lows. Additionally, players touch the ball more frequently and score points for a wide variety of stats.

Here are several main points to help you succeed in daily fantasy basketball:

Matchup – Like any other fantasy sport, you are going to see a player clash on a given night. There are statistics that measure a player’s defensive ability in the NBA, such as his isolation defense, his pick and roll defense, and even his back defense (basically DVP). Obviously, you will want to choose offensive players who go against a poor defender. For example, you might be hesitant to pick a PG that goes against Chris Paul because he’s a good defender, but if you have a cross against Nikola Vucevic then you can give him a production boost. Honestly, this is probably the most important thing because that will protect that player for most of the game and directly impacts how well that person will do.

Blast Factor – This is a huge part of everyday fantasy basketball that a lot of people don’t realize. In basketball there are a lot of blowouts. This causes many starters to sit in the fourth quarter, limiting the number of minutes they will play throughout the game. You want guys who are going to play the most minutes because they maximize their value. If you’ve said Russell Westbrook against the 76ers, you really have to think twice. Sure, he’s going to have good stats on his minutes, but if he only plays 28 minutes instead of 38, you’re basically reducing his production by 25%. Looking at the Las Vegas lines for the game is very useful for this because you get an idea of ​​how the experts think the game will go. Injuries aside, there is nothing worse than losing players in blowout games.

Points / Expected Pace – Another big part of basketball is the pace of play and expected points within a game. Naturally, some teams are more defensive and like to play in the half court, while others are very offensive and love to play on the counter. You want to target guys in games that move as fast as possible. There will be more shots that lead to more points, more misses that lead to more rebounds, more baskets made that lead to more assists, and less structure that leads to more steals and blocks. One thing to watch out for is the Las Vegas lines again for your in-game points. For example, let’s say the Rockets vs. Warriors are 212 points behind, while the Pacers and Hornets have a 180-point line. You’re going to want to target the guys in that first game due to the reasons mentioned above. They also keep track of stats like how long teams typically take to shoot and how many possessions they have per game.

Injuries – Again, as with any sport, you need to look at injuries and see how they will affect a game. Many times, you can get guys off the bench for a low price, who will play opening minutes. Guys who are cheap and play a lot of minutes are hard to find, so if you can find injury replacements, they’re generally a good bet. The problem with the NBA is that injury alerts usually appear within 10-15 of playing time, whereas in the NFL it is 1.5 hours before kickoff, and in baseball it is several hours before the game. It’s critical to always check the last 10-15 minutes to check for injuries and make sure everyone is playing. Also, this can be critical for guys who are second and third choice on their teams. If a really good player gets hurt, then his production will get a good hit and in turn will be more valuable.

Cash game vs. GPP (tournament) players – This is a big difference when it comes to building basketball teams. Typically in tournaments you are looking for players to get roughly 5 times their value anywhere. For cash games, you generally need a value of between 4 and 4.5 x players. This basically means that if a guy costs $ 10,000, then he needs to hit 50 points for a tournament and 40-45 for a cash game. A big part of reaching that value will be the minutes and the usage rates during those minutes. Guys with a high usage rate don’t need as much time because they hold the ball more often. Players with a lower usage rate will likely need more minutes to reach their value, unless they can help or recover a very high rate. The guys with the highest usage rates that I like for tournaments because they have a much higher chance of scoring a ton of points, where players with lower usage rates and play more are safer picks and more likely to hit. its value night after night. Also for tournaments, you are going to want players who are not very owner most of the time. Sure there may be a stud you must have and it is owned by 30% of the people, but it’s about getting players with less than 5% to do it right. If they can, they are much more likely to be successful in the tournament.

Streaks – This is a big part of basketball too because it often determines how many people will pick a player. If a player has a 2-3 game streak, their Ownership% will skyrocket, while if a player struggles for 2-3 games, their Ownership% will plummet. Going to my previous point about tournament players, those cold streak guys are the ones to target sometimes, where fading the popular player is sometimes the best option. For cash games, you generally want to play a guy on a hot streak because you’re only competing to beat the middle of the field, so risking fading a popular play is too risky.

Miscellaneous – This is more if you want to spend a lot of time and effort on your research. One thing that I know people look for is umpires. As in any sport, they have a huge impact on the game and can put people in foul trouble or put people on the line. If you are picking star players, it might be better to look for umpires who call for more fouls per game, compared to if you have a player defending a star player in that game, you may want to avoid it. This comes into the matchup, but some guys have favorable matchups, but they just fight certain teams. James Harden comes to mind against the Clippers during regular reason. He had Reddick / Barnes guarding him, which is not that great, but he rarely achieved courage against them. It is also important to consider back to back because a player can play, but will not play as much. Looking at little things like that is really important and a key to being successful.