Step aside NFL, you had a good weekend but it's time for the NBA to be back in the sports limelight. There's a very sturdy 6-game card for Monday. There's also a nice mix of close games (expected) and ones with a bit bigger spreads. So whatever strategy you employ can be put to good use. It also happens to be National Dress Your Pet day so put on a funny sweater, look miserable, and let's get down to the docket:

Tonight's Headline Games

The Utah Jazz have a 3-game win streak going with a good chance to make it 4 as the host the Detroit Pistons (+8). Does Detroit lose DFS value as they wrap up a 4-game West Coast road trip?

Jusuf Nurkic ($8,600) has considerable value tonight when the Portland Trail Blazers travel to the Sacramento Kings (-2). When the teams met up on New Year's Day Nurkic scored 24 points and grabbed 23 rebounds.

There's a boat load of points (O/U 238.5) expected when the New Orleans Pelicans visit the Los Angeles Clippers (-3). Jrue Holiday ($8,000) likes the matchup, as he scored 32 and dished out 14 assists when the teams met up in early December.

Guards

D'Angelo Russell (DK: $6,500, FD: $7,500 Y! $30)

The Nets have upset on their minds Monday and if they do beat Boston, D'Angelo Russell will probably stay hot. Russell has scored 20+ points in 6 of the last 7. That stretch includes 33 vs. Charlotte, 28 vs. Chicago and back-to-back 20/10 games - one of which Russell had 13 assists. The Nets PG wants to bounce back from a disappointing 95-116 loss to the Celtics a week ago in which Russell had just 5 points. Boston could be thin in the backcourt too with Kyrie Irving fighting a quad injury.

De'Aaron Fox (DK: $7,800 FD: $8,600 Y! $31)

The Sacramento Kings should put up some points (114.8 implied) at home in a fast-paced game vs. the Trail Blazers. Portland has the disadvantage of coming in from a tough 3 point loss at Denver last night. The Blazers' Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum both played 37+ minutes in that contest. De'Aaron Fox should be the main benefactor of Portland being on the B2B. Fox has at least a dozen FG attempts in 9 of the last 11 and should get easy buckets in transition vs. a fatigued Portland team Monday.

Kyle Korver (DK: $3,800 FD: $4,000 Y! $10)

The Jazz are pretty banged up right now and down to a 7-man rotation. This should open up a lot of minutes for Kyle Korver in the near future, especially on Monday vs. a Pistons team playing in their 4th straight road game on the West Coast. Korver played 25 minutes Saturday vs. the Bulls. That usage should increase even more with the Jazz playing in their 3rd game in 4 nights as well as Grayson Allen just one game back from an ankle injury. Korver can sit and pop threes in this slow-it-down game vs. Detroit and the Jazz SG's output increases 24% in down pace contests.

Forwards

Jayson Tatum (DK: $6,300, FD; $6,000 Y! $26 )

The Celtics are -4.5 favorites on the road at Brooklyn. It should be a pretty close contest with the Nets a strong upset possibility as Boston has lost at Miami and at Orlando the last two games. Jayson Tatum is a nice steady play that has gone for 25+ fantasy points in 7 of the last 8. It would be nice for Tatum to expand that stat line a bit and it could happen Monday with Kyrie Irving OUT. The Nets give up 32.6 fantasy points to SF starters, so the opportunity is there. There is going to be plenty of chalk tonight for Boston, and Tatum is likely to be the least chalky of the bunch.

Derrick Favors (DK: $5,300, FD: $6,200 Y! $19 )

The Jazz should have a very solid night vs. the Pistons who are wrapping up a West Coast road trip. The Utah fantasy stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert are going to cost you but there's value in the Jazz forward position. Royce O'Neale has had a couple nice games in a row but Derrick Favors offers more consistency. Favors has gone for 30+ fantasy points in 5 of the last 8 and the Pistons are giving up almost 33 fp to the PF position.

E'Twaun Moore (DK: $4,100 FD: $4,200 Y! $10)

The Clippers and Pelicans are 'supposed' to score a ton on Monday and although New Orleans' Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday will get theirs - E'Twaun Moore has a lot of value. We still don't know what to expect from Moore as he's been battling a quad issue for 4 games. That being said, Alvin Gentry sent Moore out for 31 minutes on Saturday at Minnesota so he appears to be near 100%. That's good, because the Clippers allow 30+ fppg to SF starters and Moore scored in double figures four straight games before his injury woes. Mikal Bridges, Nicolas Batum, Torrey Craig, and Reggie Bullock all have 24+ fantasy points vs. New Orleans the past five games. Moore can get that and then some.

Centers

Willie Cauley-Stein (DK: $7,000 FD: $7,500 Y! $26)

Jusuf Nurkic logged 25 minutes which might not seem like a lot except it was in Mile High Denver which wears the big man a bit more. That leads to a favorable matchup for Sacramento's Willie Cauley-Stein in a game the Kings would be wise to up the pace in. Cauley-Stein has gone for 40+ fantasy points in 4 of the last 5 games. Portland is a top 10 rebounding team on both offense and defense but 9 players logged 14 minutes or more last night. Clint Capela also grabbed 21 rebounds vs. the Blazers on January 5th - the last time they were in game two of a B2B.

Marvin Bagley III ( DK: $4,800, FD: $5,700 Y! $14)

Load up on Kings tonight, especially in the front court where Jake Layman is in the starting lineup in place of Maurice Harkless for Portland. Blazers PF Al-Farouq Aminu was on the court for 34 minutes Sunday at Denver which opens up a big night for Marvin Bagley III who is eligible at the C position. Bagley has averaged 25 fantasy points in 22.5 minutes the last two games as he works his way back from a knee injury. It would be nice to see Bagley get nearly 30 minutes Monday as Sacramento has two nights off before their next game Thursday at Charlotte.

Jarrett Allen (DK: $5,200 FD: $6,000 Y! $19)

It would be nice if Jarrett Allen could score more because he does enough of the peripherals to at least have some value. Actually, Allen's point totals haven't been extremely horrible, as he does have five double digit outputs in the last 10 - although only once going over 12 points. Allen has also grabbed 8+ rebounds in 7 of 10 and also had at least 2 blocks in all but 3 games over that span. It could be a big rebounding night Monday vs. Boston, who allows 10 per game to C starters. Boston has allowed 35+ fantasy point nights to 3 of 5 centers and Allen has 30+ in 4 of 6.

There are some very likable plays for Monday. Better yet, Tuesday's NBA card also features 6 games, so we can see what works tonight and fine tune the strategy for the same amount of games tomorrow. There's a healthy NHL schedule as well as some good CBB contests, so feel free to follow Carl Taylor (@dailydogsports) for tonight's sports betting insights and oversights.

Freeroll

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