It's a strange time to be a sports fan, as the NBA playoffs get underway basically on a Monday morning. The Utah / Denver series starts at 1:30 PM ET so let's not waste any time getting into the nitty-gritty of today's weird-but-awesome slate.

Today's NBA Matchups

Jazz vs. Nuggets (-4.5), O/U 215.5

1:30 PM ET

The Nuggets won all four of the regular season meetings with the Jazz and have squared off in the bubble, a 134-132 Denver win in 2OT. In that recent meeting, Donovan Mitchell ($8k) took 33 shots, Rudy Gobert ($7.7k) had 22/13, Nikola Jokic ($8.7k) went for 30/11, and Jamal Murray ($6.5k) posted a 23/12/8 line. The 2OT definitely helped, but still.

Nets vs. Raptors (-10), O/U 222

4:00 PM ET

The Nets somehow went 5-3 in the restart even though they have 11 players on the injured/opt-out list. Brooklyn scored 102 points or less in three of the four meetings vs. Toronto this season. The Raptors should also be close to full strength with OG Anunoby ($3.5k) and Serge Ibaka ($5.4k) returning this afternoon

76ers vs. Celtics (-5.5), O/U 218.5

6:30 PM ET

The Sixers took 3 of 4 from the Celtics in the regular season, but things get interesting in these playoffs without Ben Simmons. Some people say the Philadelphia offense is better without Simmons though, and they have scored 120+ in 3 of the last 4. Boston was held to under 100 points in both games in Philadelphia, but we'll see how things play out in the neutral bubble.

Mavericks vs. Clippers (-6), O/U 229.5

9:00 PM ET

The Mavs and Clippers have met in the bubble, a 126-111 L.A. win 11 days ago. Kawhi Leonard ($9.8k) and Paul George ($8.1k) combined for 53 points to secure the regular season sweep for L.A. Luka Doncic ($11k) and Kristaps Porzingis ($8.3k) were a better duo with 59 points, but the Mavericks are still averaging just 105 points in three games vs. L.A. this season.

Guards

Jamal Murray DK $6.5k | FD $6.1k

Jamal Murray is a wild card this afternoon. He had missed the start of the bubble with hamstring tightness and played just 10 minutes Friday vs. Toronto. Murray has only played four games in Orlando, but his best outing was a 54fp performance vs. Utah who Denver sees in the 1st round. There's no reason to reign in the minutes today, it's the playoffs.

Alec Burks DK $3.9k | FD $3.9k

One thing you like about Alec Burks for the sub $4k price is that he's not afraid to launch. The Sixers guard has taken 11, 17, 14, and 15 shots in his last four games. Burks adds decent peripherals with 4+ rebounds in 3 of the last 4 games as well as 9 total assists the last two. Philadelphia is up against Boston's #2 scoring defense tonight, but the Celtics are just 17th vs. the SG position. The C's are especially vulnerable vs. the back court in their 2nd unit.

Joe Harris DK $4.7k | FD $4.8k

Joe Harris gets minutes, he shoots, and he's under $5k. That's a nice recipe for success even against the Raptors' top ranked scoring defense. Harris has 21+ real points in 3 of the last 5 and logged 34 minutes last game vs. Portland. Harris as well as Caris LeVert could both launch 20+ shots vs. the Raptors for the depleted Nets.

Forwards

Tobias Harris $7.8k | FD $7.1k

Tobias Harris looks to be a bit undervalued tonight vs. Boston. He's been incredibly efficient the last two games in the bubble, scoring 42 and 36 fantasy points while not playing more than 25 minutes and averaging just 11.5 shots. The field goal attempt number could legitimately double as the 'real' games start. Harris gets a 5fp boost with Ben Simmons out of the lineup as well.

Norman Powell $4.5k | FD $5k

Norman Powell loses a majority of his value with Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet playing normal minutes (as well as the returns of Anunoby and Ibaka). There's always the potential for a blowout game though, with the Raptors -10 point favorites. The Nets have allowed 120+ in 3 of the last 5 and Powell has still gone for 30+ fp in 2 of the last 3.

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot DK$4k | FD $4k

Nobody knows how the minutes are going to shake out today because so many recent games in the bubble were essentially for seeding, which didn't really matter on a neutral court anyway. Brooklyn's Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot seems to have at least earned a look in the postseason after he went for 32+ fp in 4 of 8 games in the bubble.

Luwawu-Cabarrot has a couple 24 real point and one 26 point games in the bubble. He's also grabbed 6+ rebounds in 3 of the last 4. For as good as the Raptors defense is, they do give up some production to SF reserves.

Center

Ivica Zubac DK $4.1k | FD $5.1

Nobody knows how to price Ivica Zubac tonight. There are concerns that he won't be as effective since Dallas big men Kristaps Porzingis and Maxi Kleber are more perimeter players. Montrezl Harrell is also back for the Clippers which will dip into Zubac's usage.

The thing is, "Zub Step" hasn't needed a ton of minutes to explode during the restart. He hasn't logged more than 25 minutes, and still has five 30+ fp nights over that span. One of those came against Dallas when Zubac posted 21/15 for a 45fp night. That's more than a 10X night at this price.

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You can follow me, Carl Taylor (@dailydogsports), on Twitter for more daily fantasy and sports betting talk and make sure to check out the LineStar chat.

Freeroll

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🔥 SuperDraft Multiplier Must-Play

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