It should be an interesting Sunday of basketball with both a Conference Semifinals Game 1 and an intense First Round Game 7 on tap for the afternoon. This makes our options a little more possible on MomentRanks Play after the last two days of just a single game.
The Hawks and Trae Young are heading to Philadelphia to start the series against the 76ers. With Joel Embiid potentially missing games, Atlanta might have a chance to take the series if they can steal one on the road.
Meanwhile, the epic clash between Luka Doncic and the Clippers continues on into a final game. Kawhi Leonard willed his team to a win on Friday, again showing just how great he can be when his back is against the wall. This is a huge game to see who moves forward to face the Jazz — it figures to be a can’t-miss game.
Always remember that when building your team on MomentRanks Play, each Moment can unlock a Moment Boost by achieving over their last-ten game averages (L10) in the stat that corresponds to the featured play. This means choosing the correct Moment is crucial to your lineup’s success.
Make sure to understand the scoring and bonuses for Play before choosing your squad. Keep in mind that play type will dictate the Moment Boost if a player goes over their 10-game averages. You can also watch this quick tutorial on Play scoring if you ever need a refresher.
Important note: as previously posted, the First Round Head-to-Head Contest will be completed today. This means that today’s head-to-head games will be the last games counted toward the First Round Contest leaderboard.
Prices have been moving pretty quickly the last 24 hours, the listed prices might be a bit different than at the time of posting.
Core Moments
Trae Young — Series 2 Common /40,000+ 3-Pointer ($5)
Young has been the center of his team’s offense and that should continue into the Conference Semifinals. Playing him on the 3-pointer looks optimal, as he only has two 3-pointers per game over his last ten. If the Hawks fall behind, you may see Young go for more deep shots and they are expected to lose.
You could pivot to the S2 /18,000 Assist ($18), but I see this as the weaker option because he would need 10 assists to activate the boost and given that he is a big underdog, the passing prowess likely will recede a bit in favor of shooting.
Clint Capela — Series 2 Common /40,000+ Block ($3)
Capela’s block Moment makes the core Moments sections because he only has dunks and blocks. Therefore, it’s going to be hard to use him in any other way, and the boost is very significant here if he has a monster game. This becomes a must-start if Embiid isn’t playing, but maybe moves to the sleepers if Embiid does manage to play. Capela has a very convenient 1.9 blocks per game over his most recent 10 appearances, giving him a boost if he notches two blocks.
Ben Simmons — Series 2 Common /40,000+ Assist ($4)
Here is another case where your mind is made up for you because the player in question only has two boost types available. For Simmons, these would be scoring and assists. We all know that scoring boosts are hard to maximize scoring with, so I’ll be going with the assist as my lock of the day. The 8.1 assists per game average should not be a hard mark to pass with how much SImmons has been possessing the ball. Lock it in.
Luka Doncic — Series 2 Common /40,000+ Assist ($11)
This is another similar situation unless you are looking to spend upwards of $850 to get a 3-pointer Moment, as the only options below that price point for Doncic are assists or scoring boosts. His L10 stats are 28.2 points, 8.2 assists and 3.5 threes per game. The way I see it, he’s been blowing the assist number out of the water and this is a clear choice. Plus, again, assist boost adds upside if Doncic can far surpass that 8.2 number.
Kawhi Leonard — Series 2 Common /40,000+ 3-Pointer ($22)
Kawhi is coming off of a 45-point game which might lead you to think you should take a scoring Moment. But even if Kawhi has another stellar 45-point game tonight, his boost would be just 13.65 points on a Common scoring Moment. This should illustrate why scoring Moments can be a bit hard to win with — the only time you’re taking them is if you think no other bonus will hit. Nonetheless, Kawhi is going to ball out again and should shoot enough from deep to pass his L10 average of 2.4 shots made from deep.
Sleeper Moments
Bogdan Bogdanovic — Series 2 Common /20,000 Handles ($11)
We are going to really be digging deep for sleepers as we progress into the playoffs, but I think this qualifies. Bogdanovic should see the floor for a good amount of minutes and has a very nice 3.9 assist per game average over his last ten games, meaning only four assists will boost his score. This correlates with avoiding Trae Young’s assist Moment, as Bogdanovic might end up making more passes than normal. Hard to advocate for this over the core Moments, but it isn’t a terrible option for a sleeper.
Danny Green — Series 2 Common /40,000+ 3-Pointer ($3)
Green is taking 5.6 shots from deep per game in the playoffs this year. He is averaging 2.5 makes on 3-pointers over the last ten games he’s played in. The 76ers need to get points from somewhere if Embiid sits, and we saw the Hawks let the Knicks sharpshooters do some damage. This could be a good spot for Green, as he is still a great shooter from the corner. This is definitely an underrated Moment, but again it relies on the Embiid injury and will be hard to go with over a core Moment.
Have questions about setting your lineup on Play? Check out the Play FAQ, or send me a tweet, @JustinPerri8.