The NBA Conference Semifinals get fully underway tonight as the series begins between the Clippers and the Western Conference top-seeded Utah Jazz. After a grueling series with the Mavericks, it is going to be interesting to see if the Clippers can hold up against a dangerous and defensive Jazz team. In the East, the top-seeded 76ers look to make a statement, and need to do so, after losing Game 1 to the Hawks on their home court.
Between these two games, there’s a lot of options for building your lineups in today’s Play Daily Contest to win Top Shot Packs and Moments and across your head-to-heads.
Yesterday’s winning lineup was a Giannis Antetokounmpo Block, Kevin Durant 3-pointer, Nikola Jokic Assist, Chris Paul Assist and Devin Booker Assist. The Pick and Roll featured all five players but we had Booker on a 3-point Moment instead. That’s close to the top lineup, and hopefully you had a decent night in head-to-heads.
Today will be another fun day to build a MomentRanks Play lineup, especially with the Conference Semifinals Head-to-Head Contest still just getting started. Make sure you’re competing in that as there will be some great prizes! Winning will be tough; tonight you’ll need a core of players like Trae Young, Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell and Kawhi Leonard to propel you to victory. But make sure you choose the right star player to sit in favor of a sneaky sleeper if you want to take down the Daily Contest with the day’s best lineup.
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. You can also watch this quick tutorial on Play scoring if you ever need a refresher.
Let’s get to it!
Core Moments
Joel Embiid — Series 2 Common /40,000+ Jump Shot ($5)
Embiid only has scoring or assist Moments, and I wouldn’t exactly call the big man a prolific passer. He only has 23 assists in his last ten games. So we’ll definitely be using a scoring Moment here. The price might also discourage you from going away from the jump shot, as the cheapest Embiid assist Moment is above the $500 threshold. Go ahead and use the cheap option.
Trae Young — Series 2 Common /40,000+ 3-Pointer ($6)
With Young it comes down to assist vs 3-pointer. In Game 1, Trae had 10 assists and made four shots from deep. The 3-pointer outscored the assist 75 to 64.5. With his average for 3-point shots over the last ten games still sitting at 2.2 while assists is at 9.3, going with the 3-pointer Moment is the higher upside play.
Kawhi Leonard — Series 2 Common /15,000 3-Pointer ($24)
Leonard has shown time and again to be a beast. His 3-point numbers over the last ten games are higher than his season numbers, 2.3 to 1.93, but he’s averaging 5.7 attempts from deep per game in the playoffs so this seems like the way to capitalize on how Leonard is playing. You could pivot to a block, but that will run you $175 for the S1 /3287 LE Moment. I’ll happily play the 3-pointer here.
Donovan Mitchell — Series 2 Common /10,000 Assist ($37)
I am going with the assist Moment for Donovan Mitchell as he’s come alive in the category the last few games. In the four games he played in the series against the Grizzlies he produced 0, 5, 8 and 10 assists, respectively. With a L10 average in the category of just 4.5 this is the pretty clear way to go on Mitchell, he should have his biggest boost on this Moment type.
Paul George — Series 2 Common /40,000+ Jump Shot ($4)
Rounding out the Core Moments is Paul George, he’s the fifth highest base score average in these two games and unfortunately he only has scoring Moments below $90, at which price you can grab a Series 2 Rare handles. He has been playing well and will need to perform against the Jazz for the Clips to stay competitive. He’s the only player I’d consider moving away from for a sleeper, but it’s a solid play and if he goes off
Sleeper Moments
Ben Simmons — Series 2 Common /40,000+ Assist ($4)
We’ve seen that this is the way to play Simmons. With their backs against the wall, I expect the 76ers to come out playing hard and featuring Joel Embiid. This should mean plenty of opportunities for Ben to again rack up double digit assists and potentially a triple double. I could see playing this over Paul George but it’s a tough day to take only five players.
Rudy Gobert — Series 2 Common /40,000+ Block ($4)
Gobert might be primed to have a big night of blocks as he is set to face a new opponent. The Clippers drive the basket often and will have to challenge the elite rim protector to do so. Gobert does need three blocks or more to get a boost, but he has had two in every playoff game so far. So if you’re going to roll out the Jazz big man, this is the way to do it.
Clint Capela — Series 2 Common /40,000+ Block ($4)
Another potential big upside block Moment, Capela might have a big defensive game tonight against the 76ers if the Hawks are going to take another road win. With his last ten average in blocks sitting at 1.8 and a five-block game recently against the Knicks, Capela has shown that playing his Block Moment has the potential to pay off. This is another nice cheap sleeper Moment.
Have questions about setting your lineup on Play? Check out the Play FAQ, or send me a tweet, @JustinPerri8.