NBA Matchups: March 18

GSW @ BOS | OKC @ BKN | POR @ IND | TOR @ CHI | UTA @ MIN | LAC @ NOP | ATL @ DAL | DEN @ MEM | LAL @ HOU

Golden State Warriors at Boston Celtics

Team Totals: Warriors 102.3, Celtics 114.3

Injury Report: Al Horford (O, calf), Quinten Post (Q, foot)

Warriors projected starters: Brandin Podziemski, De’Anthony Melton, Will Richard, Gui Santos, Draymond Green

Celtics projected starters: Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, Jayson Tatum, Neemias Queta

Kerr quotes: Talked about his 600th win a lot, said KP has his legs underneath him and he can score so easily, said “we’re on a Kristaps Porzingis reunion tour” against his former teams.

Mazzulla quotes: Said they played with a lot of physicality against the Suns, said they still want JB to be aggressive with his drives/shots even with Tatum in the lineup, said JB studies the game and he’s learned more ways to draw fouls, said he liked playing with more size against the Suns (Queta 33 minutes), said Tatum’s rebounding has been huge and that’s why they can be more aggressive with coverages because of his ability to rebound on the back side.

Stats and Notes: 

*This is a terrible mismatch for the Warriors. They just don’t have enough wing defensive options to guard the Boston perimeter players, and they are not rebounding well. Since the break, they are 25th in TRB%, while the Celtics rank first. The Warriors haven’t really been able to generate paint points, while the Celtics are first in paint defense. They go from the Wizards on Monday to this. Defensively, the Warriors are playing some of their worst defense of the year, and it starts with getting punked on the boards. They are doing well with their transition defense, though.

*De’Anthony Melton took over as the engine of the offense last game with a whopping 19 drives in his 30 minutes. He shot it 11 times off those drives to get him to a 27/5/4 line. He is going to have to guard Jaylen Brown to make this a really tough spot against a great defense (Devin Booker did drive it on them a ton).

*Brandin Podziemski lost a lot of his role to Melton, and his DFS price has been out of control. He’s just too small for this matchup, and I’d have concerns that he gets cut down. I’d have a hard pass in DFS and will be looking at unders.

*Kristaps Porzingis continues his revenge tour after his 30-point game against the Wizards. He lived at the line with 14 attempts in just 26 minutes, but the Celtics don’t foul as much with the fourth-lowest FTAs allowed per game. It’s not a great spot for him here, but the 26 minutes are a very encouraging sign going forward.

*Draymond Green is going to be left open so much in this spot, so he may actually be in play for props. He’s not going to offer enough ceiling in DFS, though.

*Jaylen Brown gets an OK matchup despite seeing a lot of De’Anthony Melton here. He went off against the Suns, but, as mentioned in the Monday edition, the Suns had nobody to guard him. His usage has taken a dip with Jayson Tatum in the mix, and I’d expect it to come back down in this spot. The Warriors being a good transition defense doesn’t help him.

*Jayson Tatum hit 32 minutes again, and that’s probably where the Celtics want to keep him in close games. He’s still not all the way back with aggression at just 10 drives per game, and he’s not generating much inside the paint, either. Tatum has seen some usage spikes in his five games (34.5 and 40.3), so maybe he puts it together. He might see a decent bit of Draymond Green in this spot to make it more neutral.

Great matchups: Neemias Queta (for upside; minutes might be lower if he’s not playing well early), Draymond Green

Good matchups: Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, De’Anthony Melton

Bad matchups: Brandin Podziemski

Oklahoma City Thunder (back end) at Brooklyn Nets