It’s our first seven-game slate for the Disney action, but there aren’t too many injuries out there that should affect your lineups to start the day. Of course, the Clippers and Blazers haven’t filed yet, so we will certainly get some news there.
Washington Wizards vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (-9, B2B), 12:30 pm ET
Team Totals: Wizards 107.5, Thunder 116.5
Pace rank: Wizards 5th, Thunder 21st
Wizards expected starters: Ish Smith, Troy Brown, Isaac Bonga, Rui Hachimura, Thomas Bryant
Thunder expected starters: Chris Paul, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, Danilo Gallinari, Nerlens Noel (note: Steven Adams missed the last game with a knee issue)
Injury news: Shabazz Napier (ankle) is probable, Steven Adams (knee) is out, Mike Muscala (concussion) is off the injury report.
Thunder rotation notes: Darius Bazley saw some minutes at the five in the first quarter on Friday (next to Gallo for 4.1 minutes total), Lu Dort’s bubble usage rate is 4.0% higher in the bubble compared to before, 10-man rotation in the first half on Friday, Donovan said Jonas Valanciunas “physically overwhelmed” the Thunder on Friday.
Wizards rotation notes: The Wizards have officially been eliminated from playoff contention, 2.6 minutes of Ish and Shabazz Napier in the last game due to Isaac Bonga foul trouble, Scott Brooks said he wants to see better shot selection from Jerome Robinson.
*If you’ve played SGA, he’s probably burned you, and those crafty drives that make him great just haven’t worked with only a 33.3 FG% off those (second worst in bubble, 49.2% pre-bubble). While he’s had worse FG%, his shot on Friday was extremely off with many shots that were not even close. Maybe he snaps out of it in a very friendly matchup, and he did smash on the Wizards with 28 against them earlier this season.
*Wizards starters have surprisingly been great on defense in the bubble (90.2 D rating). Thunder defense missed Steven Adams badly on Friday, but the lineup with Noel had been great prior to the blowout loss to Memphis. Thomas Bryant put up a 21 and 11 game against OKC earlier this year, and he’s been lights out in the shot-selection department. Moe Wagner is also in the doghouse, so there should be huge minutes.
*Troy Brown is 21 years old and he called himself one of “the leaders of the team” and today could be the day he starts at point guard. It’ll be a really tough matchup here, but it may not matter just because Brown can do so much on top of scoring.
Matchup Helps: Troy Brown, Thomas Bryant, Chris Paul
Matchup Hurts: Ish Smith
Memphis Grizzlies vs. Toronto Raptors (-7, B2B), 2:00 pm ET
Team Totals: Grizzlies 107.5, Raptors 114.5
Pace rank: Grizzlies 7th, Raptors 14th
Grizzlies expected starters: Ja Morant, Dillon Brooks, Kyle Anderson, Brandon Clarke, Jonas Valanciunas (Note: Anthony Tolliver started the last one, but using Clarke on Siakam makes sense)
Raptors expected starters: Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol (Note: beware of the B2B here)
Injury news: Serge Ibaka (eye) is probable, Tyus Jones (knee) remains out.
Grizzlies rotation notes: Dillon Brooks leads the bubble in fouls per game, only two minutes of overlap of JV and Clarke in the last one, Clarke had no center minutes in the first half two games ago (three in second half), De’Anthony Melton saw all the non-Ja minutes in last game (excluding garbage time), Melton’s minutes up slightly after horrible start, Allen saw steady second-unit run with 15 minutes of overlap, only 1.6 minutes of Anderson as a four in the last two games (zero in last game).
Raptors rotation notes: Steady eight-man rotation all bubble (bench of Hollis-Jefferson, Powell, Davis with only one total minute of Chris Boucher in four games), heavy overlap of FVV and Lowry (only 41 minutes of FVV no Lowry, 28 Lowry with no FVV), zero overlap of Gasol with Serge Ibaka in the bubble.
*Raptors starters continue to lead the bubble in defensive rating at a silly 82.8 (min. 20 minutes).
*Even in a bad matchup, Ja Morant is still one of the best bets for big playing time. He’s also second in potential assists in the bubble (Dame), and third in time with the ball in his hands.
*Pascal Siakam is struggling, but coach Nick Nurse isn’t worried. “I think Pascal had a lot of really good opportunities, you know what I mean?” Nurse said. “It wasn’t like he wasn’t getting his chances and he had some really wide-open looks, and even had some good drives that I thought he was patient and composed and got good shots up.” Nurse has been a big part of Siakam’s success and worked with him a lot even before he earned the head coaching gig, so he might be force-feeding him here in a very friendly matchup to get him going. Although, beware of the back-to-back set.
Matchup Helps: Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, Kyle Lowry
Matchup Hurts: Dillon Brooks, Jonas Valanciunas
San Antonio Spurs vs. New Orleans Pelicans (-3), 3:00 pm ET
Team Totals: Spurs 118, Pelicans 121
Pace rank: Spurs 15th, Pelicans 3rd
Spurs expected starters: Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, Lonnie Walker IV, DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl
Pelicans expected starters: Lonzo Ball, Jrue Holiday, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, Derrick Favors
Injury news: Bryn Forbes (quad) remains out, Tyler Zeller (knee) is out, Zion Williamson is back after getting the night off on Friday.
Spurs rotation notes: Pop said Walker is ‘really understanding more” and learning who the shooters are and is starting to figure things out, Pop said he wants the young guys to develop chemistry, Lonnie said the young guys haven’t really got a chance to play together much, DeRozan hit a bubble-low 30 minutes on Friday with a general downward trend, Pop continues to talk about Derrick White shooting treys.
Pelicans rotation notes: Gentry said he wanted to get the ball in to Favors in the last game, Lonzo only had five minutes without Jrue next to him on Friday, Favors had bubble-high 29 minutes on Friday (no Zion helped).
*Brandon Ingram hasn’t been right offensively these days, making just 26.3% of his shots off drives for worst in the bubble (min. 10 drives per game, 49.2% pre-bubble). He’s actually shot the ball OK on jumpers at a 50 eFG%, but he’s been brutal around the basket at 35.7% within eight feet. His splits are brutal with Zion, so a great matchup may not help much with how much he’s been off.
*The Spurs continue to play very fast with a fourth-ranked pace in the bubble, and they’re fifth in offensive pace in the bubble. They’ve also struggled on defense with the sixth-worst defense in the bubble.
*Derrick White has been incredible, and Coach Pop has kept his word to let him fire away from deep and he even compared him to Dejounte Murray this week. “Derrick has really picked up on it quickly,” Popovich said. “I think he’s a little bit more confident doing it right now than DJ. He’s done a fine job of it. It’s another threat on the floor. It spreads everything out. It’s very important.” The Pelicans style suits White extremely well as an elite defender of jumpers, and there will be big possessions headed his way, especially if DeMar’s minutes continue to trend down.
Matchup Helps: Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Derrick Favors
Matchup Hurts: Nobody
Orlando Magic vs. Boston Celtics, 5:00 pm ET
Team Totals: (Line not out as of midnight Sunday)
Pace rank: Magic 26th, Celtics 17th
Magic expected starters: D.J. Augustin, Evan Fournier, James Ennis, Gary Clark, Nikola Vucevic (Note: Markelle Fultz continues to come off the bench)
Celtics expected starters: Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, Daniel Theis
Injury news: Aaron Gordon (hamstring) is questionable, Michael Carter-Williams (foot) is questionable
Magic rotation notes: Clinched playoff berth and no play-in game, was upset with defensive rebounding in the last game, Clifford said “the priority is to have [MCW and Gordon] ready at full health” for Game 1 of the playoffs, said he doesn’t really consider much of a difference in a matchup against the Bucks or Raptors.
Celtics rotation notes: Kemba expected to be at 30-32 minutes in the rest of the seeding games, Kemba played a few minutes in garbage time to up his minutes.
*Brad Stevens said the Celtics’ sports science staff advised they shouldn’t let players get more than a week of rest, so the main rotation guys will play two of the last three games intermittently. In other words, you might want to make sure guys are starting if you wanted to use them. Kemba is going to sit in one of the final three games, and it sounds like others will, too.
*Brad Stevens is warming up to Robert Williams. “He’s way more comfortable,” Stevens said. “He’s getting better at a bunch of the little things. He’s obviously a real vertical threat. … I think it’s just a matter of experience and hard work.” The Celtics will need some post defense against Nikola Vucevic, but it’ll be tough to really trust him unless Stevens reveals he’s going to make him his second-unit big. Time Lord is second in the bubble in FD points per minute (min. 20 minutes). Stevens also really praised Daniel Theis, too. “He has figured out how to get the most out of everyone around him and that’s been his biggest strength all year long.”
*Evan Fournier has lit up the Celtics with 28.0 points per game in two contests this season, and he fared well against them last year too (19/5/6 in three games). On Saturday, coach Steve Clifford mentioned that the Celtics are a tough team to score on because of how they switch and they don’t really have any weak spots in their defense to attack.
Matchup Helps: Evan Fournier, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum (assuming they play)
Matchup Hurts: Daniel Theis
Philadelphia 76ers vs. Portland Trail Blazers (-2, B2B), 6:30 pm ET
Team Totals: 76ers 113.3, Blazers 115.3
Pace rank: 76ers 19th, Blazers 12th
76ers expected starters: Shake Milton, Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, Al Horford, Joel Embiid
Blazers expected starters: Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Carmelo Anthony, Zach Collins, Jusuf Nurkic
Injury news: Ben Simmons (knee) is having surgery, and Glenn Robinson III (hip) is doubtful, Hassan Whiteside (hip) did not play on Saturday and will likely be on the injury report today.
76ers rotation notes: Brown wants Tobias to shoot more treys, he’s said multiple times he needs the team to feed Embiid, Alec Burks thrived as the second-unit ball handler on Friday, Josh Richardson is struggling, Burks closed over Shake Milton.
Blazers rotation notes: Coach Terry Stotts still sticking with Zach Collins as four shows how committed he is to his starters, Wenyen Gabriel was essentially in Hassan Whiteside’s spot.
*Damian Lillard’s scoring is a big story, but he’s also leading the bubble in potential assists per game (playing time helps, stat pulled Saturday night). Has been getting trapped a ton, and Clippers coach Doc Rivers said that was part of the gameplan. Headed for massive playing time against a team that’s struggled at times on defense lately.
*The Blazers defense is the third-worst in the bubble (just 0.5 away from worst), and they’ve been getting rolled D at really every level. Embiid has a 31/15/4 per 36 line in his 623 minutes without Ben Simmons this season.
*Alec Burks subbed in together with Mike Scott, Embiid and Matisse Thybulle in the first quarter and subbed out together in the second, but subbed back in just a few minutes later. Burks also played all but about 20 seconds of the final 15:31.
Matchup Helps: Joel Embiid, Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Joel Embiid, Josh Richardson, Alec Burks
Matchup Hurts: Jusuf Nurkic
Houston Rockets (-4.5) vs. Sacramento Kings, 8:00 pm ET
Team Totals: Rockets 117.8, Kings 113.3
Pace rank: Rockets 4th, Kings 20th
Rockets expected starters: James Harden, Ben McLemore, Danuel House, Robert Covington, P.J. Tucker
Kings expected starters: De’Aaron Fox, Cory Joseph, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Harrison Barnes, Alex Len (note: Walton started CoJo against Luka, so makes sense here vs. Harden)
Injury news: Russell Westbrook (quad) remains out, Eric Gordon (ankle) is still sidelined, Richaun Holmes (hip) is out, and Kent Bazemore (calf) is questionable.
Rockets rotation notes: Michael Frazier entered rotation for Westbrook (may not happen again), McLemore took on most of Westbrook’s minutes (30.3 for Ben), 16 minutes of overlap with Jeff Green and Tucker.
Kings rotation notes: Walton said Buddy didn’t close “because Bogi had it going” on Friday, Walton has said multiple times that his guards have to attack, basically said DaQuan Jeffries will only play if Bazemore is out and he wants to trust guys who have been there before.
*Luke Walton pushed back during his post-game presser about development after the bubble, and has routinely said he wants to play to win games as long as they’re still alive (they will be out with a loss).
*De’Aaron Fox continues to be an alpha in the bubble with a top-five touch time per game, top four in points off drives per game, and he should thrive in the uptempo environment of this game. Fox also dropped 31 on the Rockets in his lone game against them. The Rockets have also allowed huge lines to bigs in the bubble.
*The Kings have the worst defense in the bubble at 118.8. Harden has a 44/8/7 per-36 line in his 248 minutes without a traditional center and no Westbrook. He’ll be insta-chalk with no Westbrook.
Matchup Helps: James Harden, De’Aaron Fox, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nemanja Bjelica
Matchup Hurts: Nobody
Brooklyn Nets vs. LA Clippers (-13, B2B), 9:00 pm ET
Team Totals: (no line yet as of midnight Sunday)
Pace rank: Nets 10th, Clippers 8th
Nets expected starters: Tyler Johnson, Garrett Temple, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Lance Thomas, Rodions Kurucs
Clippers expected starters: Reggie Jackson, Landy Shamet, Rodney McGruder, Marcus Morris, Joakim Noah (note: obviously expecting a lot of rest tomorrow here)
Injury news: Caris LeVert (rest) is doubtful, Joe Harris (groin) is doubtful, Jarrett Allen (ankle) is doubtful and Jamal Crawford is out for the Nets; the Clippers won’t have their injury report until tomorrow, but Paul George is a good bet to sit and possibly Kawhi, too.
Nets rotation notes: Nets used Tyler Johnson with Chris Chiozza for 10 minutes in the Bucks game, six minutes of Kurucs with Donta Hall in Bucks game.
Clippers rotation notes: PG said after sitting out the final five minutes of Saturday’s game that he was load managed, Clippers said that Kawhi Leonard is expected to play on Sunday, but we didn’t get anything else here.
*We saw the Clippers pull their guys down the stretch against the Blazers and coach Doc Rivers talked about it after the game. “We knew before the game the minutes that we were going to play our guys, and once they got to those minutes, we took them out,” Rivers said. It’s a pretty decent bet that PG-13 is going to sit, and we’ll see what happens with guys like Ivica Zubac, Landry Shamet, and Lou Williams. After running through the beat writers’ columns, I didn’t come across much, so we’ll likely get an update in the afternoon.The Nets defense has been bad and they’re allowing the fastest possessions in the bubble.
*The Bucks vs. Nets should serve as a pretty good outline on how the Nets rotation will go. Jeremiah Martin stepped in to Jamal Crawford’s spot after his injury in the first half. TLC’s big career-high game on Wednesday was a little misleading because of his silly 91.5 TS%.
*Among the Nets to get 15-plus minutes against the Bucks, the leaders in usage rate were Jeremiah Martin (25.0), Garrett Temple (23.8), Tyler Johnson, Chris Chiozza (20.5) and Rodions Kurucs (19.1). Chiozza is also extremely ball-dominant when he’s out there as one of the leaders in touch time per minute in the bubble.
Matchup Helps: Rodions Kurucs, Chris Chiozza
Matchup Hurts: Whoever Doc sits
