NBA
NBA Daily Fantasy (Playoffs) Helper: Friday 4/26/13
Melo's 39.6 percent usage rate isn't going away any time soon, folks.

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As always, the full tables for today's action are available at our Daily Fantasy Projections page. Make sure to check it out to see where the best values are for your team.

StarStreet Optimized Roster

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The Best of the Best

Carmelo Anthony - There's no Kobe, no LeBron or Wade, and no Durant or Westbrook (and judging by my Twitter feed, will continue to be no Westbrook) to choose from tonight. That means your top option is Melo and Melo alone, and despite his high cost, he could very well be worth the effort. His .509 effective field goal percentage (eFG%) and 113 offensive rating indicates he's not being flustered by the Boston defense at all, and his incredibly high 39.6 percent usage rate means that everything, and I mean everything, is running through him.

Tim Duncan - Duncan's .424 eFG% and 12.7 percent total rebound rate are way under his season averages. And even with that reduced efficiency, he's still averaging 16.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in two games so far this season. Just imagine what it's going to be like when he actually turns on the jets? Given the Lakers' Game 3 injury troubles, that night could very well be tonight.

Dwight Howard - Honestly, what other options do the Lakers have? Both Howard and Pau Gasol hold 24 percent usage rates coming into tonight's game, and other than Andrew Goudelock's six minutes played in Game 2, not another Lakers player on the floor tonight will be higher than Antawn Jamison's 18.5 percent. That means Howard will be getting the ball and getting it often. And with all of the other centers tonight somewhat sketchy (do you really trust Tiago Splitter or KG?), going high-priced and getting the center value may be your best option.

Top Mid-Range Values

Tony Parker - There is absolutely zero question who is in charge of the Spurs offense this postseason: Parker's 31.5 percent usage rate is one of the highest marks of any player in the entire NBA. Now figure that he's going to be facing either Darius Morris or Andrew Goudelock tonight, and I'm absolutely salivating at the thought of picking up Parker no matter the cost.

Paul Pierce - I'm not terribly concerned by his .441 eFG% so far this postseason. What, the guy with a 27.4 percent usage rate during the regular season and facing the NBA's No. 17 regular season defensive rating isn't going to get his points? Please. All numbers regress to the mean eventually, and even 19.5 points per game over the first two contests might be a little low for Pierce.

Andrew Goudelock - Who? Yeah, I had the same reaction. But he's the unlucky replacement for all of those injured Lakers guards against the Spurs tonight. But if you haven't heard of him, that also means one other thing: his cost is going to be low. Real low. We don't know exactly how he's going to fit in the starting lineup, but he did average 4.4 points in 10.5 minutes per game for L.A. last season, so we wouldn't be surprised if he racked up a few cheap points tonight.

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