FanDuel Single-Game Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Heat at Celtics (5/27/22)

In a traditional FanDuel NBA lineup, you have a $60,000 salary cap to roster nine players. The salary cap is the same in the single-game setup, but the lineup requirements are different.

You select five players of any position. One of your players will be your MVP, whose FanDuel points are multiplied by two. You also choose a STAR player (whose production is multiplied by 1.5) and a PRO (multiplied by 1.2). Two UTIL players round out the roster, and they don't receive a multiplier for their production.

This makes the five players you select essential in more than one way; you need to focus on slotting in the best plays in the multiplier slots rather than just nailing the best overall plays of the game.

Read this piece by Brandon Gdula for some excellent in-depth analysis on how to attack a single-game slate in NBA DFS.

Heat-Celtics Overview

Away Home GameTotal AwayTotal HomeTotal AwayPace HomePace
Miami Boston 201 96 105 29 24


This series has closer resembled my other domain -- a UFC fight. Unfortunately, one fighter appears to be close to landing the knockout blow.

The Miami Heat have been ravaged by injury in this series. Tyler Herro still remains on Friday's injury report after missing Games 4 and 5 with a groin injury. He's joined by teammates who have all played each contest through their listed injuries, including Kyle Lowry (hamstring), Max Strus (hamstring), P.J. Tucker (knee), and Gabe Vincent (hamstring).

As a nine-point favorite, the Celtics might be more inclined to rest either Marcus Smart (ankle) or Robert Williams (knee). They've won games without both this postseason, so that's worth watching on Friday.

Player Breakdowns

At The Top

Jimmy Butler ($15,000): Miami's team total is just 96 points after back-to-back games in the 80s, so no one is lining up to roster their players in this space. Butler, specifically, has a 9.9-percentage-point gap between himself and the next Heat starter in terms of usage rate, but he'll likely be the contrarian MVP choice off of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The knee issue is definitely a concern, but you just have to imagine the hyper-competitive Butler will take plenty into his own hands as the Heat face elimination.

Jaylen Brown ($14,000): If deciding between one of the Boston guys, it's Brown over Tatum for yours truly. Tatum's struggles from the field continued in Game 5 with a 7-for-20 effort, but Brown's efficiency stayed in place with a 10-for-19 effort. Tatum just pulled down his second-highest total of boards (12) and dished the second-most assists (9) that he has all postseason. Brown recorded just one assist and four rebounds, so the pair is due for some regression in opposite directions.

Others to Consider: Jayson Tatum ($16,000), Al Horford ($13,000)

In The Middle

Bam Adebayo ($12,500): It is concerning that Adebayo's one solid game in this series -- Game 3 with 31 points -- came with Robert Williams out. Obviously, Williams being out again would be a green flag to Bam in even STAR or PRO spots, but he still posted 18 points and 10 boards in Game 5 with Williams present. Miami has been absolutely dreadful from three-point range in the past two games (25.9%), so it wouldn't be surprising to run more of their offense through Bam inside.

Victor Oladipo ($10,000): Today's "forgotten man" might be Oladipo. His salary doesn't really match his role after just 15 minutes played in Game 5, but he did log 30 minutes in Game 4 and posted a team-high 23 points. Out of necessity, it wouldn't be shocking to see Oladipo post heavy minutes out of the blue once more. Kyle Lowry's hamstring has capped him around 28 minutes thus far, and Max Strus has missed his last 16 three-point attempts. If there's a high-quality scorer who can aid Butler, it's this one.

Others to Consider: Marcus Smart ($12,000), Robert Williams ($11,500)

At The Bottom

Derrick White ($9,000): Boston has blown Miami out in three of the last four games, so undoubtedly, they're looking ahead. With that the case, they've only used Marcus Smart as much as required. He played just 24 minutes in Game 5. It was White who played 29 minutes off the bench instead. His efficiency (6-for-8 shooting) will likely be hard to replicate, but he'll be on the court enough to make a run at double-figure scoring once again.

P.J. Tucker ($8,500): If there's one guy on Miami who's not going down easily, it's Tucker. Tucker grabbed 6 offensive boards -- and 11 overall -- in the Game 5 loss. He went just 1-for-5 from three in the contest, though, so regression could treat the 41.5% three-point shooter this season favorably in this one. If Herro returns for this contest, every positional unit is facing playing time uncertainty except Miami's frontcourt. We know Adebayo and Tucker will play as much as possible.

Others to Consider: Kyle Lowry ($9,500), Max Strus ($9,500), Gabe Vincent ($8,000), Grant Williams ($7,000)