NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 1/11/19

If you're new to daily fantasy basketball -- maybe you started your DFS journey during the MLB or NFL seasons, or maybe basketball is your sport and this will be your first year giving it a shot -- you're in for a treat. The NBA scene changes hugely on a week-to-week, day-to-day, and -- depending on injury news -- even a minute-to-minute basis, making every slate a unique one that requires an ever-changing approach.

With so much changing so quickly, we're here with plenty of tools to help you out. We have daily projections, a matchup heat map, a lineup optimizer, and a ton of other great resources to help give you an edge.

We'll also be coming at you with this primer every day, breaking down a few of the day's top plays at each price point.

Let's take a look at who you should target on today's main slate.

Best of the Best

James Harden ($12,600): The Houston Rockets are 14-point favorites against the Cleveland Cavaliers and their 30th-ranked defensive rating tonight. That blowout risk certainly lowers Harden's floor, but with his usage rate sitting at an absurd 45.2% in minutes with Chris Paul and Eric Gordon off the floor, a Rockets blowout is almost certain to come with a big offensive performance out of Harden. Harden has at least 60 FanDuel points in 10 of his last 14 games, with no fewer than 53.4 in any of those contests. He has topped 70 FanDuel points as often as he's fallen below 60 in that time (four games for each), and he's averaging 64.7 per game in that stretch. In those 14 games, blowouts haven't exactly ruined his value either. Five of the games have been decided by 12 or more points, and the only time he played fewer than 35 minutes was in a game with an 18-point margin of victory. The three of those games decided by fewer than 15 each saw him play at least 38.5 minutes.