NBA
Daily Fantasy NBA Adjusted Matchups and Pace for 3/26/21

Matchups matter in daily fantasy NBA, and it can be hard to keep everything -- pace, defensive rating, individual matchups -- tidy, so I wanted to fix that by dumping all the data into one place for ease of use.

So every day, I'll be posting some information on each game for the NBA main slate.

That'll include things like opponent-adjusted offensive and defensive ratings for each team. I'll also look at opponent-adjusted paces based on the team-level as well.

And to go a step further, I'll provide defense-versus-position (DvP) values based on FanDuel points per minute allowed to each position. The way that'll work is to adjust on the individual level. This means looking at each player's total fantasy points per minute mark to figure out an expected output in a game and comparing it to what actually happened. Holding a superstar and a role player to the same FanDuel-point-per-minute mark isn't quite the same. These values will adjust for expectation.

These values initially included last season's data but now show only stats from the 2020-21 season.

Adjusted Offensive Rating and Opponent Defensive Rating

This table shows each team's spread and implied total (plus the over/under for their game). It also includes opponent-adjusted offensive rating and the adjusted defensive rating for each team's opponent, including league-wide ranks for each.

Teams are sorted by implied team total.

Team Opp Over/
Under
Spread Implied
Total
Adj.
Offensive
Rating
Rank Opp Adj.
Defensive
Rating
Rank
MILBOS233.5-6.0119.75121.84114.023
UTAHMEM228.0-9.5118.75122.33107.46
DENNO232.5-2.0117.25121.55119.828
DALIND228.5-4.5116.50116.89110.713
MINHOU227.5-3.5115.50101.626112.416
NODEN232.52.0115.25119.77113.319
PORORL218.5-11.5115.0120.16113.521
ATLGS222.0-7.0114.50114.312107.57
PHXTOR223.5-4.5114.0117.48113.218
BOSMIL233.56.0113.75114.611108.49
BKNDET222.0-5.5113.75123.21112.215
HOUMIN227.53.5112.096.930116.527
INDDAL228.54.5112.0110.716113.320
MIACHA217.5-1.5109.50103.925113.722
TORPHX223.54.5109.50112.313106.55
MEMUTAH228.09.5109.25107.419105.03
DETBKN222.05.5108.25104.724116.025
CHAMIA217.51.5108.0110.915107.68
GSATL222.07.0107.50105.722112.817
LALCLE210.0-4.0107.0110.017114.024
ORLPOR218.511.5103.5099.227123.229
CLELAL210.04.0103.097.829102.01

Adjusted Pace and Expected Pace, Offensive Rating, and Points

This table shows each team's adjusted pace and adjusted opponent pace to find expected pace. Expected offensive rating combines each team's adjusted offensive rating and the opponent's adjusted defensive rating. Combining expected pace and expected offensive rating gives us expected points.

This table is sorted by matchup in terms of fastest average pace.

Team Opp Adj.
Pace
Rank Opp
Adj.
Pace
Rank Expected
Pace
Expected
Offensive
Rating
Expected
Points
HOU MIN 101.5 4 100.9 8 101.2 106.7 108.0
MIN HOU 100.9 8 101.5 4 101.2 107.0 108.3
ATL GS 98.3 19 103.1 2 100.7 110.9 111.7
GS ATL 103.1 2 98.3 19 100.7 109.3 110.1
MEM UTAH 100.7 10 99.5 15 100.1 106.2 106.3
UTAH MEM 99.5 15 100.7 10 100.1 114.9 115.0
BOS MIL 97.9 23 102.0 3 99.9 111.5 111.4
MIL BOS 102.0 3 97.9 23 99.9 117.9 117.9
DAL IND 98.2 21 99.9 12 99.0 113.8 112.7
IND DAL 99.9 12 98.2 21 99.0 112.0 110.9
DET BKN 97.1 27 100.7 9 98.9 110.4 109.1
BKN DET 100.7 9 97.1 27 98.9 117.7 116.4
PHX TOR 97.4 25 99.6 14 98.5 115.3 113.6
TOR PHX 99.6 14 97.4 25 98.5 109.4 107.8
MIA CHA 97.0 28 99.6 13 98.3 108.8 107.0
CHA MIA 99.6 13 97.0 28 98.3 109.2 107.4
CLE LAL 98.3 20 97.8 24 98.0 99.9 97.9
LAL CLE 97.8 24 98.3 20 98.0 112.0 109.8
ORL POR 98.7 17 97.3 26 98.0 111.2 109.0
POR ORL 97.3 26 98.7 17 98.0 116.8 114.5
DEN NO 96.7 29 98.6 18 97.6 120.7 117.8
NO DEN 98.6 18 96.7 29 97.6 116.5 113.7

Player-Level Adjusted FanDuel Points per Minute by Position

This table is presented to be viewed from an offensive perspective (i.e. the defensive marks reflect the offense's opponent).

The matchups shown are their opponent's defensive FanDuel-point-per-minute mark adjusted for individual opponents faced. League-wide ranks are in parenthesis. Because outliers are the primary matchups worth targeting and avoiding, green cells indicate top-five easiest matchups for the offense, and red indicate bottom-five.

Teams are sorted alphabetically for ease of use.

Offense Defense PG SG SF PF C
ATL GS 0.92 (6) 0.87 (18) 0.86 (14) 0.97 (23) 1.17 (27)
BKN DET 0.94 (11) 0.84 (7) 0.80 (6) 1.09 (30) 1.09 (13)
BOS MIL 0.94 (13) 0.87 (21) 0.88 (23) 0.92 (15) 1.07 (10)
CHA MIA 0.89 (3) 0.84 (8) 0.85 (11) 0.92 (11) 1.00 (4)
CLE LAL 0.98 (21) 0.85 (10) 0.77 (4) 0.84 (1) 1.01 (5)
DAL IND 0.96 (19) 0.85 (11) 0.87 (16) 0.97 (25) 1.15 (24)
DEN NO 0.99 (26) 0.89 (25) 0.89 (26) 0.89 (8) 1.05 (8)
DET BKN 0.89 (4) 0.83 (5) 0.83 (8) 0.96 (20) 1.15 (25)
GS ATL 0.97 (20) 0.87 (22) 0.88 (21) 0.90 (10) 1.10 (15)
HOU MIN 1.04 (30) 0.88 (24) 0.90 (27) 0.94 (18) 1.25 (30)
IND DAL 0.92 (9) 0.81 (3) 0.87 (17) 0.92 (12) 1.08 (11)
LAL CLE 0.95 (16) 0.86 (14) 0.88 (18) 0.96 (22) 1.14 (23)
MEM UTAH 0.92 (7) 0.80 (2) 0.85 (10) 0.90 (9) 1.08 (12)
MIA CHA 0.98 (22) 0.88 (23) 0.94 (29) 1.00 (29) 1.11 (19)
MIL BOS 0.93 (10) 0.85 (13) 0.86 (13) 0.87 (6) 1.1 (18)
MIN HOU 0.99 (25) 0.92 (27) 0.87 (15) 0.96 (21) 1.17 (26)
NO DEN 0.88 (2) 0.85 (12) 0.89 (25) 0.87 (7) 0.91 (2)
ORL POR 1.01 (29) 0.94 (30) 0.78 (5) 0.92 (14) 1.04 (7)
PHX TOR 0.94 (15) 0.90 (26) 0.88 (19) 1.00 (27) 1.10 (16)
POR ORL 0.98 (24) 0.92 (28) 0.88 (22) 0.92 (13) 0.92 (3)
TOR PHX 0.86 (1) 0.78 (1) 0.74 (1) 0.86 (4) 1.06 (9)
UTAH MEM 0.94 (12) 0.87 (19) 0.92 (28) 0.93 (17) 1.09 (14)

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