Thursday's small main slate only featured four teams, but the basketball was exciting. CJ McCollum led his undermanned team to a win by putting together his best stat line of the year, Bradley Beal posted his best scoring total of the month, and Utah Jazz role players chipped in with some major contributions to secure a second straight win. Need a brief recap? We'll go over the studs and duds before touching on a Friday DFS play here.
Who's hot
The New Orleans Pelicans didn't have Zion Williamson or Brandin Ingram on Thursday, and McCollum rose to the occasion against the San Antonio Spurs without his co-stars. The crafty guard scored a season-high 40 points to go along with eight rebounds and nine assists. He struggled for a time after returning from health and safety protocols but has found his way again. Whether Ingram and Zion will return next week remains to be seen.
Beal's averaging less than 25 points for the second time in his previous five seasons, but his scoring has improved since returning to action from a hamstring tweak in early December. Thursday's 30-point outing marked the first time the Washington Wizards guard has scored at least 27 points in three straight games this season. Beal's shooting a career-high 52.2 percent from the field and appears to have hit a nice groove ahead of the new year. Now he'll just have to keep it up once Kristaps Porzingis is back in the lineup.
Clarkson hasn't been especially impressive as of late, but he has been consistent. The Utah Jazz combo guard is having a career year and has scored at least 21 points in three straight games while shooting 50 percent from deep on more than 6.0 attempts per contest. Even though Lauri Markkanen has been the team's top scorer, Clarkson's needed to set up at times. Mike Conley's accepted a lesser role on offense, so Clarkson is aggressive enough for both of them as a shooter occasionally.
Who's not
Morris has been quite a let-down since joining the Washington Wizards as a full-time starting point guard. He scored five points on 2-of-5 shooting on Thursday and is averaging just 7.0 points and 3.0 assists per game this week despite playing at least 30 minutes in both contests he's appeared in. Jordan Goodwin has been more effective in fewer minutes off the bench as of late. Morris has struggled to produce quality numbers during Beal's recent hot stretch, and I wouldn't be surprised if that continued in the back half of December.
Friday DFS play
Brunson's averaged 26.5 points, 6.5 assists, and 2.0 rebounds through a pair of road games against the Chicago Bulls. He'll face them at Madison Square Garden for the first time this season ahead of the weekend. The former Dallas Mavericks point guard will face a weakened Bulls defensive backcourt, as Alex Caruso has been ruled out for Friday with a concussion. Chicago forked up 123 points and lost the one game Caruson missed this season, as Trae Young racked up 19 points and 14 assists. I think Brunson should comfortably return 5X value in this matchup.
Still deciding who to lock in for your DFS roster? We've identified a player worth locking in and one to avoid ahead of tip-off below, but you can get my full selection of stud and value plays at each position by heading over to SportsLine.
