Fantasy basketball tips and projections for Friday - ESPN

ESPN's fantasy basketball and basketball betting tips cheat sheet is your pregame destination for basketball betting predictions and our best intel and data, featuring ESPN's proprietary Basketball Power Index (BPI) to help you make smart fantasy and wagering decisions. Fantasy advice is based on ESPN 10-team leagues.

New this season, ESPN Analytics will also generate daily NBA fantasy projections. By combining historical player and team data and specific game factors ESPN is able to accurately predict player box score stats. Accounting for injuries, trends in playing time, and other factors impacting future performance the statistical models can be used to help NBA fantasy players gain an edge in their league.

We're looking at a relatively light Friday night in the NBA with just six games, highlighted by the Sixers visiting the Celtics, the Knicks taking on the Raptors in Toronto, and the Nuggets visiting the banged up Suns in Phoenix. The Sixers at Celtics matchup is the early game on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET and the Nuggets at Suns is the ESPN late game at 10 p.m. ET

Plenty of big names in these games have been struggling and it will be interesting to see who steps up. Jordan Poole and Tyus Jones have been disappointing for the Wizards thus far while the Magic may turn to Cole Anthony, who has been on a tear of late.

Joel Embiid was a late scratch on Wednesday with an illness and may or may not play tonight, while Nicolas Batum should play through a finger injury that knocked him out on Wednesday. Paul Reed was a big disappointment on Wednesday as Marcus Morris weirdly got the start, while the return of Batum would limit the minutes of Robert Covington, who played well in that game.

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