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.

Thursday's five-game slate featured a lot of blowouts and a Mavericks win over the Knicks, without Luka Doncic, that wasn't really as close as the final score might indicate.

Kyrie Irving went nuts with 44 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. added 32 points as the Mavs nearly blew a huge lead but held on to win. Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle, as usual, each hit 30 points in the loss.

Cam Thomas led the Nets with 26 points after disappearing recently and was on a lot of fantasy benches with just one game this week. Donovan Mitchell had 45 in Paris to lead the Cavs over the Nets in an afternoon affair. Caris LeVert stayed relative with 21 points and a full stat line in 35 minutes. Unfortunately, both of these teams are done for the week.

The Bucks ran over the Celtics with a group effort while the only Celtic that really came through was Payton Pritchard, who scored 21 in the blowout loss.

The Thunder absolutely demolished the Blazers 139-77 as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31, Jalen Williams had 21 and Josh Giddey