Fun night for JB last night! I was driving down a desert road, opened up my suitcase, did… something with a lot of things… and next thing I know I’m raging next to Benicio Del Toro and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in a hotel bathroom! KCP was absolutely unconscious last night, hitting 12-18 from the field (8-11 3PTM 6-8 FT) for a career-high 38/4/1/4/0.
Somebody call the ThrAGNOF police, we’ve found a face! As Slim noted on the Pod, KCP has some of the wildest game-to-game variance with his scoring, but as we saw last night, when he hot, he hot! The big changes for this year is he’s taking and making career-high treys (2.3 for 5.6), and making them at fantastic 40.3% clip. Even though he’s at a career-high scoring, he’s actually taking less shots per game than last year. And you know I’m an addict for AST:TO – 1.8:1.4 last year to 2.9:1.3 this season. So much to get addicted to! Let’s just hope the good times keep rollin’, and John Travolta won’t have to stab a foot-long needle in my heart if things go sour! Here’s what else went down on a busy night of basketball last night:
Ricky Rubio – Was actually 4-4 FG at half, before the Cavs then absolutely torched the Wolves in the second half. Ended up 5-11… Too confident, Ricky! 14/2/13/0/1 with a trey as he continues his dimebag ways…
Zach LaVine – Shot 4-18, including 0-6 from deep. Safe word! Labradoodle!
LeBron James – Didn’t have as much to complain about after this one! 27/8/12/2/1 as the Cavs get back on track. Hopefully with them winning again, he’ll stop balding…
Kyrie Irving – Career-high 14 dimes. The Wolves interior defense had all sorts of miscommunications and gave up a ton of easy baskets inside. Effin Tristan Thompson scored 18 points!
Channing Frye – Getting the start with Kevin Love still out (back), 18/4/1/1/2 with 3 treys and no TO in a surprising multi-cat line. He was decent the game before against Dallas as well… The Cavs are off until Saturday, but I could see a stream here if Love is still out.
Kyle Korver – Good to see he can still shoot sometimes! 8-11 FG with 4 treys for a ThrAGNOF 20/1/2/0/1.
Paul George – Yikes, smothered in that Magic defense! 8/7/3/0/0 with 5 TO on 3-14 shooting. PG13 owners dropped some R-rated words after seeing this line! Fiddelsticks! Horse pucky!
Elfrid Payton – Pretty boring game in Orlando, with Elfrid having a rough go as well, going 11/6/3/0/0. Only 1 TO and shot 5-10, so there’s that… Evan Fournier got 30 minutes and moved back into the starting line-up, going 12/1/4/2/0 with 2 treys. Still hoping The Virgin doesn’t put Elfrid’s value on the Shelfrid!
Jonas Valanciunas – Picked up 3 quick fouls in the first half, the the 4th foul early in the 3rd quarter, so barely got any run. 12 minutes of 3/3/1/0/1, but thankfully it wasn’t a low-run night due to injury…
Kyle Lowry – Put the offense on his shoulders, as he continues his hot run of scoring 29+ points in 6 straight. 32/2/5/2/0 with 4 treys, but twasn’t quite enough.
Norman Powell – Welcome back to the party, Powell! 12/5/2, but no treys and 4 TO. Not the best DeMar DeRozan fill-in this time.
Lucas Nogueira – Hey Bebe! 10/5/0/1/4 with some extended run getting 28:29. Shot 3-4 FG and 4-4 FT. His only miss…? A 3PTA?!?! Why you going so far out there, Bebe?!
Isaiah Thomas – Keeps bumping up his tallies for MVP votes. 44/4/7 with 5 treys and 15-16 FT, as the Celtics continue chasing the Cavs for best record in the East.
Marcus Smart – Nothing too special otherwise for the C’s, with Smart leading the bench with 35 minutes for 10/5/5/2/0 and a trey.
Anthony Davis – Trying to keep the Pelicans on his back, but he’s the only one makin’ em fly! Well, other than Jrue… 31/12/2/2/4, but I think he had most of this rainbow line earlier on. And in a 20-point loss, you just LOOOOVVVVEEE seeing 41 minutes…
Jrue Holiday – 22/3/11/2/1 on 10-17 shooting, as the Pels are a 2-man team right now. Their low-end free agent signings aren’t picking up the slack!
Reggie Jackson – Not surprising to see a rough game with KCP going off, but he did get benched down the stretch, only going 21 minutes for 6/0/3/0/0. Here we go again, StanVan! Did this some last year, but we’ll see if it holds. Ish Smith got 27 minutes (15/3/7) and had a +36 to R-Jax’s -16. Second unit+KCP was killin’ it!
Kent Bazemore – Nothing that interesting from the Hawks last night, as no one had a good game, just a lot of blah. Baze actually led em in scoring! 14/0/1/2/1 with a trey in 6-11 shooting. When Bazemore – who was ice cold as poo to start the year – is your leading contributor in a game, things went terribly wrong!
James Johnson – I’m tellin’ ya, he’s become the heart and soul of this team! Taurean Prince decided to use his 6 minutes of game action to practice football tackling on Hassan Whiteside (who had a nice 18/18/0/1/2 game) and Johnson rushed over ready to throw down:
I love that Whiteside is just sprawled out, like a chalked body-outline after a murder. Hah! Even though it didn’t seem like Prince was trying to do a full body slam, to be fair, it was a 105-86 game. Scoreboard! Johnson had a nice outing prior to the ejection as well, going 16/2/3/1/3 in only 23 minutes. Man, what a waiver wire find…
Dion Waiters – 20/5/7/2/2 with 2 treys on 9-15 shooting. Slim is unbelievable for getting this run outta him in our JB vs. Slim RCL. He should pull himself out of the race for using someone he thinks is so terrible at basketball… Such a crooked politician!
Tyler Johnson – That’s how we bounce back, baby! 11/3/5/2/2 for a rainbow line on his second game back from injury. Hit a trey, 2-2 FT, 4-11 FG, only 1 TO… Multi-cat love!
Willy Hernangomez – Bringing the full Willy last night! 16/16/2/2/1 off the bench in 25 minutes, as Joakim Noah continues to be terrible as a starter, and only got 13 minutes. I love Willy’s upside, but there’s still this looming KOQ that could take this minutes again. It’s flip flopped so many times, that I have no idea if Hornacek will let Willy run away with this – not like KOQ hasn’t put up some erect lines! Worth a spec add, but I wouldn’t hold if there’s a minutes dropoff in the next couple games.
Brandon Jennings – Who left the roof open in Brooklyn last night?! 1-11 from the field, but at least salvaged the night with a 6/3/10/5/0 line.
Trevor Booker – Hurray, Mess! Let’s now move one of fantasy’s surprises and a nice find you guys got in the first month, and completely ruin his minutes and now bring him off the bench! Sheesh. 12/8/3/1/1 is awesome and all, but only 16 minutes and now off the bench?!
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson – Booker was benched for RHJ to play combo F with Bojan Bogdanovic, and RHJ went 16/8/3/0/1 on 6-11 shooting. 4 TO though… He’s lacked consistency all season, so would need to see several good starts to recommend going back here long term, but I don’t mind a flier. Mess are gonna play the youts. “Did you say, youts?!”
Jahlil Okafor – Struggling to find much interesting for the Sixers, who got steamrolled by a resurgent Mavs team. 16/1/1/0/0 for Okafor in 24 minutes, and gets a Doug Collins’ shout out! 1 rebound?! From your starting center?!?!?!
Salah Mejri – It’s the. Return. Of. The. Baby giraffe! Unleashed for 21 minutes for 16/17/0/1/1 as Okafor refused to ever box him out. “He’s a giraffe, he has hooves, he can’t rebound!” We’ve seen some nice rebounding games from B. Giraffe in the past, but he only gets minutes in the right matchups. Pass.
Seth Curry – Mannnnn, playing a lot better than I expected these days. Deron Williams could still return soon though, but 22/3/6/4/0 with 3 treys is wayyyyy better than his typical lines the first few months. Own while hot, and see how the minutes shake out.
Yogi Ferrell – DWill’s return will certainly hurt Ferrell more, who is playing a BOATLOAD of minutes right now! 38 mins for 11/3/5/1/1 – not the greatest line, and no treys on 3-13 FG shooting – but I’d be streaming Yogi in 130% of my leagues!
Chandler Parsons – Kinda wish he got 3 more assists… 6/6/3 is only fairly close to the line I would expect from this demon these days…
Marc Gasol – 24/5/3/0/1. Pretty good for him… but in only 24 minutes! Grizz got to spread their starters thin as they pummeled the Nugs.
Jameer Nelson – Good thing Emmanuel Mudiay was back! Ejected with 2 techs in under 4 minutes, giving Mudiay 26 minutes off the bench for 14/6/7. I bet they wanted him to play less coming off an injury, but when your vet presence gets ejected, hurray! 6-10 FT from Mudiay as well, so good to see him aggressive. Bad to see him missing freebies…
Gary Harris – Well, something to be said for efficiency! 12/2/1/1/0 on 4-4 shooting with 2 treys and 2-2 FT. He scored more than Courtney Lee though!
Danilo Gallinari – Left last night with a groin injury, but still got 30 minutes. Coach Malone said he thought it was hampering The Rooster all game, so let’s hope the MRI he’s getting today comes up clean. Random thought – how awkward do you think it is getting a groin MRI?!
Blake Griffin – Back in tip-top, punch-punch form going 29/8/5/1/1 on 10-14 shooting and 9-10 FT. Just needed a date with the Suns!
Raymond Felton – Not sure why he’s listed as a “F” on the Yahoo game page, but maybe he looked that much bigger because he ate 15 happy meals before the game… 18/5/1/1/0 with 2 treys in a nice outing. I took him over Austin Rivers a week ago, and it looked pretty bad then, but OK now! Rivers was fine as well as the starting PG, going 14/2/4/3/0.
DeAndre Jordan – Ejected for hit-sticking Marquese Chriss on a dunk attempt. Good thing Chriss is a youngun, he took a hard fall! Chriss ended up with a 9/5/1/4/0 line with no TO in his follow-up to a nice flashing a couple night ago, but only shot 3-15. When you have PTSD DJ, it’s tough to focus!
Eric Bledsoe – After hitting his career high only a few games ago, matched it last night on a 41/4/8 line. Hit 13-22 FG and 13-15 FT, but did have 6 TO and no D stats. Still, nice revenge game!
Thon Maker – Whoa, Thon Maker, the buzz maker! 12/5/0/1/3 in his best game as a pro, hitting 3 treys in 24 starting minutes. The previous two starting C guys on big contracts – John Henson and Miles Plumlee – both got DNPs. Some horrible money management going on! I still dunno if I trust Maker, but deep league flier, sure! And hell, this was against Rudy Gobert and he held his own while Gobert fouled out!
Giannis Antetokounmpo – Dat Jazz D, doe! 9/6/4/1/0 with 3 TO on 2-10 shooting. Luckily the Jazz are in the West and the Bucks only have to face them twice in a year…
Rodney Hood – Mannnnn, dude can not stay healthy. Hyperextended the same knee that cost him a few weeks earlier in the year, and getting an MRI today. Alec Burks wasn’t huge, but 25 minutes of 6/4/0/2/0 with a trey, and he’s shockingly looking healthy himself. Maybe not a 12er spec add yet, but any deeper, and I think Burks will get run even if Joe Ingles gets the starts.
Jerian Grant – Another start at PG for the Bulls, who can’t figure out their PG situation to save their lives… 26 minutes of 12/3/3/0/0 on 5-7 shooting with 2 treys. Pretty nice showing!
Dwyane Wade – 18/7/7/2/0, hitting 7-12 from the field. The Bulls somehow managed to shoot 60.5% and only have 9 turnovers. That’s how you win basketball games, Chicago!
Russell Westbrook – Tough to get rebounds when the other team shoots over 60%! 28/5/8/2/1 in 29 minutes as OKC got a little blown out.
Domantas Sabonis/Steven Adams – The interior guys for OKC were awful, with Sabonis going 1-10 from the field and committing an awful TO (just threw the ball right to someone on the Bulls who got an easy layup) and Adams was only 8/6/0/0/0. That Rolo defense!
Kemba Walker – Only 7 points in 25 minutes. I’m gonna guess it’s tough to beat the Warriors on the road when you stud does that… Man, a lot of duds from the studs last night!
Frank Kaminsky – Your only Hornet to do much of anything, getting hot off the bench for 24/7/2/2/0 on 9-14 shooting with 2 treys. He scored 10 or fewer points the previous 6. Bleh. Frank the Stank!
Stephen Curry – Saw KCP getting hot, and 1-upped him! 39/5/8/3/0 hitting 11, count em, 11 treys. Shot 14-20 overall. See, this is the #1 player I was looking for!
Kevin Durant – With Klay Thompson also hitting his shots (6 treys, 29 points), KD took the backseat for 18/8/8/1/0. That’s still a pretty sexy backseat, Slim Reaper!
JaVale McGee – Got a start at center with Zaza still out, and got 4 blocks in 17 minutes. Multi-blocks in 3 straight now. Might not be Shaqtin-a-Fool to stream him for BlockNOF!
Whew, so many games last night! I hope all your teams did well and didn’t own too many shares of the studs being duds! Have a great weekend, and be sure to hit me up in the comments!
