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The tennis balls are off the legs, the HurryCane back in the closet, the pre-game meal eaten at 5:00 AM at the early bird special – we’ve got Kemba Walker back!

After a month and a half off, Walker came off the bench last night for the Hornets, and looked like Louis C.K.’s nethers.  Rusty.  2-9 from the field for 6/1/2/0/1 with a TO in 16 minutes.  While there’s no need to be harsh – we expected some rust after knee surgery – but Mo Williams played pretty well with 8 dimes and Gerald Henderson shocked the world with a career-high 11 assists.  Ok, “shocked the world” may be a slight overstatement, I could say “it was so shocking it blew all his hair off!”  It’s certainly interesting he had a previous career-high 9 dimes just last Sunday, so now there’s two facilitators to battle with.  Makes me worried about Kemba’s assists upside, and he’s kinda looking like an Isaiah Canaan clone.  Wait, I said I didn’t need to be harsh!  That said, Kemba is healthy and has a lot more upside, so obviously worth owning everywhere.  I just wouldn’t be shocked (unlike Hendo’s dimebag!) if he’s towards the end of the line if you’re killing Pts/3s and need to stream a stat at the end of week one of the playoffs…  Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:

Ish Smith Well that’s not annoying…  Got the start over Canaan, who apparently had an illness, but Canaan still played 30 minutes off the bench…  Weird.  Anyway, both were the only O that Philly had in an OT loss with Ish for 23/2/6 with 3 treys and Canaan 20/3/0 with 4 treys.  Can’t trust Philly for anything!  I’d still rather Canaan, but yikes.

Robert Covington Anddddd, Philly started Jason Richardson over Lord Covington.  Somebody call the magistrate!

Thomas Robinson – Whoa, rebounds Mcgoo works for you!  7/15/2/1/1 in only 18 minutes.  But shot 3-10 FG and 1-4 FT.  At some point raw stays raw.

Aaron Brooks – Well, I wish I had more steadfastly stuck with Brooks over Canaan!  I’ve been a little admittedly waffly (too many adverbs!), but Brooks had the monster last night for 31/4/5/0/0 with 3 treys.  Usage is going to go your way when Joakim Noah isn’t running the point-C!

Tony Snell – He dubdubbed, but I care about that ugly 7.  Not The Magnificent Seven.  The Dirty Seven.  Which is like a porno title where no one really tried…  10/10/2/1/0 but 7 TO.  For a guy that’s at 1.2 TO in per-36!  And only shot 2-9.  Way to taint a dubdub.  With numbers that smelled like a taint.

Ray McCallum – Whoa, look at Ray Mac with the near-dimebag!  6/4/9, but shot only 1-7 and split PG minutes down the middle with short-shorts Andre Miller.  Nah.

Ben McLemore 20+ points in 2 of 3 now with a 27/2/2 line last night and 3 treys.  I thought he looked awful last year, but has really impressed this sophomore season.

Al Jefferson – Pop goes the weasel calf.  I was never that good with barnyard animals…  I always guessed wrong on that animal sound spinny thing.  Left early last night and said he felt a pop in his calf muscle.  Yikes.  Bismack Biyombo should get a tad more run, but if Cody Zeller is still on your wire in 12ers, he becomes mad interesting.  He was out last night with a shoulder sprain, but it sounds infinitely less severe than a calf pop.  Which kinda sounds like a meaty popsicle.  “Negative, I’m a meat popsicle!”

Marvin Williams – If Jefferson misses prolonged time and Zeller shifts to a lot of C minutes, it would get Starvin’ Marvin a little bit of an assured role.  Got 32 minutes last night for 13/7/1/0/3 with 3 treys.  The blocks and treys combo isn’t the easiest to find!

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – His game has become overrated for fantasy purposes, but put together a monster 23/9/2/1/2 line last night on 9-12 FG (5-8 FT).  Plus only 1 TO!  If he can start chipping in the steals and blocks like we previously expected, MKG would be great to use again.

Mike Conley Everyone falling apart!  Sprained his ankle but was able to return, then was badly limping after the Grizz lost to Boston.  Talk about a bad night!  Probably going to miss a few if I had to guess, as he’s already using Das Boot.

Tony Allen – Rainbow alert!  16/5/2/2/2 hitting 7-9 FG.  He’s always been a force on D, but is at a career high 2 steals a game.  Plus has 11+ points in 5 of 6.  I’ve definitely been overlooking it – he can help a lot of teams.

Kelly Olynyk Olynyk of Nazareth hath finally been resurrected!  15/6/3/3/0 with a couple of treys in by far his best game since coming off the kankle.  Still only played 20 minutes though, and I don’t think he’s a must-own in every single league.  But probably most 12ers.

Isaiah Thomas – IT2/3 sat with bruises to 2/3 of his body.  Brad Stevens, aka the worst coach ever, said it’s very likely Thomas misses Friday and Saturday.  In Slim and I’s F&F league with weekly locks, we had Brandon Knight and IT2/3 get hurt on Monday.  Geez.

Chris Andersen – Whoa, Birdman got a new talon!  But hat’s off to Rotoworld, they killed it with the headline “Birdman or (The Unexpected 18-14 Dub-Dub).”  Seemed at first like he might miss the game, got a questionable tag, then officially active and tore apart the terrible Nets.  18/14/1/1/1, but it’ll go back to roost with Hassan Whiteside returning from the suspension next time out.

Jarrett Jack – Nice line from “Wahhhhhh, I’m Jarrett Jack!” for 18/4/4 on 5-8 FG (1-1 3PTM 7-8 FT).  Did a lot of “Wahhhh”-ing driving to the hoop to get those FT!  Deron Williams was fine, but had 6 TO in his 32 starting minutes.  Eh, Jack had 4 himself in only 22.  It’s kinda a rich-man’s Kings backcourt going on…

Khris Middleton The Middletit Duchess is just on fire right now, hitting 12-17 FG (4-4 3PTM 2-2 FT) 30/3/5/2/0 with only 1 TO.  I mean, that’s like a top 15 or 20 line on the year!  What a beast in the second half.

Michael Carter-Williams Rainbo[MC]W!  Eh, too contrived…  Anyway, 11/9/6/2/2 with those typical 5 TO.  At least hit 3-4 FT!

Chris Paul Couldn’t get to 10 assists?!  What a schlub!  Droppable everywhere.  33/4/9/3/0 hitting 11-19 FG (5-8 3PTM 6-7 FT).  Carrying the Clips pretty well (understatement of the year!) without Blake Griffin.

Matt Barnes – Nice bounceback from tattoo Matt for 22/3/1/3/2 with no TO hitting 6-8 FG (6-7 3PTM 4-4 FT).  It’s just so hard to trust on a night-to-night basis in shallowers…

Russell Westbrook Booo, no tripdub!  Almost a quaddub though!  24/9/7 with 10 TO.  Just wasn’t an OKC night…

Kevin Durant …but at least KD has some optimism!  Will be back in “1-2 weeks”.  I wish in the corporate world I would work with that kind of time frame.  “Yes sir, I’ll have the report done ASAP!  Expect it in 1-2 weeks!”

Steven Adams Second game back after missing a month with a broken hand, and got 22 minutes for 2/5/2/0/3.  It’s low end and he had another game of foul trouble (5), but for the deep leaguers desperate for a big?  Could do a little sumthin sumthin.

Atlanta Hawks – Slim laughed at me when I said the altitude might get to em!  And they got blown the F out, even though the final score wasn’t so bad.  And Coach Butthole really spread the minutes thin.  Ugh.

Danilo Gallinari Tough to know how things will shake out this early, but I think he’ll be a big sleeper for me in 15-16.  23/5/5/1/0 last night on a mad hot 8-12 FG (4-5 3PTM 3-3 FT), and it’s easy to forget he’s only 26.  I mean, like, Adreian Payne is 24!  Gallo looks healthy and the injury concerns/low numbers due to getting eased in might scare off drafters.

Will Barton Ya know, he reminds me more and more of Alec Burks.  16/6/5/1/2 making 5-14 FG (1-4 3PTM 3-3 FT) with 4 TO.  He’s slashy and flashy, they call him Will the Thrill, but 33 minutes last night usurping time from Randy Foye‘s 19 starting minutes, and I think this being a blowout aided that.  I don’t really trust either.

Joffrey Lauvergne – Oh man, I can really put any Joffrey meme right here!  “How dare you call that a foul, IMP?!”  4 fouls in 10 minutes on 0-3 shooting with 2 TO.  Yikes.

Justin Hamilton – Whoa, look at this run J-Hamil got!  Although J-Hamil could be misconstrued as J-Hammel the Cubs pitcher, and now I’m all sorts of confused…  Anyway, 28 minutes of 15/3/0/0/2 hitting 7-12 FG with a trey, and looked really good out there.  Shocker – Nikola Pekovic had renewed soreness and lasted only 8 minutes, and Kevin Garnett sat with old man syndrome.  Hamilton could be interesting for the really deep leagues for some 3s/Pts/Blk combo.

Markieff Morris Patience is a virtue!  “Shut up JB, you’re lame and I’m not reading this anymore!”  24/3/2/1/1 hitting 10-15 FG and all 4 FT.  Slim and I mentioned on the Tuesday Pod he was not performing to what we hoped, so I’m glad we could give ya some bulletin board material, Kieff!

T.J. Warren Ya know, looked like a good NBA scorer out there in his career-high 17 points last night.  Hit 8-10 in 19 minutes.  Marcus Thornton played decent as well putting up 14 in 22 minutes, and Gerald Green was a healthy (I think, haven’t seen an injury) DNP.  Gerald’s gotta stop hitting on Mrs. Hornacek to ever see game time again!  It’s the only explanation I can think of…

Andre Drummond From the depths of a horrible mismatch on a better team’s home court, comes the Goromotaro!  22/27/0/2/2 hitting 11-25 FG.  My question is, how the hell did Drummo miss 14 shots?!

Reggie Jackson Not huge or anything, but nice bounce back for 14/2/9/0/0 hitting 7-15 FG with 4 TO.  Man, Slim was right, the absence of threes or steals is no bueno.

Andrew Bogut – I guess Kerr felt he needed their best bruiser against the giant Pistons big boys, but Bogut playing 30 minutes?!  12/6/3/0/2, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had something amputated after the game…

Patrick Beverley Man, it just never happened did it?  5/8/4/0/1 hitting only 2-12 FG, and now only 2 steals in the past 6 games.  Time to go!  As in, drop nearly everywhere, not trying to amp PBev up!

Arron Afflalo – Man, ending today from bad to worse!  2-13 FG for 9/5/1/1/0 with 3 TO.  I’d probably let him go in 10 or 12ers unless you were a desperate for treys.

 

Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:

Cole Aldrich (7% owned) – I don’t really wanna go Alexey Shved here even though he’s a great play, since Shved I think is more a hold.  Aldrich can be a quick add though, and is 17/20 with 5 blocks the past two games plus can hit his FT.

Beno Udrih (1% owned) – Memphis likes to split PG minutes between Beno and Nick Calathes when Conley is out, but I’m leaning Udrih as the stream tonight with Conley all kankled.  Calathes hasn’t made a shot his last two games and I think they’ll want a vet on John Wall to start the game.

 

Thanks for reading Razzball Nation, and let’s hope you’re making a good push in the final regular season week!