Oh man, rough night for matt’s Pacers! Al Jefferson just went absolutely bonkers, adding to his stretch of bonkertude giving Jefferson owners a huge boost for the playoffs. Owning Roy Hibbert like an Entertainment 720 entrepreneur, Big Al shot 16-25 in a full multi-cat dance party of 34/8/3/1/1 and even hit a three! Only his sixth of his career to pepper all the cats. Over his last 3, Jefferson has hit 44 of 65 shots for a very high volume 67.7 FG%. Jefferson hasn’t played this well since his Minnesota days, and you can even argue this has been a career year. Which for a guy with the history Jefferson has put down in the stat sheets is really saying something considering how rocky it all started. Remember the ankle issue that had him sit a lot of games? Then the slow start? Because I sure do, and I steadfastly said “Hold me tighter baby!” Is that a song? I feel like there’s something close to that… Anyway, hopefully you were able to buy low or weather the storm and now you’re reaping some big man stats like it’s the 90s. We miss you David Robinson! Two losses in a row for the Pacers, right after barely beating the Jazz. The Heat are now only 1.5 games behind, and might be taking the Pacers piece of the home-court advantage pie! Here’s what else I saw last night in fantasy hoops:
Dwight Howard – Gave his former Magic some love with 6 TOs! Had a fine game, but geez Dwight, get those elbows in the triple-threat position!
Terrence Jones – Yeah, he back! 17/11/1/1/2 shooting an uber-efficient 8-10 and hitting a trey. Played 38 minutes as well, thrusting playing time and much better production into one ball of furious must-ownage. I feel like I just described something Pokemon-y, but no idea.
Patrick Beverley – Shot only 1-8 and had 5 fouls. Gets angry when he misses! I just wanted to bring up PBev still played 32 minutes to Jeremy Lin‘s 15. Even when he’s cold, PBev is the warm stream.
Tobias Harris – Didn’t shoot well (3-12), but nearly rainbowed for 10/5/2/1/2. Scored 20 then 31 the games before this, so I feel like he’s on the cusp of finally getting it all together. But I feel like we’ve been at this impasse for a while…
Victor Oladipo – Got benched with a sore ankle that appears a precautionary DNP. His first game out in his career. I love V.O., RainbOladipo will always live in my heart, but this is a little scary since this isn’t any sort of specific injury and we’re nearing shut down zones…
Trevor Ariza – Having a phenomenal season and on a sick run. Another 26/5/1/1/0 last night with 4 treys. Going to be a big playoff X-factor.
Drew Gooden – Is still in the NBA?! WTF?! I woulda thought Doc Gooden would be playing professional sports again before Drew! 19 minutes out of nowhere shooting 6-7 for 12/3/2/1/0. Now this was a blowout against a bad team at home, so obviously not buying anything too substantial, but the Wiz have no consistency right now at PF with no Nene. Sadly, wouldn’t be surprised if Gooden can contribute in 18 or 20 teamers down the stretch.
Evan Turner – Hmmmmmmm. 9-12 for 22/2/5/0/0 in a shocking 31 bench minutes. Roy Hibbert was the only starter under 31 minutes, so a little weird seeing Turner get so much swing man run. Not really buying it.
Paul George – I know, I know, I only bring him up on bad games, but what fun is fantasy without ridiculous biases!? An atrocious 0-9 2/7/1/0/1 line with 5 TOs. All I said is he is inconsistent sometimes fantasy-wise and he hath proven thine prophecy yet again! And all I’m saying for the playoffs is he could have one of these type games then get benched in another in the semis or finals, and all the sudden you got virtually nothing outta your stud. Gus Ayonin’!
Chris Douglas-Roberts – Got the start with Gerald Henderson out with a bad calf and went 12/2/3/3/0 in 29 minutes. Two straight games with 12 Pts and should start at least another week with Hendo on the shelf-o. Worth a look in the deepers.
Draymond Green – Is it #OccupyDraymondGreen time again?! Nah, but another near-rainbow of 7/5/4/2/1 shooting 3-7 in 23 minutes. Still a nice asset in deep leagues.
Andrew Bogut – Do the Bogut dance! Which I have no idea if that’s even a thing, but sounds like one! 4/8/4/1/3 in your typical multi-cat Bogut dance step.
Jeff Green – Ouch. He had been fine with the scoring, mini-boarding, and otherwise empty stats until last night, but I just compared his 12-13 to 13-14 numbers, and in even more than 6 fewer minutes a game dude was averaging the same exact Asts and Stls, more Blks, less than a Reb less while shooting 5% better. What a disappointment. Understatement of the year award!
Jared Sullinger – Labradoodle alert! 1-7 in 26 minutes for 11/4/0/1/0 with 3 TOs. We’ve had a lot of Sully questions lately and I’m still bullish. Kris Humphries was awful as the “starter” last night and Kelly Olynyk was pretty good but has been inconsistent all year. I think Sully’s run in early Feb speaks for itself when I mention his upside, and he’s still just getting back from the concussion. I think he can get close to that big run.
Joakim Noah – Another triple double. When there’s no Derrick Rose, he’s a beast with the dimes. Which I kinda undersold when I pre-ranked him, and while it’s fine now with no Rose, a healthy Rose will make Noah not nearly as good next year. Something to consider, but of course Rose could tear up a knee again…
D.J. Augustin – DJ is back! 10-10 FT in an aggressive game, going 26/1/6. 31 mins to Kirk Hinrich‘s 22. What we like to see.
Josh Smith – Another killer in the FG% department, but oh man. Rainbow deluxe! 15/9/5/2/6.
Kyle Singler – Even though he threw bricks from downtown, 16/6/1 and providing marginal value. Has been stealing a lot even though not in this game, so a decent option…ish…
Zach Randolph – Caught the flu, and the Grizzlies looked atrocious. Were down 19-2 early on when I peeked over. So many bad Grizzlies games, highlighted with Mike Conley going 0-8 for 2/3/3 with 6 TOs. Yikes.
Andray Blatche – Slim, I think you might win this one… And mostly on a psychological level because I just picked up Blatche in a league… Sigh. 12/4/2/1/3 in a near-rainbow in only 16 minutes. If he was getting Tristan Thompson‘s minutes, it would be no contest, but the Nets play it 10-11 deep every game. It’s like a rec league team where every kid has to play at least a quarter!
Brandan Wright – Huge game off the bench for 18/3/0/1/2 shooting 9-13 and crushing Samuel Dalembert for minutes (only 9 from the Haitian for virtually nada).
J.J. Hickson – Had some sort of freaky Friday with Timofey Mozgov. T-Moz had a lot of boards with 10, while Hickson had only 5 but 5 Blks! I think they switched jerseys. I mean, they look so much alike…
Reggie Evans – Looks locked into his high-20 min role. Didn’t get the boards like usual, but 15/5/1 shooting 3-4 and 7-10 FT. Deserves a look in more leagues.
Ray McCallum – We haven’t talked about him too much, but a surprising 31 minutes last night with his playing time steadily increasing lately. 15/4/1 – you’d expect a few more dimes – but hey, needs to be scooped up in the deepest of leagues if you can.
Jeff Adrien – While only in a deeper league context, might be the most consistent Buck besides Brandon Knight. 15/5/1/1/0 in 22 efficient minutes shooting 6-9 and 3-3 FT. Even 12-teamers should be thinking “yo, Adrien?”
Raymond Felton – Was almost like he practiced on a shooting range lately! And by shooting range, I mean his basement. 5-8 (2-4 3PTM 6-8 FT) for 18/3/8/4/1. Picking up Felton is like picking up the mess at the bar. There’s a chance she sobers up and gives you a nice night, but the odds are she vomits all over your box score…
Amar’e Stoudemire – Had some pretty nice blocks. 18/8/1/1/2 in a really solid multi-cat outing. And hey, if there’s vomit involved, at least it won’t splash in Amar’e’s eyes…
Ricky Rubio – Looked pretty good. Given Felton isn’t exactly a strong defender, but 11/6/8/2/0 shooting 4-6 and 3-3 FT. J.J. Barea caught Rubio’s shooting touch and shot 1-9. “Dammit, Ricky, why did you curse me!”
Kevin Martin – Looked really awful. 3-10 but both of the threes were in late junk time and doesn’t look right. You can chapter 11 K-Mart in shallower leagues, shot 30% or worse in three of the last four.
Kyle Korver – Nooooooooooooooo! The streak is over! I can’t even call him a ThrAGNOF after this game! Lives are ruined everywhere. I imagine the chaos in Atlanta is comparable to the snow storm they got….
Rest of the Hawks – Were equally horrible. Pretty much every single one. Just one of those games, so not worried on anyone specifically.
Pero Antic – But it was good seeing Antic back, going 10/4 with two treys shooting 3-5. Elton Brand was a little Elton bland, so Antic is intriguing if he’s out there in deeper leagues.
LaMarcus Aldridge – Yowzer. 1-13. “Who let the labradoodles out?! Who, who who who who!?”
Nicolas Batum – Somebody has to clean the glass on all those LA bricks! Well, Batum only had 1 OREB to 17 DREB, but whatever! That’s right, Batum had 18 boards and is taking over the Mr. Glass nickname from Samuel L. 15+ the last three games which is a little weird. Robin Lopez had 5 and is like, a million inches taller. Just proof that RoLo is worthless.
Next Game: TNT OT baby! MIA @ SAS then LAC @ LAL both on Overtime. So check out my highlights on http://www.nba.com/tntovertime if you’re watching hoops tonight, and tweet me if you see a typo! Ha!
