The injury bug hath claimed another victim, with LaMarcus Aldridge suffering a tough fall in San Antonio on his lower back/coccyx. What are you doing to us fantasy gods?! While reports right now is it was only a lower back contusion, you never want to hear “needed a wheelchair to get around the arena.” Unless you’re Professor X! Yikes. As Slim is putting out early this afternoon, the Blazers have a mammoth of a 5-week slate coming up in the second week of the playoffs. So if you’re an Aldridge owner, I would just thank my blessings, or count my lucky stars, or something like that, if L.A. can indeed give you all five of those. In the immediacy, Thomas Robinson looks like an interesting pickup for some flashy upside. “Oh camon JB, Thomas Robinson again!?” Yup! And I said it last time and he had a 14/18/2/0/2 in there! I serious doubt Aldridge will suit up again this week, giving T-Rob some serious run. We’ll obviously get some more detailed updates throughout the day, so sacrifice a shot of rum to Jobu, or rub your bunions against the carpet, whatever you do to appease the fantasy gods to get a healthy Aldridge back for the postseason. Here’s what else went down in fantasy action:
Paul Pierce – Fantasy Basketball’s finest 2007! Big shooting day for PP going 9-12 (5-7 3PTM 6-7 FT) 29/4/1/1/0. Not the multi-cat you’d hope, but Heat haters loved the final score!
Mirza Teletovic – ThrAGNOF! 17 Pts with 3 treys, but did add in 3 blocks. Fluke alert! Averages 0.3 Blks a game this year. Also played only 7 minutes in two of the last four. So moving on…
Andray Blatche – Continually doing enough to stay on the fringe. 11/4/3/0/1 shooting 5-10. Which leads into…
Tristan Thompson – … who went 13/7/1/0/0 shooting 3-7 and 7-10 FT. Slim, I think none of use are winners here!
Shaun Livingston – Now three straight fanasty-delights, going 13/7/4/3/1 last night. A big 38 minutes in a big Nets win. Will be an interesting stream option for steals and a little bit of everything else down the stretch.
Mario Chalmers – Yessir! 14/9/2/1/0 with four treys. Did have 4 TOs and the boards are flukey, but still think he can get on track.
Victor Oladipo – Ever since returning from the lingering sore ankle, been an efficient player! Maybe not the RainbOladipo of old, but definitely not RainTOladipo. That just got too confusing… 28 minutes off the bench for 15/4/3/0/0 with only 1 TO shooting 5-12 with 5-5 FT. FixYourCategoriesAdipo!
Tobias Harris – Apparently to re-channel his multi-cat ways from last year, he needs less minutes and to come off the bench… [scratches chin…] 19 minutes for 11/3/2/4/1 in a near-rainbow with no TOs. Maurice Harkless shot 1-6 in 29 minutes as the starter, and looked awful.
Kyle O’Quinn – Getting better, more minutes, all of the above with every start. 5-8 for 10/8/1/0/2. Nothing that’s gonna blow you away, but definitely buying that as an average line for him for the foreseeable future. Too many f-words ending that sentence.
Jameer Nelson – Have seen a lot of questions about Nelson vs. [insert other iffy PG]. I’ve taken Nelson virtually every time, with a nice 19/3/9 line last night with 4 treys.
Kenneth Faried – Like Nelson, had to back Faried a few weeks back. Playing huge lately, pounding the Irishman and that Magic front line for 11-18 26/9/1/0/1. Manimalize This!
Randy Foye – Is no bueno. Told ya!
J.J. Hickson – Scored 20 points of the bench. I call fluke. Don’t want him. Rather O’Quinn par examplah.
Reggie Evans – I hate fantasy basketball. I call him as good a lock for Rebs as any virtually unowned guy, and all the sudden he gets cut to 3 minutes. I didn’t see anything about an injury, so did Larry Drew take over the Kings all the sudden? Jeepers creepers!
Henry Sims – What in the world?! Thanks squeaky Conan O’Brien bit! Rainbow line for 20/10/3/3/2. Against DeMarcus Cousins too! Boogie probably phoned it in because it was the Sixers… Not like this game was close anyway! So what to do with Sims… Well, actually he’s hit all 5 cats in three straight now. And while last night’s 10-11 FT is a little flukey helping the averages, is at 3.5 FTM a game at 85% since joining the Sixers. Which shocked the bejeebers outta me! I came into this blurb thinking I was gonna hate, but after looking into the numbers, I likey. Unlike the movie, I’m just that into him. Worth a spec add in most leagues if you have the room.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Gary Neal got a DNP for doing something squabbly internally, so MKG got 30+ minutes and did well, shooting 4-6 for 10/12/1. But Neal will be back if he can keep his squabble squabbleless, so MKG can be left alone.
Jonas Valanciunas – Still gonna hate my former love. Me and LL have a love/hate relationship! 8/13/1/0/2 is pretty good, but he had like a 8/8/0/0/2 line earlier in the week which I watched and the blocks were utter BS. I don’t know what happened here, but I know Andre Drummond has a bum finger and Brandon Jennings‘ shot selection is awful, and they accounted for all 3 of the Pistons’ blocked attempts. So still skeptical.
Amir Johnson – Playing like it’s… 12-13 I guess! Another nice one here shooting 8-14 20/9/1/2/1. He’s at 77% owned which should probably be higher, but honestly is higher than I thought.
Jeff Green – Seeing Jeff Green in stretches play like who a lot of us thought he’d be is one of the most frustrating things this season. Also frustrating – the syntax of the former sentence! Unlike my flip flop on JV, Green still has these immense flashes. WHO IS HE?! Shot 10-21, but empty-a-roosky for 27/2/0/0/0. I don’t even know what I’ll do with him in the rankings next year…
Jared Sullinger – Had a comment yesterday where I took him as my streamer, and was decent for 10/8/1/1/0. Did have 3 TOs, but I thought looked good. Sad thing is, I thought Kris Humphries looked good too. Mr. Kardashian for 15/5/2/0/1 including this sweet block on Tim Hardaway Jr., who should be clowned for eternity for trying to showboat it. Hah!
Cole Aldrich – 12/10 with three blocks. No Amar’e Stoudemire, no Tyson Chandler, against an inexperienced and mostly undersized front line. Nothing doing here.
Mike Conley – Didn’t score in the first half, but ended up with 16 and a game winner! Nice turnaround.
Nick Calathes – Pumped him up a couple times, huge when Conley was out, and two solid producing games off the bench going 6/4/7 in only 15 minutes. When he made this pass, I had to change my pants.
Tony Allen – He’s like James Johnson, but a guard! Multi-cat-a-ramaba for 13/4/1/3/1. Hasn’t hit that multi-cat in a while, but thought he looked swell.
Austin Rivers – What are these Dookies doing to me?! Thought he looked really good. 14/0/9/2/0. Developing really well, slashing very nicely, hit a three, could be a sleeper for me next year. It helped the minutes with no Eric Gordon or Tyreke Evans both with the flu, but when given an opportunity against a top-tier NBA D, making it count!
Monta Ellis – Holy tripdub alert! 16/7/11.
Trey Burke – I called him a little ThrAGNOFfy on Monday, and while 20/1/6/0/0 is fine with the dimes, a few less and it’s empty again. That said, still worth owning if you need the Treys from Trey.
Danny Green – After sitting most of the last game with his bum wrist, came right back for 14/6/1/1/1 with four treys. Still, nothing I can really trust yet.
Eric Bledsoe – HE’S BACK! Rejoice fantasy universe! And looked pretty good too, playing an unreal 32 minutes for 15/3/9/2/0 and no TOs. Yeah, obviously play him here on out, I never in a million years would’ve thought he’d get 30+ of run in his first back. But hey, I’m not a doctor, I’m a pool man!
Gerald Green – Still got 31 minutes, but upchucked a ton of labradoodles. 0-6 from deep shooting 4-14 for 8/2/1/2/1. Love the multi-cat, hate the big Bledsoe run. Could see dumping him as an option late next week in the playoffs when he’s back on the bench.
Kyrie Irving – Another trip-dub flirt! Well, only sorta, but 23/9/6/2/1 is a solid near-rainbow and two straight sizzling games. Getting really hot at the right time.
Stephen Curry – Left a little early with a quad strain. Doesn’t seem to be anything too serious, but along with…
Klay Thompson – …ThrAGNOF! But no jokes here, will miss Friday due to a death in the family. So plan accordingly. And with both possibly out…
Jordan Crawford – … I think could have a monster game. If both are out, Steve Blake could get a start as well for a completely new backcourt. If you’re not full up on Friday’s slate, JCrawf is interesting.
Draymond Green – Dayum! In the right situation, he could be a multi-cat powerhouse. 10/3/3/1/1 in 22 minutes, and is actually 6 fantasy-usable games in a row. It might be #OccupyDraymondGreen time again! Let’s do it!
Next Game: TNT OT! And an early one with HOU @ CHI then LAL @ OKC. Actually think both will be pretty good games, if the Lakers show up at all. So maybe not… Be sure to think about some streamers tonight if you’re in need of a boost to make the playoffs and good luck tonight!
