Oh man, was last night fun! So much to hit on including a certain player going against his former team, but I want to start with two career-first triple doubles. On the same night! And on a night with only five games no less… First stop is Isaiah Thomas, who, and I mean this without sounding like I’m succumbing to a cliche about his size or anything, looked like the only dude who cared for the whole game on either the Wiz or the Kings. I loved me some IT2 with the rankings before free agency, and really pimped him hard when Greivis Vasquez got sent off – as many sources did. Regardless, everyone was right, he’s been a beast and went 24/11/10 with 10-10 FT and two treys. And to top off the abuse of John Wall, Wall was 2-6 at the stripe missing pivotal freebies late. My Wizards friend stopped texting me at the end. I’m guessing he threw his phone through a Wall. I capitalize that because he has a John Wall fathead on his wall. Anyway, Paul Millsap also hopped in the trip-dub booze cruise for a 19/13/10 line. Hopefully your fantasy teams own one or both of these guys and faced neither. Nothing would be more annoying than marginally losing Rebs to an IT2 owner! Here’s what else I saw last night in NBA action (and don’t forget to fill out a bracket in our Razzball March Madness pool!):
LeBron James – Goes off against his Cavs. What a douche! 43/6/4/2/3 for an uber-rainbow with no TOs and 6 treys. Pretty much a playoff defining game if you didn’t have a bye.
Mario Chalmers – Can’t hit a shot to save his life! Another bad shooting night, but the rest was nice for a 3/2/9/2/0 line. I still think he’s a guy you can let go after what should be a good game tonight if you need the spot. However, still has three games the rest of the week. I ended up holding him in the league where I was iffy and glad I did.
Luol Deng – Had to sit with an ankle. In such a ripe opportunity with no Kyrie Irving. Ugh.
Alonzo Gee – We have a Gee sighting! I haven’t though about the Gee family much lately except Dillon Gee! Who I ranked pretty favorably in my top 100 SP which will be up on baseball this afternoon. Shameless plug! 12/3/2/1/2 with two treys in a near rainbow. But will lose those 36 minutes he got when Deng is back.
Anderson Varejao – 16/11/1/3/1 in his best game since returning. Got 26 minutes while the ghost of Tristan Thompson got only 21. And Anderson fouled out, so could’ve gotten more (not sure when he fouled out though). I really could see the Cavs going Anderson/Spencer Hawes for substantial stretches since Hawes likes the perimeter.
Jarrett Jack – Got some buzz since he’ll start at the point for a while, and went 22/4/4/0/1 last night. Which is good, but with 4 threes is looking like a ThrAGNOF!
DeMar DeRozan – Tried to hop on the trip-dub train! 29/10/6. And his teammate…
Kyle Lowry – … Almost got on it too! 20/7/9. What a dynamic backcourt that became.
Jonas Valanciunas – The Luminescent Lithuanian is about to be fully dimmed out with a back injury. At least put up 16 points last night before having to exit, but maybe this has been the injury I’ve suspected has been slowing him down most of the year. We’ll get further updates, but I’ve been fine dropping him for a while if you needed to.
Jeff Teague – Millsap took all the dimes away, but what a start from the up-and-down Teague! 34/3/5/4/0 with a trey, 11-11 FT and only 3 TOs. Huge.
Brandon Knight – Another big game from my boy BK with a 24/8/4/2/1 rainbow flirt with three treys. Been one of the hallmarks of this first full year of my tenure. Putting him on my rafters. If you know what I mean…
Zaza Pachulia – Got 37 minutes to John Henson‘s minuscule 16. And Zaza made it work for 17/13/3/4/0. But fantasy trustworthy? You know the answer by now.
Khris Middleton – After a rough spell, bounced back for 18/6/5 in 40 minutes with four treys. Ehhh, still doesn’t have my full trust though either. Shocker!
Nicolas Batum – Yet another vagabond trying to hop on the trip-dub train! 21/9/9. Ending this season strong.
Robin Lopez – Well virtually anyone could go for 15/14 and 3 swats against Zaza Pachulia! What a bum.
Drew Gooden – I was clowning with my Wizards friend about Gooden and how he looked like the best Wiz player on the floor. Sadly, it’s truer than you may think. 18/6/2/2/0 shooting 7-10 (2-2 3PTM 2-2 FT). And, I mean he actually looked like a usable NBA player and played deep into the 4th. Not really a guy to play in 10 or 12ers with much faith, but deeper I think he needs to be grabbed.
Rudy Gay – Took over late and resurrected a boring-ish night to a 24/6/1/3/0 line.
Reggie Evans – Another 10 boards and played hard like you’d expect. The playing time is really variant, but a good stream REB guy as you all know.
Ben McLemore – Despite a pretty shoddy game, led the Kings with 50 minutes. The reason was Bradley Beal only looked good on offense when Ray McCallum was on the floor. My point here is more for dynasty leaguers – McCallum just doesn’t have the size or acumen to defend the 2 against most teams. And they like B-Mac’s defense a lot, so if he can get consistent scoring opportunities, he’s going to turn into a pretty good fantasy player.
Nikola Vucevic – Returned from a bad ankle to play 23 minutes and go 15/5/1. Pretty happy with that. And happy he wasn’t out longer.
Kyle O’Quinn – Just an absolute blocks machine! At least one block in 10 straight, multi-blocks in four straight, and taking every advantage of the starting minutes he gets. 10/5/3/0/2 to help all the wayward block seekers.
Draymond Green – Uh oh! It absolutely is that time again! #OccupyDraymondGreen time!! Started, got 36 minutes, and multi-catted it like the best in the biz for 6/9/3/2/0. Now he shot awful going 2-11, but with Andre Iguodala out at least three games with a bum knee, Green is going to get big run, be it as the starting 3 or 6th man, and I think get bigger lines than this in all non-Iggy games. Not someone you need to grab and lock in, the Warriors are still stuck with two games next week, but I’m excited for this upcoming run.
Next Game: I’ve got UTA @ MEM tonight. Yawn fest! Be sure to set your rosters tonight, and if you’re gearing up for Fantasy Baseball, a reminder to check out my top 100 SP and Pitcher Profile Preview that’ll be out this afternoon on baseball. Go get that hoops title!
