I was among those who eagerly awaited the inevitable moment this season when Steve Nash went down with some sort of old man injury so that Goran Dragic could be taken out of the garage and driven around like Cameron’s Ferrari in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Sure as shootin’, Nash’s groin laid him low. And everyone knows if you misspell Goran and jumble all the letters, you get ‘groin.’ Mind blown! For those of you who watched last night’s game, you saw that a beautiful machine was again mistreated and sent into a ditch to perish. Dragic turned the ball over six times in the game, five coming in the first 10 minutes of the game. He shot 4-of-9 from the floor and 2-of-9 from the line and never saw a second of the fourth quarter. As test drives go, it’s as if hundreds of miles were put on the odometer without having gone anywhere. Coming into this game, Dragic had a per36 of 20/6 with six turnovers. He made good (bad?) on the turnovers without ever looking completely comfortable. It’s cool. There will be other opportunities for Dragic this year. Groin injuries tend to linger. So does old age. I was just hoping to open Dragic up sooner rather than later.
Here’s what else went down in fantasy basketball last night:
Arron Afflalo – Spellcheck dropped a 16/11/1 line with four treys. If I had told you you could pluck a 13/4/2.5 guy off of waivers at the beginning of the season, would you have taken it? We both know the answer to that already.
Jeff Foster – He looks like a woman who’s spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in surgical bills to look like a man and can’t quite pull it off. What I mean is, Foster made his first appearance of the game. Now that you know, go on about your business.
A.J. Price – 14/2/6 in a season-high 21 minutes. Price was right tonight, but that may be the last we see of him for a while. Collison was in a suit still recovering from an ankle sprain and Dunleavy was in a hospital suite with his wife who had a baby, which left the door open for Price.
Brandon Rush – 14/5/1 with four threes and five blocks. He had three blocks and three treys in his previous four games. Let’s see him replicate last night’s line against an NBA team. I know Indy played the Clippers last night. I stand by my previous statement.
DeAndre Jordan – Clearly it was a slow night in fantasy hoops, or else I wouldn’t bother warning you against this guy. Really, it’s only five percent of fantasy leagues I’m talking to here. The rest of you, go fix a sandwich or something. Jordan was on the floor for 23 minutes and missed all seven shot attempts. This was a particularly shocking feat considering the only time he left the paint on offense was to commit a boneheaded foul on defense. He had five fouls last night and somehow four of them were caused by his knee or stomach. I was watching this game and cannot figure out how that happened.
Jameer Nelson – Smear Jameer distributed a dozen assists all over the 6-foot-9 forwards expected to guard Dwight Howard last night. Nelson has only reached the 12 assist plateau twice before in his career, the most recent being January 13, 2006. He’s always kind of frustrating to own, if someone else in your league sees it differently, trade him to that guy.
Jason Richardson – Speaking of frustrating to own, I think this is why owners are so sluggish on Richardson every season. After going 35/8 with seven threes three games ago, he’s averaged 10/2 with 0.3 threes since then. Now owners are going to replace him in their lineups with someone else and he’s going to benchslap everyone with another 30-point game. He’ll meet his projections by season’s end, but Lordy it won’t feel that way.
Wesley Matthews – It baffles me how someone can go 3-for-8 from the arc and only 1-for-4 from the stripe. But still … I’m not going to beg you to grab Matthews. Wait … yes I am. Please grab Wes Matthews. Do you see what you make me do?
Earl Barron – He’s played 25 minutes in two games for the Suns this season and has shot 0-for-3 with two rebounds and six fouls. I know this is a small sample size and he’s still learning the offense in Phoenix, but he’s among the most added players this week in fantasy leagues. He’s like the new girl in your homeroom. Everyone’s all about her and her purple shoes and he wispy bangs and the promise she holds of loving you forever, or dating you, or maybe just talking to you. Then she does talk to you, reveals her hyena laugh and rabbit teeth and you’re back to thinking about Joel Przybilla. If Barron is helpful to your team, perhaps your league is just too damn deep.
