Brewers baby! Best record in baseball. 9 in a row. Oh yea, this is basketball, but man! My Brewers are unstoppable! And it carried over to the hardwood, when Corey Brewer had maybe the most preposterous, out-of-nowhere game all year. I actually did highlights for the Wolves Rockets game Friday night, and it was like watching a pickup game where one guy was just light years better than everyone else. Slice-n-dice, no need to take shots. In the first quarter, I leaned over to a co-worker and said Brewer is having the game of his life. Made me look smart! Going in with a career-high of 29, Brewer dropped 51 on like, a trillion layups and pick 6s. 51/2/1/6/0, and just how everyone learned from Oliver, “you’ve got to pick a pocket or two!” Or six. And probably 5 of them led to uncontested layups, but he did have some pretty sick and-ones for good measure. Deeper leaguers that had Brewer probably thought stat tracker was broken Friday night. I’ve always been a Brewer fan, it was sad to have to trade him to Slim, but when Kevin Martin and Kevin Love returned, it was cool down time for the NBA’s Brew Crew on Sunday, going for only 10 and two steals. Regardless, I love that Brewer now gets to share a milestone with Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson and Rick Barry as the only guys to go 50+ with 6+ steals. One of these is not like the other! Good for Brewer, and if the Wolves indeed deal Love and/or let K-Mart walk, Brewer could be pretty interesting next year. Here’s what else I saw over the weekend in fantasy basketball action:
Gorgui Dieng – Talk about interesting for next year! 21/14/4/2/2. Unless the buzz is overwhelming, he’ll be on all my teams next year.
Nikola Vucevic – Season cut short with an Achilles.
Reggie Jackson – Hurt his neck and they did a precautionary X-ray. Busta Rhymes didn’t give precautionary X-rays to those bitches! Russell Westbrook played yesterday so he’s sitting tonight, and RJax seems pretty doubtful. Derek Fisher time! Deep leaguers, I wouldn’t expect much, but he’ll start!
Isaiah Thomas – Had to try and get out there with some in Sacramento saying that want Ray McCallum to start for em next year. I dunno how I feel about that, but 30 minutes for IT2 for 14/3/2/0/0 with 2 turnovers vs. 11/3/6/0/0 with only 1 turnover in 28 minutes for Ray Mac, and I don’t see anything different! I don’t know why the Kings hate IT2, hopefully they stick with him as the starter.
DeMarcus Cousins – Beast! 35/15/6/1/3, but got run-DMCed off the court with another technical, meeting his 1-game suspension quota. It could be rescinded, but probably no Cousins on Wednesday for the Kings finale. Sadface.
Stephen Curry – Lit up the Blazers for 47 in an OT loss. Corey Brewer is like, “Psshhhh, I didn’t need OT to do better than that!”
Wesley Johnson – The revolving door of big games out of the front court for the Lakers continues, with a 15/15/4/1/0 line for Wes J. Somebody has to board all those Jordan Farmar labradoodles!
Jordan Hill – Nearly rainbowed in a 27 minute start. 10/10/3/1/2, and D’Antoni is finally past all the universal ire shot his way since most fantasy leagues are done. Way to figure out a better line-up in mid-April!
Carmelo Anthony – Getting an MRI for his dead arm – likely a shoulder issue. Probably worn out from flicking off Mike Woodson so much in the locker room.
Joakim Noah – What a run he’s had. 13/17/9/1/1 in a near trip-dub. What’s sad is I think I’ll rank him lower than most if Derrick Rose is looking healthy-ish next preseason. Of course Rose’s knees could blow out at any time, but these sick dimes from a C are going to evaporate with Rose slashing every time he gets the ball. Even if he has to tone it down a bit, rock will be in Rose’s hands.
Andre Drummond – Rainbow me! 14/17/2/2/3. What a year. I was wrong, but we’ve known that about Drummond for a while.
Victor Oladipo – Got a start with Jameer Nelson sitting, and stunk it up. 14/2/1/2/0 with 6 TOs. I’m not basketball sabermetrician, but a 1:6 AST:TO isn’t very good! I hope they give him the keys to the O next year though, I’m gonna go gaga for Oladipo Puffs.
Mason Plumlee – The ghost of Kevin Garnett haunted the Nets front court, but Plumlee still got 26 minutes off the bench for 17/11/2/2/1. Plumlee is playing his way into a big role next year, and I’ve been impressed – even for a dookie.
Lance Stephenson – Another trip-dub! 17/10/11 giving him a league-leading 5 on the year. Remember when Oscar Robinson averaged a triple double? And the 2014 league leader has five… Man has the game changed…
Michael Carter-Williams – Neared a trip-dub himself, playing a very solid 37 minutes of 23/7/8/1/0 ball Saturday, with only 3 TOs shooting 7-11 FG and 9-10 FT. He’s going to be very tough to rank next year – brimming with upside we’ve seen through this season, but I won’t want to reach.
Austin Rivers – Sure a game against the Rockets is going to benefit the fast-paced guys like Doc Jr., but I’m really encouraged with what I’ve seen from Rivers in the second half. 20/10/6/1/0 for a huge game Saturday night (did shoot only 8-24 FG and 2-6 FT), and depending on what moves the Pelicans make next year, I might be excited for Rivers in deeper leagues. Obviously Jrue Holiday will start the 1, but if Rivers is looking like a 25 minute bench guy, I think there will be value there.
Patrick Beverley – Don’t doubt his toughness! I was surprised to see him back before the playoffs with his knee injury, but had a solid Saturday night for 20/3/4/1/1 with four treys. Razzball still loves you, PBev!
Brandan Wright – 12/11/1/1/3 in 32 minutes Saturday, and I’m going to be all over him for next year. Would be the league leader in FG% if he qualified at 67.2%, over 72% from the stripe, and I think they give him big minutes. Of course, they’ll have to cut the Haitian Sensation.
Kenneth Faried – From the depths of the Manimal realm, a GOROMOTARO! 24/21 cruising past the Jazz.
Derrick Favors – Rainbow! 13/10/2/4/2 and going to be really underrated next year. Averaging over 1 in all 5 cats, shoots well over 50%, not too bad with TOs. I will be a buyer.
Next Game: OKC @ NOP tonight. Oh man, going to see a ton of scrubs in this one! No Brow, no RW. Eh well, it’ll be good to see Austin Rivers in action. Man, I’m pumping up the dookie love today! Hopefully anticipating Wright as a sleeper next year helps counter it back up with my Heel-dom. I hope everyone had a good weekend, and be cheering on my Brewers for 10 straight!
