… especially since the Sixers are probably going to stay with that one in the win column for a good while!
One… The number of restarts to the Sixers game… What, was Tim Donaghy reffing and have odds on the Wolves scoring first?! Seriously, the Sixers couldn’t win a game without controversy?! Then again there was that Bucks game, sheesh (more below).
One… The number of TOs Michael Carter-Williams will never have in a game… Only one game under three TO this year, but hey, everything else is pretty sexy out there! Near tripdub last night in the Sixers W for 20/9/9 and three steals. Finally putting the W in MCW! Shot 9-20 from the field, but when he’s at the FT line it still gives him delirium triggers like a recovering alcoholic! It’s actually “delirium tremens”, but man I love that old Coheed song! 2-7 from the stripe last night with the whopping 6 giveaways, and it’s what you bargain for as an MCW owner. It’s almost like he sold his soul to the efficiency gods just to put up sexy triple-double stats. Maybe when Tony Wroten comes back, he can just be MCW’s TO-surrogate. “Tony, just turn it over a few times, and it’ll get em out of my system.” I feel like trading away/for MCW has been the most frequently asked comment… I was huge on him heading into the year, and even though his FT/TO drain hurt him in the metrics, I think if you can build around that – even in 9-cat – he’s probably worth more than most owners think. While those 9-cat metrics that rate everything equally are how they should work, remember it’s a team game and strengths/weaknesses play off each other. All you really want is one! One more win than the other team in the fantasy championship. Of course in Roto, you can’t handle those ones! So I would be selling in those formats. Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy action:
Guess the Kobe Bryant line – Well, for a while there is looked like it was gonna be a monster! Had 15 Pts in the first quarter, then got Wizard-ized…. Which sounds dumb, strike that. Got DC-ed! Eh, there’s nothing there – got stifled! 29/4/3 making JeF with 1 F our winner! His guess of 30/5/3 was right on, with Thunder from down under an honorable mention getting the 29 Pts right… Nice to see Kobe with “only” 4 TO after that debacle Tuesday, and other than Nick Young banging a couple shots, was the only Laker to show up in a blowout loss… Hey JeF, how many F’s do the Lakers get for their play this year?!
Jeremy Lin – 0-10 from the field. Yikes! 0/4/5/0/1 with 4 TO in only 21 minutes. That might have helped…
Kris Humphries – …with his 20 rebounds! What in the world?! 6/20/1/2/1 in 30 minutes. “Thanks for the bricks, Jeremy!”
Rasual Butler – This is getting a little silly… Led the Wiz off the bench with 24 minutes for yet another usable line. 14/4/2/2/0 shooting 5-7 (2-3 3PTM 2-2 FT) without a single TO. All while Bradley Beal returned to form with 27/2/7! If you had asked me who the 6th man was for this team in October, I might not have even known Rasual was on the 12-man roster! Worth a look in 16ers and deeper, and maybe even a 14er at this point.
Nikola Mirotic – I sorta clowned one of his preseason games, and it was all the motivation he needed for his rookie year! All NBA players have Razzball bookmarked, duh! 11/12/1/0/1 in another hyper-effective game with only 1 TO and 4-8 shooting (2-4 3PTM, 1-1 FT). Take your time, Taj!
Cody Zeller – Even with Marvin Williams back, started for the terrible Hornets. 12/8/2 for CZ while Marvin was his usual terrible self for 6/3/0/1/0 with both playing about 24 minutes. That’s a team with [JeF with] no Fs.
Lance Stephenson – Sell, sell, sell! 20/8/4 looks sexy and all, 9-18 shooting is great for Lance, but another 4 TO and can’t hit threes to save his life anymore. 7-38 from deep on the season, and is without a long ball in 5 straight (0-8). With the steals under 1, no blocks and him not being a good FT shooter, it’s a perfect sell-high game.
Greg Monroe – It seems like only one Piston shows up a night… 29/7/0/0/1 on 9-17 FG and 11-11 FT, but his lack of defensive stats is disturbing! Just say that last part in Darth Vader’s voice…
Brandon Jennings – BJ & Lin, can’t hit the broad side of a tree, their shots are b-r-i-c-k-i-n-g. 0-11 FG, yet somehow managed a dimebag with 12 assists. In an ultimate showing of awfulness, D.J. Augustin was also 0-6. We all thought this was a solid PG combo!
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Why can’t you just show some consistency either way?! Addiction is a tricky business… My KCP addiction just can’t get figured out… I dunno if I can recover or if I’ll pull a Leaving Las Vegas… Although I’d hang out with Elisabeth Shue any time! 15/6/1/2/0 for KCP with three treys. And if this assist isn’t enough to give up your sobriety, I don’t know what is! Plus, there was a moment towards the end of the first half when Detroit was up and Boston went on a 9-0 run I think it was to re-take the lead, and with DET having nothing work, KCP took a contested 3 and banged it. Instant O! I hope they run more offense through him.
Andre Drummond – Patience benefits the Drummonds! 27/14/0/4/5 in a monster line, shooting 12-18 FG. You get the awful 3-8 FT though, but this is exactly the kind of game Drummo owners were hoping for in drafts. Maybe this is a new leaf.
Kelly Olynyk – While a huge liability on D against Monroe and Drummo, notched a rainbow! 20/7/3/2/3 with a couple of treys to boot. Meh, if you dropped him because Tyler Zeller took the starting role, no way you could’ve seen this and I’m not stammering over my headband and disgusting hair to get him again…
Jeff Green – Scored 32 points against a bad team. Woo. Hoo.
Al Horford – Well friggin’ A. I gotta take off the buy low label. Now has a “hold and pray” label. And a “I hope my teams are going against him this week if I don’t own him” label. Too many labels!
Josh McRoberts – “I’m finally starting, I’m gonna get a milksteak after the game!” Well, maybe notsomuch… 21 minutes of 4/0/5/3/0 on 2-4 shooting with 4 TO. No milksteak for you!
Mario Chalmers – Huge game last night, and might have won himself a permanent starting role with Norris Cole sitting out with the flu. 19/5/11/1/1 from hearts of Chalm, shooting 6-8 FG and 7-9 FT. Played unreal while Dwyane Wade was shooting his TV show, so maybe this is a sign he can co-exist with grandpa-D.
Luol Deng – Exited early hurting his hand on a hard fall. James Ennis would probably be the fill-in should Deng miss any time, so in deeper leagues if he’s out there, worth the speculative flyer if Deng dinged himself pretty nice.
Mirza Teletovic – Heat check! 26/15/2/0/0 on 9-13 FG (5-7 3PTM 3-4 FT) in a ton of minutes with Kevin Garnett sitting. Of courrrrrrse, another monster game for my REL opponent, it’s kinda crazy the monster games against me this year! He had Dragic Tuesday! Let’s see, tomorrow he’s got Robin Lopez going, so the negative juju I’ve shot out in the universe for RoLo means he’ll go off for like 30/20 and 8 blocks. Oh yeah, Teletovic… Single-digit scoring in the previous three games, shooting a combined 4-21 FG and 1-12 3PTM in that stretch. Sometimes ya hot, and for Telet, usually ya not!
Danny Green – Holy beejebus! 20/10/2/2/3 rainbow line with no TO shooting 7-14 FG (6-11 3PTM). Man he’s been good this year! Although after a nice game like this, it’s precedence for a Pop DNP-rest… Before last night, his numbers really haven’t looked that different from 2012-13, so if anyone isn’t valuing him at that level and think this is flukey and he’s more 13-14, I’d buy. Plus hasn’t missed a FT yet this year! Could get a job as FT coach for the Pistons, that’s for sure!
Marc Gasol – Ruh roh! Says he has knee soreness in that same knee he tore the MCL in last year… Expect an MRI today, and cross your fingers maybe a one-game siesta will heal it up.
Houston Rockets – Great team performance, given all the injuries, to beat a good Memphis team. No one really had a stand out game, just everyone hit their shots. Surprising that with no Dwight Howard, Terrence Jones, Patrick Beverley, and Isaiah Canaan, on top of a team 22:19 AST:TO ratio, the Rockets blew em out.
Monta Ellis – The shot was sick for the game-winner, but c’mon! Shuffled his feet like Michael Flatley and took like four steps before getting the fadeaway off… 23/2/7/3/1 in a nasty line with no TO. 11-26 FG is a little heavy, but c’mon now, that should’ve been a TO right there to mar that line!
Tyson Chandler – Near Goromotaro! He’s been a huge surprise for anyone that gambled on the vet C. 18/20/0/1/1 as he owned the paint against a foul-trouble laden Larry Sanders and acned-arms-laden Zaza Pachulia. Pizza arms! Haha, while mean, it might be Zaza’s new nickname… “Get your ‘za at Zaza’s Pizza Arms, delivery in 30 minutes or less!”
Dirk Nowitzki – DNP rest after a 2OTer yesterday. The real double old-timer is Dirk…
Khris Middleton – Just when we thought we could trust Jabari Parker, The Dutchess K-Middleton gets hot and Jason Kidd runs his line-up like Hornacek with the hot hands. Only 22 minutes for Chan Ho Park, with K-Midd going for 30 mins 21/8/0/3/1 on 8-13 shooting. A Big. Fat. Meh.
Ersan Ilyasova – Well, I said yesterday he should be fine unless something funky was going on with his facial contusion, and it turned out there was! His nose was broken! How do the Bucks not come out and say that first…? Will miss the next four games, and is a drop in all but the deepest of leagues. Grab Zaza if you need some upside big man strength in your Pizza Arms!
Gorgui Dieng – I hope you’re reading Pops! You asked for a convincing to hold Dieng, well Gorgui did it himself! 15/16/2/2/0 on 6-12 shooting in 41 minutes. Still no blocks which is weird – it’s now a four-game drought – but let’s hope everyone is still hopped aboard that Dieng train!
Thaddeus Young – Talk about the ultimate rough break for Thad the Impaler! I don’t want to make too much fun given his off the court stuff, but to FINALLY get off the terrible Sixers, only to move to the Wolves and get beaten by the 0-17 Sixers… Yikes!
Robert Covington – Sounds like a British Royal, no? Had that D-League promotion buzz only to flame out from the fantasy discussion, but played well in a surprising 31 minutes (previous four games 2 minutes, 8, 13, 17) for 17/4/1/1/0 shooting 5-13 FG (3-6 3PTM 4-4 FT). Like his other British Royal counterpart Mrs. K-Middleton, meh.
K.J. McDaniels – Kielbasa Juice! Is on a rampage right now, going 12/9/2/1/4 in 36 minutes with a couple of treys. Slim and Dan A. get all the props in the world for being all over this kid, I wasn’t into the preseason/early-season hype like them. I was wrong to doubt!
Kyle Lowry – There ya go Slim! Not only a 30-point winner to get Slim on the board in our challenge, but hit on a career-high! Absolutely tore up the Jazz for 39/5/4/1/0 on 13-22 FG (4-5 3PTM 9-9 FT). All with only 2 TO. Beast mode while DeMar DeRozan is out.
Rodney Hood – As Slim brought up on the Pod, got the start and played 27 minutes for 10/2/1/1/0 hitting two treys. Deep league ThrAGNOF under the hood!
Alec Burks – Who Hood replaced, and is already ruled out for Friday with his shoulder injury. Apparently going to get more testing done, so this is a little scary. I’m fine losing him for streaming if you’re in a tight one this week.
Trey Burke – While he can’t play any defense, 15/3/8 last night, and back-to-back 8 assist games with 3 or more treys, and only 1 TO overall. You’ll take anything you get from him!
Kyle O’Quinn – Chugged too much whisky before the game! Ejected after only six and a half minutes for beating up on Blake Griffin a little bit. Justin Bieber paid the Irishman a few barrels of Jameson to perform the task. Sucks as he was a popular play tonight with Nikola Vucevic still ailing with the back spasms.
J.J. Redick – Ultimate ThrAGNOF game! Other than an errant block (his second on the year), no other stats excpet 20 points on 7-11 FG (4-7 3PTM, 2-2 FT). Back in that final Orlando season, he was at 4.4 assists before that mid-year trade to the Bucks. Now is at 1.4 assists and does absolutely nothing else. Don’t get hung up on the ThrAGNOF!
Draymond Green – Gulp. Getting an MRI on his sprained thumb, and that UCL in it or whatever seems to tear really easily. Nick Young had it, Josh Hamilton and Yadier and Bryce had it in baseball, and in all cases it didn’t seem very serious when they came off the court/field. This scary. I scared. Hold me.
Streamer/Cheap DraftKings Picks:
Steve Blake (2% owned) – I know, I know, I seem to pick him frequently, but Portland keeps playing on off days! Against a terrible Pacers team that just got flummoxed by the Suns and Goran Dragic & Eric Bledsoe, I could see Blake getting some extended junk time run for some diming action.
Marreese Speights (27% owned) – The ace of Speights! Already owned in a lot of leagues, but could be out there in yours and has some big upside should he need to fill in for Draymond’s minutes if his #Occupy’s thumb costs him the game tonight.
I hope everyone had a solid run through these back-to-back big slate nights, and be sure to get your streamers in there for the light schedule of Thursday night action!
