…But it’s not like Tony Snell doesn’t deserve it!
Long time readers will know that for the past year-and-a-half I’ve been a big Snell fan, and he’s finally flourishing in huge minutes with a 22/2/1/3/0 line hitting 9-11 FG, 4-6 FT, and all with no TO. The anti-LeBron! Poor ol’ king James didn’t meet a turnover at the Chicago hotel continental breakfast he didn’t like, going 31/5/4/0/0 with 8 giveaways. Snell was D-ing up BronBron all game, and ended up with a +29 to LeBron’s -27! Bron was like, “Ohhhhh what’s that Snell?!” Tony has been on fire the past 4 games, hitting 28-41 including 15-25 from deep. And he flashed the full bag of tricks on the Cavs bag of bones slamming a couple early, hitting a floater late, sandwiched with some Kyle Korver-esque 3PT shooting. I don’t think there’s much we can do about it though in 10 or 12ers with Jimmy Butler probably back after the break, Kirk Hinrich still there to fill some empty minutes, and Mike Dunleavy side-cocking some treys. But in deeper leagues or dynasties, I think Snell could really turn into something and I have for a long while now. Here’s what else went down in our final first half game of the NBA season:
Derrick Rose – Woooo, another point on the board in the 30-Point Challenge! 12-24 FG 30/4/7 and was getting MVP chants from the patient Bulls fans. Jay Cutler is like, “why don’t they stay patient for me?!”
Pau Gasol – Such a beast and one of the first half’s biggest resurgences. 18/10/6/1/1 hitting 6-16 including a trey and all 5 freebies. Ending on a high note!
Aaron Brooks – Rainbow flirt! 8/3/2/3/1 with no TO hitting a couple of treys. Shot only 3-12, but a nice little usable line after a dreadful 4-game spell for deep leaguers.
Joakim Noah – After 3-straight with single-digit boards and 6 total AST, a nice first-half finale for 10/15/7/0/1. Only 6-10 from the stripe, but that side spin usually spits out more rimjobs than… Yeah we’ll just end that there.
Tristan Thompson – Got the spot start for the pirate Kevin Love for 10/8/1/0/0 making all 5 of his shots dunks. Hey, at least if you streamed him he didn’t kill your FT!
Timofey Mozgov – Ya know, for all our Mozzy Bear jabs and how filled with stuffing I thought he was, looked really good. 13/11/0/0/1, hit 5-6, the jumper has confidence, and he got a few ticky tack personals racking up 5 fouls in 26 minutes or else it might’ve been better. Only 3-6 at the FT line, but he’s a solid 70-75% guy there.
J.R. Smith – Pulled a Brooks clone with his rainbow flirt! 8/4/4/3/1 in 31 minutes, and when he’s not jacking up treys he’s a little lost. I mean, Mozgov seemed to find more confident shots! But Smith inching close to two swipes a game has been impressive.
Well, that’ll do it for our first half of the NBA season, a little bit of a 1-game shortened post, but stretching out to talk about James Jones seemed a little frivolous… Enjoy the All-Star Break Razzball Nation, and I’ll be back next Thursday!
