Garrett Temple aka the Silver Snake aka the Blue Barracuda had his best game of the season last night with 8 points, 7 rebounds, 11 assists and a steal in 47 minutes. Take that Olmec, you giant, ominous Mayan head! Although he didn’t shoot very well (just 3-10 FG) the rest of that line is certainly encouraging. Besides its tough to shoot well with those temple guards all up in your face. His performance should put him ahead of Shelvin Mack on the depth chart, and he will likely start at point guard for the Wiz going forward until John Wall returns. Since his debut with the Washington, Temple is averaging 6.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists and a steal in six games played. Not exactly purple parrots, however, the Steps of Knowledge tell me if you need assists Temple could be a nice add. The choice its yours and yours alone, but for those desperate for dimes, I say Garrett Temple is worth a look.
Here’s what else happened in fantasy basketball Friday night:
Kyrie Irving – 33 pts, 5 reb, 6 ast, 4 stl, 3 blk, 3 3pm, 10-10 ftm. Good show, old boy! Now that is a fantasy line, keep it up and we’ll have to start calling you Julius.
Ben Gordon – 27 pts, 2 reb, 4 ast in 28 minutes. Averaging 16.5 points over the past four games Air Gordon is heating up, and that’s the only time I’d recommend owning him.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – 7 pts, 9 reb, 2 ast in 21 minutes. Came off the bench as he’s still nursing an injury, but should be back in the starting line up in no time.
Tristan Thompson – 19 pts, 13 reb, 2 ast. Sockingly under 40% owned. Tristan has seven double-doubles over his past eight games, with 10+ rebounds coming in seven of those games as well. He should be owned everywhere you need rebounds as long as Anderson Varejao is out.
Jamaal Tinsley – 2 pts, 5 ast, 3 reb. Ugh, with Mo Williams sidelined, the point guard duties in Utah have falling on Jamaal, and it looks like they’re crushing him.
Jared Dudley – 16 pts, 5 ast, 6 reb. Dudley-do-right, but the Suns do everything else wrong.
Carlos Delfino – 22 pts, 3 reb, 2 stl, 6-7 3pm. If you needs threes, Carlos of the Fino could be just what you’re looking for.
John Henson – 11 pts, 15 reb, 2 stl, 2 blk in 27 minutes. The Milwaukee bench is a crowded one, but Henson found the rainbow connection last night and certainly made a case for more time. Coming off the 20 pts, 9 reb performance on Wednesday, if you need rebounds, Henson is worth a look and available almost everywhere.
Nick Young – 21 pts, 4 reb, 5 3pm in 28 minutes. Now if he could just do it two games in a row he might be worth owning.
Kevin Martin – 16 pts, 3 reb, 4 3pm. We need to talk about the Kevins. Whenever Los Kevins both play well the Thunder win. Kevin Durant added 26 pts, 6 reb and 3 ast and the Dual Kevins handled the 76ers.
Marreese Speights – 22 pts, 13 reb, 1 stl. Speights is taking his game to new heights! Am i rights!? Starting for the Zach Randolph who was out with illness (Z-bola?), Marreese “Two R’s Two E’s” Speights tore it up in just 27 minutes. I’d be surprised if this didn’t at least buy him some more minutes off the bench in the future.
J.J. Hickson – 19 pts, 11 reb, 2 blk. His 19th double-double of the season. Aren’t you glad you picked him up when you did?
Tyler Hansbrough – 19 pts, 4 reb, 1 stl in 23 minutes. Psycho Tyler, Qu’est-ce que c’est! Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa. Yeaah. Psycho T’s big game is more a testament to how bad everyone else on the Pacers played as they got smoked by the struggling Celtics.
Avery Bradley – 6 pts, ast, stl, blk. A-B-rad started at SG last night for the Celtics as they blew out the Pacers. I’m seeing Bradley being scooped up in leagues all over the place. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Avery Bradley and I don’t think he’ll shoot as poorly as he did Friday night (3-11 FG), but I definitely ain’t buying A-B-rad as the offensive savior the Celtics or your fantasy team needs right now. He will contribute a little of everything and a lot of nothing.
Jared Sullinger – 7 pts, 10 rebs, 1 blk. Sully played 30 minutes in the blow out and managed, sadly, one of the better rebounding efforts from a Celtic this year. Unlike Bradley, Sullinger could be the savior Boston needs, as they are in desperate need of a solid presence down low. The C’s need Sullinger to be a beast on the boards, but he might not be ready just yet.
Kirk Hinrich – 10 pts, 4 reb, 8 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk in 29 minutes. If you can accept games like this as Hinrich’s ceiling then he could help your team in a few categories. But its not gonna be much better than this.
Al Horford – 18 pts, 15 reb, 3 ast. Someone finally woke up three months into the season.
Brook Lopez – 27, 13 reb, 3 blk. OMG Where was this Bropez when I drafted you in the top 20 the past two years. You are looking like everything I dreamed you’d be…two years ago. Of course I don’t own you this year, you burned me, BroLo, I hate you so much right now. #yoloBroLo.
Bradley Beal – 24 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl, 1 blk. B-Rad played 48 minutes in the double OT thriller, so the stats are inflated a bit but it was still the young’n’s best game of the season and the 24 points were a career high. I dig your moves, B-Rad!
Nene – 20 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl. He grows stronger every day.
Emeka Okafor – 13 pts, 7 reb. Averaging 10.5 pts and 11.3 rebs over the past seven days. If you need these stats, you should pick him up. I won’t tell anybody.
Demarcus Cousins – 31 pts, 20 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl. Don’t look now but the Kings have back to back wins. Maybe the Mayans were right?
Isaiah Thomas – 11 pts, 3 reb, 6 ast. We talked about IT2 last week, and he’s still just over 50% owned in yahoo leagues. What are you waiting for?!
Kyle Lowry – 24 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 4 3pm in 28 minutes off the bench. Why is he coming off the bench you ask? Blame Canada.
Ed Davis – 11 pts, 13 reb, 2 ast, 3 blk, 1 stl. Also lead Toronto players in minutes with 41. A few weeks back I said I preferred Amir Johnson to Davis, and since then Amir has been exposed for his criminal double-dribbling, and last night he fouled out in just 9 minutes. Ouch, I take it back. Ed Davis is the guy to own, and he should be owned in more than 30% of leagues.
Dwight Howard – 21 pts, 15 rebs, 2 blk. Suffered a stinger to the shoulder last night, whatever the heck that means. Regardless, he should be good to go by Sunday.
Mike Dunleavy – 12 pts, 4 reb, 1 stl, 2 3pm. Dunleavy has been sneaky good lately and his play definitely warrants ownership, despite still being available in over half of yahoo leagues. He’s averaging 14.5 pts, 4.5 reb, 1.8 ast and 1.3 stl over the past seven games. Pro tip!* that will help your fantasy team. He’s not the sexiest player on waivers but he’s probably the dunleaviest.
Pau Gasol – 2 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk in just 27 minutes. Just when you thought things were normalizing for Pau–POW! Back to this business. Sigh, even Jodie Meeks played more minutes than Pau. He is set to meet with Coach Dan Tony Saturday to discuss his role, which is never a good sign. Meanwhile, his broseph Marc Gasol continues his elite fantasy play with 12 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, and a team record 8 blks. Talk about a sibling rivalry, Marc keeps rising up the fantasy ranks as his brother is falling faster and faster. I can only imagine how awkward their Christmas dinner must have been.
Join us next Saturday for another Friday recap, as fantasy basketball continues next week, all week long!
