You don’t mess with the Bojan!
We’re into week 2 of the standard H2H playoffs, moving into the semis, and the squads with bye weeks are hoping to avoid the layover letdown. It’s like the NCAA Football championship thingy, the playoffs or bracket or 4-team finals or whatnot, who knows anymore?! But they have to wait like 4 months from their final regular season game to the title! That’s how long this week has seemed for my sitting around, lazy, bored bye week teams (speaking vicariously of course, I had zero!). Luckily it’s now how you enter the playoffs but how you exit, and with only two weeks left, you gotta ride the hot ThrAGNOFs! Bojan Bogdanovic fits the bill to a T (did I say that right?) with 12+ points in 4 straight and 17+ in 3 of 4. Also has chipped in multi-treys in the past 3 and if treys or points are a need, it’s time to ThrAGNOF! Why you don’t pay for these guys, as they literally grow on trees. Seriously, Bogdanovic’s great uncle was Groot. Here’s what else went down over the weekend in fantasy basketball action:
Kevin Durant – Wellllllll, that happened. Feels like last Friday was a few months ago, when we learned Durant would be out indefinitely and removed from all basketball activities. He’s not even aloud to play 2K anymore! To all those who stayed away for fear of lingering issues, +2 XP! Leveling up to level 14! For a guy who had always been durable, it’s been a nightmare for KD and certainly will make his 15-16 pre-rank really interesting.
Russell Westbrook – No KD means Westbrook can keep being Jordan! Another weekend with a pair of tripdubs, with a rainbow line for good measure yesterday for 12/10/17/4/2. Fantasy stretch run MVP! Two years ago it was Tobias Harris. Mmmmm, that Tobias run!
Elfrid Payton – Speaking of stretch run Magic, Elfrid putting back-to-back tripdubs on his Shelfrid as well! Notched 15/10/12 last Wednesday, 22/10/10 Friday then regressed a tad to 6/8/8/3/0 last night with those brutal 5 TO. At least he kept his 53.2% FT off the line! Unfortunately we enter Orlando’s brutal week 2 of the playoffs with only two games on the schedule. Ouch. Weekly leaguers pretty much have to put Elfrid on their Shelfrid.
LaMarcus Aldridge – More injuries, yay! I remember the good ol’ days where only 10-20 players would get hurt in a weekend… Got hit on his hand and exited early, reportedly suffering a lot of swelling even though X-rays were negative. What gives me the heebie jeebies is that it’s his left hand, the same one with the torn up thumb he’s playing through. Just have to hope the swelling goes down and nothing is connected to the thumb. Ghost thumb! It moves around independently like the hand from The Addams Family. On top of LA, Nicolas Batum also left early with lower back pain. It hasn’t been from carrying any fantasy teams, that’s for sure! We’ll have to wait for some updates throughout the day and hopefully neither will miss much time – but both are looking mighty risky in weeklies.
Ish Smith – That 76ers ain’t Ish! Well, it really is Ish because other than Nerlens Noel there’s not anyone else I’d rather own… Back-to-back 9 dimes games going 15/4/9 Friday then 9/2/9 last night. Didn’t stroke the J (3-14 FG), but Isaiah Canaan has been even icier going 1-11 last night. Blah.
Jusuf Nurkic – The Jamba Jus is linin’ up out the do’! 16/7/0/2/1 Friday then 11/6/1/0/3 last night. Finally got that kale cleanse to wash out that ankle injury! If only modern medicine were that advanced… Should be owned in most leagues.
Zaza Pachulia – What in the world?!?!?! Zaza for Goro?!?!?! 22/21/7/2/0, and the most “smack me in the ass and call me Shirley!” of all – 18 offensive rebounds! 18!!!! Given it was 3OT-aided, but third most in NBA history. Third!!!! Aight, who had a bet Zaza could be 3rd best in history at anything this year? Maybe in arm acne count…. Anyway went back to his usual fine-but-not-great 11/9/3/2/0 last night.
Khris Middleton – Also benefitted from the 3-OT to post a 29/8/6/3/0 line in 55 minutes Friday. That amount of run is the middletits! Such a great roll the past few months.
John Henson – On that Friday game with absurd stats, how about Henson for 4/10 and 7 blocks! 7 blocks in 21 minutes at that! And even with all that shizz, Bucks lost that one. Serves them right for dumping Knight.
Brook Lopez – Had a monster weekend, going 32/18/2/0/5 against the Bucks in that same 3-OT. My feet ache in agony seeing the 42 minutes though! 26/4/0/0/4 last night hitting 11-14 FG in a more-acceptable-but-still-too-much-for-Brolo 31 minutes.
Nikola Mirotic – Ruh roh. No Minutes Mirotic may indeed re-don his nickname! Just ridiculous 29/11/1/0/4 Friday night, but Taj Gibson in his second game yesterday went 18 minutes and Miro went down to 24 of blahhhhh shooting 1-8. Sucks for Miro owners that Taj went 6-8 in those 18 minutes, so maybe the Gibby indeed will take all of Miro’s value. Ugh.
Pero Antic – Weird line of the weekend award goes to… Pero Antic! Well, I dunno, tough to top Zaza’s 18 OREB… Career-high 22 points in under 20 minutes on Friday for 22/3/1 and 4 treys hitting 6-7 FT. Don’t look now, but the Hawks have lost three in a row! Even with…
Kyle Korver – …back, and wearing a mask! Can’t let that pretty face go to waste… And Korvs was terrible for 6/3/2/1/1 with 2 threes, love the multi-cat, but 5 TO?! “I can’t see out of this gosh darn thing guys!”
Steven Adams – Yeah, I think I might have undersold The Big Kiwi as he’s got 3 straight dubdubs and had a rainbow Friday for 12/16/2/2/2. Much better than a Black Friday! Because with Adams, I certainly am no longer in “Sell! Sell! Sell!” mode.
Marcus Smart – Well, celebrated his best fantasy game on the year by punching Matt Bonner in his bonnet in the next one. Earlier in the game, Smart was probably like, “Hey Bonner, does the carpet match the drapes?!” And Bonner was like, “Why don’t you come and see?” BOOM! And he did… Got suspended for last night, and also is halfway ready to join a fraternity. Isaiah Thomas is expected to return towards the end of this week, so it’s hard to play Smart in weeklies. Especially since he likes acting out America’s Funniest Home Videos.
Kemba Walker – Woohoo! Welcome back to the starting five, but Mo Williams still led the Hornets in scoring last night with 24. Revenge game! But this was all about Kemba and his team-high 8 dimes and redonk 6 steals. While impressive, don’t forget this was against Zach LaVine at PG. Not expecting a sudden steals outburst, unlike the Foot Clan crime wave in NYC. But the dimes? Good to see.
Reggie Jackson – Whoa, both R-Jax and Spencer Dinwiddie getting dubdub dimebags! It must be April 20th! R-Jax for 22/3/11 and Dinwiddie for 10/3/10 Friday night. The Pistons had a 28:4 AST:TO ratio in that blowout of the Bulls! Both were great again last night with R-Jax nearing the tripdub for 17/9/11 and Dinwiddie notching a bench rainbow for 6/3/2/2/2. Man R-Jax has really turned it up, with Pts/Ast dubdubs in 4 straight. I like Dinwiddie just as much as the next guy, but inconsistent PT keeps him out of the Ish Smith, Dennis Schroder range to me.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Yeeeeaaaaaa boi! 27/8/1/2/0 last night, hitting 10-20 FG and 3 treys. Certainly grabbing KCP over Bojan, but both are good for some ThrAGNOFfin’ USA! Well, ThrAGNOFfin’ USA and ThrAGNOFfin’ Croatia.
Alex Len – Returned from a kankle for 10/6/1/0/3 last night in his second back after 5/6/1/1/0 Saturday. Mostly impressed by the back-to-back! Not holding Len back! …Jack… Anyway, Brandan Wright had a few good games filling in admirably, but only 8/3/0/0/1 last night in 22 minutes and can get the boot. You got The Wrong Stuff!
Marcus Morris – 11/11/7/3/0 in a fantastic multi-cat, shooting 4-9 and chipping in a trey! But before we drop the multi-cat confetti, Brandon Knight‘s looming return certainly hurt other-Morris’ minutes.
J.R. Smith – Goes nuts at the Bucks last night, hitting 7 treys in a 23/4/1/3/0 line. Smiff wiff the steals! Nice to see those coming back around after a prolonged lull.
Anthony Morrow – Andre Roberson rolled his ankle early on last night, giving Morrow an ample opportunity to play 30 minutes per should it linger. Only 12 Pts last night from Morrow, but when shooters hot, dey hot!
Tyler Hansbrough – Hah, must be in the March Madness fever, because he hasn’t scored 18 Pts since college (OK, probably not true, but we don’t fact check!)! 18/5 against the Knicks, and therein lies your answer as to how this happened. If you ever feel like picking up Hansbrough, I advise you tuck and roll away ASAP like the Nets towel boy.
Danilo Gallinari – The F you doing, Gallo?! I pimp out I wanna draft you early next year, then you go out and drop a 40-burger towards the end of the season to pump people up?! And just an astonishing game, dropping 40 on top of the rainbow for 40/7/4/3/2 with 6 treys and 10-11 FT which is more than enough to qualify for a superstar’s line. Damn, the buzz might be there for Gallo as a sleeper next year now, blast!
Rodney Stuckey – This time it’s his calf feeling yucky. I feel like he’s gotten a ton of minor injuries this year… What happens when you get old! I should know, I played basketball Saturday for the first time in a while and I’m still sore as poo! Anyway, he left early Saturday and might not go tonight. He’s low end enough to drop to be sure you fill out your games to me.
Alexey Shved – I want my babyback babyback babyback… I want my babyback babyback babyback… ribs. Rib contusion for the Russian concussion, and this questionable tag is certainly irking. He’s been so good! Playing this one to the wire if you’re in a weekly league.
Jeremy Lin – From one astoundingly-overperforming Knicks PG to a former one, Lin was a monster last night for 29/5/5/1/0 and a couple of treys. But man, after that solid run a few weeks ago, he’s really been subpar. Not fully buying it, even with that report still floating out there he’s gonna start the last 10 Lakers games.
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
Tony Allen (20% owned) – The king of steals! Danny Ocean? No, it’s T.A.! 6 steals Saturday night, has started the past 2 Grizz games, and while not a high-end guy, should be a good roster filler in daily and near must-own in H2H for any owners that need swipes.
Lance Thomas (1% owned) – I struggled with my second streamer, but decided to go for a home run with Thomas off a 24 point game and two treys. It’s a terrible matchup against the Grizz and with Tony Allen stealing the ball from him a million times, but he should be a minimum buy in daily and a decent stream in deep H2H.
I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and are moving into the H2H semis, and props to Yung Lunch for leading the Razzball Bracket Challenge! But I’m second highest in Pts available, “so you’re saying there’s a chance!” See you tomorrow, Razzball Nation!
