In a light slate of games, there were two premiere matchups with the Knicks at Celtics and Clippers at Mavericks. What game do I get highlights for? Timberwolves at Pistons. C’mon Gary! J.J. Barea looked good! Sigh.
The Knicks took care of the Celtics and apparently after being compared to Stevie Nicks in a major sports media outlet, have started playing like a team atop the East again. In the West, The Mavs needed overtime to knock off the Clippers with both Chris Paul and Dirk Nowitzki putting up 33 a piece. “Whatever you can do, I can do equal!” How communistic.
Let’s go through the noteworthy fantasy performances last night:
Carmelo Anthony – Scored 29 but on 10-30 shooting. Bye bye FG%! Good to see him scoring at his elite clip again, but c’mon Melo, hit ya shots!
J.R. Smith – Scored 32 on only 24 shots. Yeah Melo! Be more efficient like J.R. Smith’s tattoo cover. Hard to believe Smith only averages 17.1 a game this year… You’d think it be higher with the amount of scoring outbursts he has had.
Jeff Green – Another big game in the start over the injured Kevin Garnett and went 19-10-6-1-1. Green owners want Garnett out. Garnett owners want Garnett in. I just typed Garnett too many times.
Jordan Crawford – With Courtney Lee out, Crawford played 41 minutes and went 14-4-6. If Lee is out a few more games, which increasingly looks the case, Crawford is worth some spot starts if available on your wire.
J.J. Barea – Got the daily en fuego award, scoring 21 including 5-7 from deep. The Pistons looked absolutely inept. It was like a pickup game, no one stepped out on Barea.
Nikola Pekovic – Back in stride after Pek missed a few games with a bad ab. Went 18 Pts and 11 Rebs on 7-10 FG and 4-5 FT. Those Europeans are just so efficient in their posts… Maybe I should take notice and not have as much redundancy in my posts… Pekovic is so good down low. He did have an ab injury, but looks healthy now. A double-double last night! Love his efficiency.
Jose Calderon – Only 1 assist last night scoring 14. After big double-digit assist games after moving to Detroit, he’s been cooling off. Mas frio. Tough to rack up assists when your teammates brick everything.
Caron Butler – Took 10 threes last night. 10?! Give me that many shots I’d hit four of em.
Chris Paul – As mentioned in the open, put up 33 supplemented by 3 treys 6 boards 5 dimes and 2 swipes. Couldn’t quite get the Clip the W.
Dirk Nowitzki – Could get the Mavs a W. 33 and 9. Didn’t hit any 3’s in his big night either, which is a bit surprising. Like Wall, those who stashed Dirk are getting high on their own supply.
Shawn Marion – After missing substantial time with a calf bruise (serious!), Marion had his worst game of his three since returning going 4-4-3-3 with 4 TOs. Still contributed across the board and I think should be owned.
Games Tonight: Hawks @ Raptors. Meh. Then a great one with the Nuggets @ Spurs. This was supposed to be the streak breaker, not the Hornets! Still should be a great game. Shoot your comments below hope you’re murdah-ing the playoffs!
