Man, who woulda thought the Bucks without Brandon Knight (sat with minor injuries) would’ve been able to beat the Raptors last night?! I figured that big Jurassic Park reboot trailer during the Super Bowl would have pumped the Raps up! Well, I guess Canadians don’t really watch the Super Bowl, so their loss!
And while the 82-75 win was a defensive grinder, it didn’t slow down that impressive O from The Duchess K Middleton! 25/9/1/3/0 for Khris Middleton, hitting 10-17 FG (3-4 3PTM 2-2 FT) and only 1 TO. All that with Jorge Gutierrez as the fill-in starting PG! It didn’t matter though, since they had a JB waiting in the wings as well… But more there later. With 25 Pts last night, K-Midd is 17+ points in 4 of 5 and 3+ treys in 4 of 5. And multi-steals in 4 of 5 for good measure as well! Even though a lot of the counting stats are lower than the breakout last year, so are the minutes and the %s are much better. But my favorite leap is 1.0 steals in 30 minutes last year to a whopping 1.5 in only 26 this year. The Duchess is secretly a world-class thief! I think Keira Knightley could star in that movie. Larry Drew could be the evil drug lord! Maybe Ersan Ilyasova can be a Turkish arms dealer. The script is writing itself! Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:
Jerami Grant – Ya know what? I’m warming up a little! Had that redonkulous 8 block game a couple weeks ago, but flashed an 18/7/2/0/0 line last night on 5-7 FG (3-5 3PTM 5-7 FT). Gettin’ to the stripe and smokin’ the pipe! As in, hit 3s? Eh, I had no good rhymes there. Multi-treys in 3 straight, and while it’s not a Ray Allen form out there, his stroke is pretty good.
Michael Carter-Williams – Hurt his shin-ankle. Everything has to come in twos for Carter-Williams, like his last names. Keep an eye out for his status tonight, and don’t keep an eye on Larry Drew II because he’s awful.
Robert Covington – Could join The Duchess in a heist of the royal jewels! 18/3/4/7/1 with four treys. He’s soooooo good. Geez, Hassan Whiteside, Covington, Langston Galloway… I need to watch more D-League!
Nerlens Noel – Rainbow alert! 4/4/2/2/3, did have the 3 TO this time, but I’m still loving it even if it looks tiny. It’s not the size of your counting numbers that matters, it’s how you use them!
TinaFey Mozgov – 10/8/0/1/5 and is so, SO much bigger than Noel. Playing some pretty consistent low-end big man minutes right now.
Marvin Williams – Returned from a concussion, and was still as rusty as a trombone. 0-4 from the field, but still had a decent 0/7/1/0/2. Cody Zeller‘s nice run came to an abrupt stop last night, so Williams should see some deep-league usable minutes.
Jarrett Jack – The Clipper Killa! Hit a jumper late to round out a 6/7/7/2/0 line. Hey, it’s multi-cat! No crying here! Plus awesome to see 40 minutes with…
Deron Williams – …returning to the line-up after another round of being an invalid. 15/3/3/0/0 with 3 treys, and with 4 TO it’s not too good. In my 10ers or 12ers I’m likely not dropping anyone if D-Will was on the wire.
Brook Lopez – Can pretty much shoot it every time he touches it, not like he has to play with these schlubs on the Nets much longer… 12-20 off the bench for 24/7/0/1/0. Emptier than the humor in this year’s Super Bowl commercials.
Mason Plumlee – Oh dear lord. 9/9/0/0/0. That’s not too good. Then he takes a complete flaming brown bag worth of awfulness on your stats with 4 TO and 3-10 FT. Coach K needs to retroactively kick this Dookie off his team!
DeAndre Jordan – Well, did Plum even better with a 2-12 FT. If these two played a game of knockout, the universe would implode!
J.J. Redick – More Dookies, mo problems! His back issue flared up again and he only played 4 minutes. Expect another round of DNPs, no way he needs to be owned in any 12ers.
John Henson – See, Chapel Hillers can get it done! He may be as dumb as a pile of bricks since he never had to go to a class, but plays well when given a chance! 12/4/1/2/2 and loving this run while starting. Ersan and Zaza Pachulia should both be back soonish, so no long-term Henson love.
Jerryd Bayless – JB’s of the world, unite! 33 minutes off the bench for a tripdub flirt 8/7/9. Had 5 TO, but it’s nice for the deepers!
Patrick Patterson – Pit-Pat loves you! 9/11/2/2/0 with a trey, and the last 10 games have been really saucy. 31+ minutes the past 3 games as well, so have no fear that he’s off the pine.
Anthony Davis – Whoa, bad few days for sports teams with “Hawks” in their name! Brow killin’ em worse than a Pete Caroll play call for 29/13/3/1/2. Streak snapped!
Tyreke Evans – Reke with the dimebag! And most impressively, with nary a TO. 15/5/12/2/0 on an efficient 7-14 from the field with a trey. A line so sexy I’d want to see a peek of that Reke!
Eric Gordon – I refuse to believe he can be useful! Refuse I say! 20/3/7 on an even more efficient 7-11 shooting hitting 4-6 from deep. I blame stem cells for this. Only logical explanation.
Jimmer Fredette – No no no no, scorekeeper must’ve been a BYU grad or something… Two blocks?! For Jimmer??!?!?!? 10/2/3/1/2 with a couple of treys in a near rainbow. I don’t think I can blame stem cells here, maybe Flubber? Yeah, we’ll go with Flubber.
Kent Bazemore – Got the start with no Thabo Sefolosha and DeMarre Carroll getting eased in off the bench, and K-Baze was not A-Maze. 9/3/0/0/0 and 1-3 FT. Not A-maze at all. Carroll should most certainly start next time out, so Baze-more can be Ig-nore.
Russell Westbrook – Man among boys! Even if he acts like a boy among men in post-games… 25/11/14/4/1 with a trey and hitting 8-8 FT. And I’m pretty sure I saw Elfrid Payton crying a few times…
Kevin Durant – Westbrook had to go ham with KD’s little piggy still hurt! Out again with his toe, and since this was another light mathcup (even though they lost to the Knicks a few ago), hopefully this is the end of cautionary DNPs. Try to simmer down that frustration!
Dion Waiters – Picked up the SF start and picked apart the Magic for 9-15 FG 24/4/1/1/0. DFS didn’t have to wait for much in this one!
Tobias Harris – Returned to the starting 5 for a middling 18/4/4/0/0 with no treys. Meh, good to see him starting though.
Kyle O’Quinn – Give him the minutes and he gives you a surging KOQ! 11/8/2/3/1 off the bench in 23 minutes, and looked good with no TO. Only 1-3 from the stripe, but he’s usually a good FT shooter.
Ricky Rubio – Woooooo, he’s back! Long-time readers know I have a love affair for my Rubio… 4-9 FG for 10/3/4/0/0 in 21 minutes, and ay dios mio! Looked friggin’ awesome. Assertive jumpers, didn’t look rusty, I am all in baby. Like, giving up Mike Conley for him all in.
Gorgui Dieng – Bleck. Off the bench again for only 21 minutes. The line was decent (9/9/2/1/0), but me no-likey. I’m still aboard the Dieng Train and don’t forget Nikola Pekovic is still a glass column out there.
J.J. Barea – Looks like the main beneficiary of Rajon Rondo‘s broken face. 10/4/8 last night, and might be worth streaming for some dimes in the next week+ while Rondo is out. Maybe the most desperate of 10 teamers can drop Rondo, but I wouldn’t suggest it most of the time.
Gerald Green – Oh man, does he look out of the rotation… Got a DNP Friday, 13 minutes of eh on Saturday, then 3 minutes of nothing but 2 TO and a foul last night. My Green hate is finally catching up to him!
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
Jameer Nelson (30% owned) – Playing law of averages on this one! After a great start with Denver has gone ice cold lately, and with a Sixers team maybe without MCW and Larry Drew II the only healthy PG, I could see Nelson running some big game as a backup G and the shots start falling. Especially after Ty Lawson kinda ran his mouth about Brian Shaw recently.
Tyler Johnson (1% owned) – Off that great rainbow on Sunday, it may be unrealistic to hope for an encore tonight, but I think he’s earned the run against the Pistons. Available everywhere and likely cheap on DFS, I could see him being a good filler.
I hope everyone had a solid start to week 15, and catch ya tomorrow Razzball Nation!
