As my good friends at Mr. Show previously theorized, 24 was thought to be the highest number. “What about 30?!” And then NBA scorers were pulling exactly what happens in that skit. “What about 31?” “What about 32?” “I gotta ask, what about 33!” Then Gilbert Arenas was like, “if people keep scoring like this, I’m gonna have to shoot em with Crittenton’s .45!” It wasn’t necessarily that many guys going off, just a few you wouldn’t have guessed. I’m trying to pick the most off the rails 30+ point night, so I think I’ll go with Alec Burks, who just looked awful in the two games before last night. 7-25 his past two outings, but goes 12-17 last night for career-highs in both points with 31 and dimes at 7. Added three boards and four steals with two treys for good measure. Burks has always looked like a good athlete out there, but never like a guy who could take over like that. I think a good debate is Burks or Terrence Ross. I’ll lean Ross, but very close, I just think Burks is too inconsistent. Here’s what else went down last night in hoops:
LeBron James – 30/9/9 near trip-dub. 30 point outing #2. Shot 13-17. Jazz hasn’t been abused this bad since Kanye West experimented with his Duke Ellington sampling (OK, I have no idea if that happened…).
Josh Smith – 30-point game numero tres. Took him a whopping 29 shots though. I think I use whopping too much. The cast of the Jersey Shore might be getting offended. Whopping is kinda my crutch word for “way too many.” Smoove with too many labradoodles! And it’s funny that Smoove went off scoring wise, but only 1 Ast and no steals going against his usual multi-cat-ness. I guess you don’t like a lot of cats when you channel labradoodles…
Joe Johnson – 30-point game times four. Hit 10 threes. Huge 37/7/5 game for JJ owners. Not much to say except he’s surprised virtually every fantasy player this year (except maybe the Johnson family) filling in a scoring void for all the injuries.
Martell Webster – My former boyfriend! And another 30-point scorer, doing it in only 13 shots. You hear that, Smoove? 9-13 (6-8 3PTM 6-7 FT) for 30/5/2 in 36 minutes, ironically the same game Bradley Beal was able to get back on the floor. Beal looked solid and almost not rusty at all, going 9-16 21/7 himself. I’m still a nervous Beal owner though with the chronic leg problems… And not too much to make of Webster, I still think he can be in the low 20-minute range with everyone back, but got extended run last night as he was hot. But would be a huge add if Beal gets hurt again.
Carmelo Anthony – 6th 30-point scorer. But not surprising or anything. You love the 4 blocks though!
Pablo Prigioni – Hurt his toe. Had to go to the medico. It’s a hairline fracture, “oh no!” Beno Udrih worth a PG add though. Even if he is only so-so. Should get enough stats in the Knicks flow.
Deron Williams – Had a dimebag with some to spare. 13/13 and looking good. Every game you’re holding your breath though… Jean-Luc Godard is particularly breathless…
Andray Blatche – A guy I own on a few teams now. He’s an easy cut when it goes sour, but another big game for 20/5/1/2/0 shooting 8-12 while Brook Lopez is still hurt. Blatche is mad inconsistent, but a streamer option in all leagues.
Tony Wroten – Had a tough game, going 13/2/3/3/0 shooting 5-13 with 6 TOs. I still like Wroten a lot though. Not giving up until MCW is back.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Sure I’m biased throwing him in today’s post, but I loved him heading into the year and like him for the future, and while he’s not really fantasy relevant for most leagues, one of my favorite stats so far this year is KCP has 8 TOs on the SEASON! Just unbelievable. Sure he’s a shoot-first guard, but a lot of guys including teammate Brandon Jennings, have 8+ TO GAMES to their credit already! 8 TOs in 568 minutes for a rookie at 0.3 a game. Love crazy-weird stats. And while he’s shooting only 36%, at least his basketball IQ on the TO front seems to be fairly high.
Lance Stephenson – Has been unreal. 23/7/6 on 9-14 shooting last night, and certainly not a reason why the Pacers lost. Danny Granger looms, but so does Granger’s spot in a retirement home.
Paul George – He’s the #5 overall guy on Basketball Monster, he’s elite, don’t worry James, but all I always keep saying is he has inconsistencies at times, and shot only 4-14 last night. Now he had a sick fantasy line of 17/9/4 with 8-8 FT to help out, but I’m Gus Ayonin’!
Luis Scola – Uber-effective sub-20 minutes, going 8-11 18/4/2. Can score a little, board a little, playing a consistent 15-20 minutes a night, you could do worse in the deep leagues.
Andre Drummond – Power of the reverse jinx! I mean, um, fluke game and he’s fantasy’s #1 center! But for real, got into foul trouble, played only 21 minutes which is an outlier, still went 9/9. Still managed to kill your FTs shooting 1-6… I’m so torn, I don’t know if to keep reverse jinxing or not, my emotions are like a 13-year-old girl!
*Guess the Kobe Bryant statline contest!!!” – Winner last night is matt! Kobe for a terrible 8/3/6/2/0 night (sorry Fantasy Dick) made it close between matt and I, but matt was a little more conservative at 17/6/5/2/0, almost nailing assists and getting steals dead-on while tied with me for lowest points guessed. But good news is the Lakers play again tonight! Up against the Grizzlies, so place your bets! I’ll go 13/4/7/3/0.
Jordan Hill – Looked like he was getting Doh-Toni-ed, but bouncing back a bit and started last night for 21/9 and a block, shooting 8-8 FG and 5-6 FT. Dammit Hill, how you gonna miss a free throw! And Kobe got 14 shots?! Haha.
Xavier Henry – Filled up the stat sheet for 18/6/3/3/0 on 6-14 shooting. He’s pulling some weird black magic out there with big multi-cat scoring games every-other game starting December first in an 8-game pattern. Kinda spooky. If he does bad tonight, then big Friday against the Wolves, I might just believe in the supernatural. But I don’t believe anything to do with Nick Young. That’s just stupid.
Jared Sullinger – I’m buying this now. I was not a big Sullinger guy when he started emerging, a lot had to do with Brad Stevens being a fantasy poopooface, but Sully went 24/11/5 last night and I watched the Celtics beat the Knicks last Friday and he looked friggin’ great out there. Great vision, I totally buy the assists climbing from a big. Led the Cs in minutes last night as well. I’m all in.
Corey Brewer – Proved his allegiance to me in REL. His first game for Slim after I traded him was a disaster. I’m still a Brewer fan, but yeah, you can move on in shallower leagues if you haven’t already.
J.J. Barea – Handed out some ganga last night, dub-dubbing at 10/11 with the nice dimebag. Ricky Rubio played dreadful shooting 2-12 6/5/3 with 2 swipes in 22 minutes. But every time Adelman benches Rubio late, the Wolves lose. I’m still amor-ing Rubio (which is like, Spanglish to the n-th degree).
Jimmy Butler – Was huge on Butler heading into the year, but as I said when he got hurt, I thought he was cuttable. These nagging toe injuries can derail a season. Sure it’s only one really bad shooting game going 1-11, but a lot of the stats haven’t been there in his three games back.
D.J. Augustin – Has a shot to take over the Bulls PG starting role even when Kirk Hinrich gets back. Played 37+ minutes last night for 14/8, and while he shot only 5-15, Marquis Teague looked awful and Hinrich was shooting worse pre-back injury. Augustin played from about 7:00 minutes to go in the first until midway through the fourth without coming out, and even then it was because he had 5 fouls. Thibodeau and Augustin, sitting in a tree!
Victor Oladipo – Rough night, but it was against the defensive Bulls team and he had two really nifty coast-to-coast drives. RainbOladipos to come!
Enes Kanter – Effective off the bench for 14/8 shooting 6-11. Derrick Favors was effective as well going 17/7 shooting 8-12 with two blocks. You love your bigs when they face Miami and the lazy Brontosaur.
Gordon Hayward/Trey Burke – Brutal brutal games. Alec Burks apparently had the ball from Space Jam in the locker room pre-game, and sucked out their talent and made himself a Mon-star.
Next Game: I’m not doing NBA tonight, but will be all over MEM @ DAL Wednesday. Looking forward to seeing another Jon Leuer game and if Brandan Wright can build on his huge debut. Thanks for stopping by, hopefully your teams gave ya a good start last night!
