Full exposure: I had to look up what a sexton actually is. Apparently it’s something like a groundskeeper for a church, but their duties have traditionally included digging graves. And that’s exactly what Collin Sexton did to the Rockets last night. They rested Chris Paul, in what I’m sure the Cavs viewed as a slap in the face, and used that to fuel their play. Sexton had a night, going 1-29-4-2-0-0-3 on 14-of-21 shooting with nary a free throw and I’m sure it helped that CP3 was not guarding him. The 29 points were a career high, and he’s actually turning in a pretty nice rookie campaign so far. He had a lot of doubters coming into the season, myself included, but with George Hill out, he’s made the most of his opportunities. He won’t give you much outside of points and good percentages, but for a last guy on your bench you could do much worse.
Here’s what else went down on a slightly light schedule night for a Saturday, (7 Games):
Tristan Thompson– 16-19-2-4-0-1 on 6-of-11 shooting and 4-of-8 FTs. One of the rare players who averages more rebounds than points. He’s a FT drain obviously, but he’s having one of his better years as a pro.
Jordan Clarkson– 20-6-4-1-0-2 on 8-of-17 shooting and 4-of-4 FTs. I bet he scored a lot on the Breakaway. Get it? ‘Cause of Kelly Clarkson? Whiff!
James Harden– 5-40-4-13-1-0-9 on 14-of-30 shooting and an uncharacteristic 7-for-12 from the charity stripe. Almost got the lede, but he’ll get plenty of ledes in the future, and the nine TOs and poor FTs suck.
Eric Gordon– 5-28-2-0-3-0-1 on 8-of-16 shooting and 7-of-9 from the line. E.g. The Example!
Clint Capela– 12-10-3-0-4-2 on 4-for-4 shooting and 4-for-4 FTs. He’s been on a heater after a slow start to the season. Good thing you didn’t sell low. Right?
Nikola Mirotic– 5-24-9-1-1-0-1 on 7-of-12 shooting and 5-of-5 FTs. He’s having a career year in the perfect situation for him to flourish. Cue the Weezer.
Julius Randle– 1-29-15-7-1-0-2 on 10-of-16 shooting and 8-of-10 FTs. Anthony Davis was out so Randle went off the handle. The FTs were a rare treat too.
E’Twaun Moore– 1-19-5-2-6-0-4 on 8-of-14 shooting and 2-of-2 from the line. Moore Money!
Otto Porter Jr.– 3-29-7-4-2-0-1 on 12-of-15 shooting and 2-of-3 from the line. Otto-Mattic is back! Three nice games in a row, and he’s looking like he could finally be breaking out of his funk.
Kelly Oubre Jr.– 2-12-4-1-3-2-1 on 5-of-11 shooting. I’m still waiting for him to take the next step, but he’s fringe ownable in 12-ers.
Bradley Beal– 1-18-6-8-1-3-2 on 7-of-15 shooting and 3-for-7 FTs. The Beal Parm was off tonight. Too many missed free throws. It’s going to be interesting to see where he winds up, but I think the Lakers could really use him.
Jabari Parker– 3-27-7-4-2-1-3 on 11-of-18 shooting and 2-for-4 FTs. 20+ in his last three games, he could be heating up.
Justin Holiday– 4-14-11-5-1-1-0 on 5-of-18 shooting. All the Holidays need to get on the same team. The synergy would be unreal. As for Justin, he’s been a crazy value on the year. 3.1 3-pointers and 1.6 steals per game will do that.
Zach LaVine– 28-8-4-0-0-4 on 9-of-17 shooting and 10-of-12 FTs. My Zach LaVine poster is hanging on the wall of my bedroom…with natural adhesive!
Karl-Anthony Towns– 1-35-22-6-1-0-3 on 13-of-23 shooting and 8-of-10 from the line. Another candidate for line of the night, but no blocks and you don’t get the SWAT KAT label.
Dario Saric– 1-19-14-0-1-0-3 on 8-of-15 shooting and 2-of-2 FTs in just 25 minutes. I’m guessing this was a season-high for boards, and possibly career-high, but he’s been disappointment this year.
Robert Covington– 4-6-1-3-3-1 on an epic 1-of-18 shooting, but made both FTs. This has to be the worst shooting performance of the year… He must have taken his frustration out on the other end of the court, though, with three blocks and steals. That’s Covington in a nutshell. When he’s clicking on all cylinders, he’s one of the most useful fantasy players in the league.
Paul Millsap– 2-8-6-3-1-1-1 on 3-of-7 shooting and 0-of-2 FTs in 28 minutes. He’s only averaging a hair over 26 minutes per game, but, he’s still an early-to-mid-round value.
Jamal Murray– 2-22-8-8-0-0-3 on 9-of-23 shooting and made both FTs. Some extra shots were there for Murray with Gary Harris out of the lineup, but the eight assists are a welcome suprise.
Paul George– 3-24-11-3-2-3-1 on 8-of-21 shooting and made 5-of-7 FTs. Standard PG line plus some extra boards.
Russell Westbrook– 1-16-10-12-1-0-4 on 6-of-23 shooting and 3-of-7 FTs. His free throw shot is off right now, but everything else is there. He should be fine.
Jayson Tatum– 3-21-4-3-2-1-2 on 9-of-14 shooting. You just Jayson’d all over my Tatum!
Marcus Smart– 3-19-2-2-1-0-3 on 5-of-8 shooting and 6-for-6 FTs in 25 minutes off the bench. If you have sparkling percentages and can afford a little wonkiness, Smart can have value.
Harrison Barnes– 5-20-3-3-1-1-1 on 7-of-12 shooting and made his lone free throw. He’s starting to turn it on and the buy-low window is pretty much closed.
Luka Doncic– 3-15-0-8-3-1-3 on 5-of-11 shooting and 2-for-2 FTs. Doncic Fil-a’d the Boston defense! I’m not sure what’s more surprising: that Dallas is 9-9 or that Boston is 10-10. Doncic is a big reason why.
DeMar DeRozan– 1-34-4-7-1-0-0 on 13-of-26 shooting and 7-for-10 from the line. Looking at the Spurs box score all the starters got a big minus in the +/- category and the bench had big plusses. What does it all mean Basil? The Bucks starters wiped the floor with the Spurs, but the Spurs bench is better than the Bucks’ bench.
Bryn Forbes– 2-18-2-1-1-0-2 on 8-for-11 shooting. The Derrick White Experience never really lived up to the hype, and it looks like Forbes is the PG to own in SA, which is like saying the pretzel-shaped cookie it the best one of the Royal Dansk cookies that come in that blue tin that your mom now keeps her sewing supplies in. (They all suck.)
Giannis Antetokounpo– 34-18-8-2-1-3 on 9-of-16 shooting and 16-of-20 FTs. I owned him last year, and you always end up saying, ‘If he just made one more free throw…’ Last night was 80% which isn’t bad at all, but it’s not really helping you that much. Still, I’m complaining about an easy first-rounder. The FTs have regressed a bit though.
Eric Bledsoe– 1-20-4-10-2-0-2 on 8-of-15 shooting and 3-of-4 FTs. EB giving you that Extra Bang for your Bucks!
Malcolm Brogdon– 3-23-3-3-0-0-1 on 10-of-15 shooting. Malcom’s in the middle of his best season. Okay, he’s about one quarter of the way through, but still, he’s improving. Also, on a side note, his face reminds me of Oscar from The Office.
Buddy Hield– 4-28-7-3-0-1-2 on 12-of-21 shooting and 0-for-1 FTs. That’s Hield to you pedestrians! He could be the MVP: Most Valuable Pick in fantasy drafts.
Iman Shumpert– 4-14-4-0-1-0-1 on 4-of-7 shooting and made both FTs. The Rainbow Shumpert might actually be ownable for the 3’s and steals, but I do expect the FT% (88.9) to regress a bit.
Marvin Bagley III– 20-17-2-0-0-0 on 7-of-15 shooting and 6-of-8 FTs in 34 minutes off the bench. Dave Joerger got the memo to play Bagley and it’s paying off. Good on you if you held onto him all year.
Kevin Durant– 2-44-13-7-0-2-7 on 13-of-26 shooting and 16-of-17 FTs. You can see what separates him and Giannis…
Klay Thompson– 5-31-4-0-0-0-1 on 12-of-26 shooting and made both FTs. Is there a more boring all-star? He’s good though on the reals. 31 points in back-to-back games is not too shabby.
