Dwight Howard‘s 18th technical was upheld yesterday, which means he won’t have the pleasure of going 30/20 against the Bobcats on Sunday. (NOTE: Mostly because the Magic play the Bulls. I’m not a very smart man.) Honestly, as jovial as Howard is, you’d think he’d get away with more. He’s forever grinning, right? He’s happy? He’s smiling. He’s pissed? He’s smiling while shaking his head. I got through three years of high school French smarting off and getting away with it because I was all go-lucky about everything. Oh, I’m just kidding about la bibliotheque. No offense. Please continue, guh-haw, guh-haw. Shucks. I’m not even sure one can be go-lucky without being happy, but I damn sure tried. And I damn sure had less at stake than Dwight does right now. Anyway, it looks like Ryan Anderson will take Howard’s spot in the starting lineup, which could mean big things for a small percentage of fantasy owners who both own Anderson and are still in the hunt for more points. The Bobcats Bulls are about as likely to stop an opponent as a moat is to stop a cannonball people who can’t swim. Couple that confusing metaphor with the fact that Anderson (and Bass) are both going to see huge influxes in time, that game could be a huge boon for fantasy owners. Boon, baby! Boon!
Here’s some more fantasy basketball news to take you into the final regular season weekend.
Quentin Richardson – Suspended two games for shoving Gerald Henderson‘s face. That’s one game per hand, or one game per minute per game Q is averaging this season.
Jermaine O’Neal – Managed to stay in there for almost 17 minutes, and is averaging 16 mpg. That’s better than I thought he’d be able to do. He’s also averaging 5/2.5 in his last five. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and tehre you have … a disappointment.
Joakim Noah – 2/6/2 in 23 minutes. A bit off since returning from injury. Not as spry, not as energized. He’s also officially an injury risk. I don’t know how much of that August Adam will care about, but April Adam is, like, totally bummed about it.
Rodrigue Beaubois – Many moons ago, I said that right about now is when Rod Goodwood might start to heat up. It didn’t happen on Wednesday with Jason Kidd on the bench. It might happen in these next four games as Carlisle plans to limit Jason Terry and Shawn Marion‘s minutes. I’ve cooled significantly on Hot Rod, but I can be re-heated.
Jose Calderon – Neither Joe Kettle nor Andrea Bargnani will play tonight, and while I think Bargninny plays one of Toronto’s remaining three games, I’d be surprised if Calderon did. Jerryd Bayless, like Mary McCarthy junior year, totally has the green light to do whatever until the season is over, he’s in his fourth year and too cool for all that third year nonsense.
Al Jefferson – Splashed his game with some weak sauce last night: 10 points, .400 from the floor.
Gordon Hayward – Foul trouble (4) begets fantasy line trouble (1-for-5, 10 pts, 36 mins). Begot it?
Devin Harris – Seven turnovers. As you were.
Weekend Rest – It should be a pretty damn big weekend for rest. Back in November, rest was logging in just a few minutes a game. Now, rest is taking over your entire fantasy roster. This weekend, look for Weekend Rest to overtake Stephen Jackson, Dwyane Wade, Josh Smith, Andrei Kirilenko, Jason Collins, Lou Williams, Kevin Love, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion and most of the starters for the Pacers and Raptors. It’s doubtful Weekend Rest will sap everyone’s minutes, but a huge decrease from those listed is likely as Weekend Rest has really heated up lately.
